Princeton Area Alumni Association

Graduate Alumni

The Graduate Alumni Committee, which was formed in 2010, works to reconnect Princeton area graduate alumni with the... (More)

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First Friday Lunch - April 3rd, 2015 - Greg Owen '15, Founder, Princeton Institute for Chocolate Studies

Join us for First Fridays, a monthly recurring event for undergraduate and graduate Princeton alumni, graduate students, and parents.  On the first Friday of each month, area alumni and their guests will meet to enjoy a prix fixe luncheon at the Nassau Club in downtown Princeton.  As a special bonus for PA3, a Princeton University PhD candidate will present his/her work to the group in this informal setting.  Topics vary monthly and are always interesting!  Have a look at our impressive roster of previous luncheons.

On Friday, April 3rd, we will be joined by Greg Owen '15, Computer Science major and Founder of the Princeton Institute for Chocolate Studies.  The Institute for Chocolate Studies was founded in fall 2012 to provide high-quality, student-produced chocolate to the Princeton community, inspired by the month Greg spent making chocolate for his high school senior project.  The ICS works out of the University Bakd Shop, located underneath the Rocky-Mathey dining halls.  Come hear Greg talk about his student-run bean-to-bar chocolate factory.

As always, there is sure to be a lively discussion!  Please join us.




Specially priced at $25/person (or $30 if you choose not to pay PA3's annual dues), lunch includes three courses, a complementary beverage (wine, beer, soft drink) and coffee/tea. Pre-registration is preferred.

>> Looking forward to seeing you...in your orange and black! <<

Date: Friday, April 3rd, 2015
Time: 12 noon - 2 pm
Location: Nassau Club, 6 Mercer St, Princeton, NJ
Nassau Club membership is not necessary to attend this event.
Dress is business casual.

Lunch Reservation
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First Friday Lunch - April 3rd, 2015 ( Friday, April 3, 2015 - 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM )

Greg Owen '15, Founder of the Princeton Institute for Chocolate Studies, will discuss his venture.

Cost: $25 for dues-paying members; $30 others
Organized by: PA3

Posted by lydia about 9 years ago.

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RECAP First Friday Lunch - January 2015

Jane Manner, Fourth Year Graduate Student in the History Department discusses federal bailouts and the Great Fire of NYC in 1835

           Jane Manners, now in her fourth year of graduate study at Princeton History Department, made a presentation on January 9, 2015, at the Nassau Club in Princeton on her dissertation research. She already has a B.A. and a J.D. from Harvard. Early in her legal study, she developed an interest in legal history.

          Financial bailouts by the federal government are generally seen as a phenomenon that only appeared in the 1980s, but a much earlier instance can be found in the congressional reaction to a devastating fire that occurred in Manhattan on December 16-17, 1835, that leveled approximately seven hundred buildings on twenty-three blocks. The damage amounted to $20,000,000 at a time when the total value of real property in Manhattan was estimated at $400,000,000.

          Merchants affected, including two former secretaries of the treasury, asked congress for assistance. Among other forms of relief, they requested the remission of import duties on the goods that had been destroyed and for additional time for paying future import duties.

          At the time, merchants posted bonds for duties, and most federal revenues were from customs duties. Initially, congress ignored appeals for the remission of duties, although it agreed to the extension of the period for payment to four years. Then, in the summer of 1838, congress enacted a remission of duties for the goods that had been destroyed.

          This bailout was highly paradoxical, owing to the general aversion of the ruling Jacksonians to providing governmental assistance to business or, indeed, involving government with business at all.

          Although not stated precisely in those words, the argument that made the difference was that the New York City merchants were "too big to fail," because of the impact that such an event would have had on the national economy. Thus, the "common good" of the national economy was at stake. Congress received numerous petitions from business people in all parts of the United States. The term "relief" was commonly used to describe the nature of the remission, not "charity," which would have been unpersuasive in view of the prevailing ideology in the early 19th century.

          Opponents of the remission of duties turned the argument on its head by arguing against what they viewed as favoritism to one part of the country.

Critics of the proposal also noted that not a single Manhattan business had failed as a result of its fire losses.

          President Andrew Jackson signed the remission legislation, but beyond that not much is known about his view of the matter. Exploring this topic is an aspect of Ms. Manners dissertation research.

          During the extensive discussion that followed her presentation, she was asked about foreign involvement in the affair, because. European investment was vital to the economic development of the United States during the 19th century. Ms. Manners replied that owing to the failure of all the insurance companies in New York City, merchants had to seek insurance outside the city, including foreign insurers. She noted, too, that New York City effectively loaned $6,000,000 to its insurance companies.

          One member of the audience suggested that this is the story of a skillful campaign to win unmerited advantages.

          Another question related to a possible connection of the controversy over "relief" to Manhattan merchants to the Panic of 1837. Ms. Manners stated that the 1835 fire and its associated problems were mentioned frequently in bankruptcy filings under the Bankruptcy Act of 1841.


Posted by lydia about 9 years ago.

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First Friday Lunch - March 6th, 2015 - Mazell Tetruashvily, Graduate student in Molecular Biology

Join us for First Fridays, a monthly recurring event for undergraduate and graduate Princeton alumni, graduate students, and parents.  On the first Friday of each month, area alumni and their guests will meet to enjoy a prix fixe luncheon at the Nassau Club in downtown Princeton.  As a special bonus for PA3, a Princeton University PhD candidate will present his/her work to the group in this informal setting.  Topics vary monthly and are always interesting!  Have a look at our impressive roster of previous luncheons.

On Friday, March 6th, we will be joined by Mazell Tetruashvily, a graduate student in the Department of Molecular Biology.  Mazell is interested in how specific immune proteins contribute to synapse elimination at the developing vertebrate neuromuscular junction.  In many vertebrate circuits, synapses are initially generated in excess, and mature, 1:1 motor neuron to muscle fiber connectivity is sculpted through synapse elimination.  Despite the critical importance of synapse elimination in circuit maturation, the molecular mediators of synapse elimination remain elusive.

As always, there is sure to be a lively discussion!  Please join us.


Specially priced at $25/person (or $30 if you choose not to pay PA3's annual dues), lunch includes three courses, a complementary beverage (wine, beer, soft drink) and coffee/tea. Pre-registration is preferred.

>> Looking forward to seeing you...in your orange and black! <<

Date: Friday, March 6th, 2015
Time: 12 noon - 2 pm
Location: Nassau Club, 6 Mercer St, Princeton, NJ
Nassau Club membership is not necessary to attend this event.
Dress is business casual.

Lunch Reservation
Nassauclub Nmj_young Nmj_old
Related Events

First Friday Lunch ( Friday, March 6, 2015 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM )

Mazell Tetruashvily, Graduate Student in Molecular Biology, will discuss the neuromuscular junction

Location: Nassau Club, Princeton
Cost: $25 for dues payers; $30 everyone else

Posted by lydia about 9 years ago.

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First Friday Lunch - Joel Rozen, Doctoral Candidate Anthropology Dept

Join us for First Fridays, a monthly recurring event for undergraduate and graduate Princeton alumni, graduate students, and parents.  On the first Friday of each month, area alumni and their guests will meet to enjoy a prix fixe luncheon at the Nassau Club in downtown Princeton.  As a special bonus for PA3, a Princeton University PhD candidate will present his/her work to the group in this informal setting.  Topics vary monthly and are always interesting!  Have a look at our impressive roster of previous luncheons.

On Friday, February 6th, we will be joined by Joel Rozen, a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology Department, former journalist for the New York Times Company and graduate fellow at Princeton's Institute for International and Regional Studies. His dissertation research is based on a cumulative three years of ethnographic fieldwork in Tunisia, both before and after the country's 2011 uprising, and examines recent reform to Tunisian business education practices. In his talk, Joel will discuss several of his findings, in particular how formal and informal approaches to entrepreneurship education have endeavored to stabilize the Tunisian economy, as well as local perceptions of civic belonging and agency, in a time of political upheaval.

As always, there is sure to be a lively discussion!  Please join us.


Specially priced at $25/person (or $30 if you choose not to pay PA3's annual dues), lunch includes three courses, a complementary beverage (wine, beer, soft drink) and coffee/tea. Pre-registration is preferred.

>> Looking forward to seeing you...in your orange and black! <<

Date: Friday, February 6th, 2015
Time: 12 noon - 2 pm
Location: Nassau Club, 6 Mercer St, Princeton, NJ
Nassau Club membership is not necessary to attend this event.
Dress is business casual.

Lunch Reservation
Nassauclubphoto Joelrozen Tunisia
Related Events

First Friday Lunch ( Friday, February 6, 2015 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM )

Joel Rozen, doctoral candidate in Anthropology, will discuss his work on Tunisia, before and after the 2011 uprising.

Location: Nassau Club, Princeton
Cost: $25 for dues payers; $30 everyone else

Posted by lydia about 9 years ago.

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RECAP First Friday Lunch - October 2014

Doyle Hodges, PhD Candidate at the Woodrow Wilson School discusses civil-military relations

Doyle K. Hodges, a doctorate candidate in the area of security studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs made a presentation about the relationship between civil-military relations in democratic political systems and compliance with the laws and norms of War at the Nassau Club in Princeton, New Jersey, on October 3, 2014.

Mr. Hodges is a retired naval officer with twenty-one years of service. He commanded two naval vessels, among other assignments. He also taught at the United States Naval Academy.

His career included several periods of duty that required his attention to political and strategic matters. One of those assignments was as an aide to the Naval Inspector General at a time when prisoner abuse in Iraq became public knowledge. Consequently, the Inspector General and his staff, including Mr. Hodges, investigated the treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo facility and later throughout the navy.

Mr. Hodges noted that the abusive treatment of prisoners in the Global War on Terrorism originated from the civilian political leadership, not from the military. Recognition of that aspect of the problem leads naturally to the study of civil-military relations and its influence on compliance with international standards in the treatment of prisoners.

When intensive interrogation and other potential abusive handling of prisoners seems to be needed, at least in the eyes of some leaders, then there are three choices:       

          1.       Simply to proceed with such procedures, ignoring international

                   norm, the possibilities of adverse publicity, and a decline in

                   morale of the interrogators;

          2.       To refrain from possibly abusive handling of prisoners;

          3.       To "subcontract" abusive measures to the Central Intelligence Agency                (CIA), civilian security contractors, or indigenous governments.

Such a situation creates tension for military authorities whose professional orientation has been largely toward avoiding involvement in political decisions.

Such, at least, is the theory, as heavily influenced by Samuel P. Huntington's study The Soldier and the State (1957), which argued that military professionalism developed in the United States during the 19th century as military leaders focused on purely military concerns and, in most cases, no longer aspired to political office.

This apolitical military self-image has by no means been wholly accurate. Mr. Hodges cited the conflict between President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur about how far United Nations troops should advance into North Korea during the Korean War. Several years earlier, moreover, President Truman and both civilian and uniformed leaders of the navy contended openly about the relative budgetary support that should be given to the air force and the navy. Truman  emerged as the victor in both these controversies, but they demonstrated that political and military decisions cannot be separated neatly.

An important factor in considering the treatment of prisoners is the nature of the adversary. In Vietnam, prisoners taken from the ranks of the North Vietnamese Army were viewed simply as prisoners of war, but guerrillas, who struck United States and allied troops without wearing uniforms, were considered to be in a different category. Similar considerations emerged in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In counterinsurgency conflicts, abuses and violations of international law may be perpetuated by both sides, as, for example, during British efforts to suppress nationalists fighting in the Irish Republican Army and similar guerrilla organizations. The conflict between Israel and Hamas is another example of a situation where behavior on the battlefield has become less sensitive to legal restraints.

Civil-military relations in democracies need an ethical foundation.

In the modern world, liberal democracies often turn to the military services, but those services, in turn, need principles to follow in murky conflicts.

In closing, Mr. Hodges noted that in his studies he is benefiting materially from the diversity of the faculty and student body of the Woodrow Wilson School.

 

         

 

 


Posted by lydia about 9 years ago.

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