About

In April 2016, the Board of Trustees of Princeton University trustees adopted the Report of the Trustee Committee on Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy at Princeton, which included a recommendation that the administration make a concerted effort to diversify campus art and iconography in ways that express the University’s aspiration to be more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming to all members of its community.  The initial iteration of this work was led by the Campus Iconography Committee (CIC) from 2017 to 2019 (membership below), concluding in a final report which recommended that this work be sponsored by a Cabinet level leader at the University. Additionally, a Portraiture Nominations Committee met from 2017 - 2018 (membership below) to make recommendations on new portraits to add to the University's collections. The History and Sense of Place initiative, situated in the Office of the Provost, now builds on the work of these bodies.

This History and Sense of Place website serves as a living directory of information about Princeton's nuanced institutional history, spotlighting a selection of lesser-known experiences and highlighting the University's responses.  The website features an interactive timeline presenting key moments in the University's history.  Each timeline entry contains a link to one of three pages into which activities taken by the University to respond to each respective historical moment are grouped:  

  • The Histories page features information about Princeton's efforts to tell a more complete narrative of the University's past and present
  • The Public Spaces page spotlights initiatives undertaken by the University to enliven campus interior and exterior spaces in ways that reflect and connect with our community’s diversity
  • The Portraiture page provides an overview of the University's recent commissions and acquisitions which capture the broad diversity of the Princeton community 

In addition to students, a number of campus partners are currently involved in the work of History and Sense of Place, including the Council of the Princeton University Community's Committee on Naming, the Campus Art Steering Group, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity. For more details on the origins and operations of this work, please visit the Contact page. 

Campus Iconography Committee Members and Advisors (2017-2019)

Members

Treby Williams, Executive Vice President (co-chair); Carolyn Rouse, Professor of Anthropology; Director, Program in African Studies (co-chair); Wallace Best, Professor of Religion and African American Studies; LaTanya Buck, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion; Nicholas Fernandez ’18;  Chase Hommeyer ’19; Ron McCoy, University Architect; Marni Sandweiss, Professor of History; Amina Simon ’18; Jeffrey Whetstone, Professor of Visual Arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts

Sat with Committee

Leslie Jennings Rowley, Assistant Director, Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy, Woodrow Wilson School (CIC, secretary); Kaitlin Lutz, Director for Administration, Finance and Planning, Engineering and Applied Science (Princeton History Working Group, secretary); Annette Tate, Assistant Director, Finance and Administration, Office of the Dean for Research (Public Spaces Working Group, secretary)

The Advisory Group

Rochelle Calhoun, Vice President for Campus Life; Andy Chen ’09, Partner, Isometric Studio; Claire Fowler, Senior Associate Dean of the College; Anne Jarvis, University Librarian; Waqas Jawaid ’10, Partner, Isometric Studio; Izzy Kasdin, Executive Director, Historical Society of Princeton; Aly Kassam-Remtulla, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Operations (Acting); Chad Klaus, Vice President, University Services, Paul LaMarche, Vice Provost for Space Programming and Planning; Michele Minter, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity, James Steward, Director, Princeton University Art Museum

Portraiture Nominations Committee (2017-2018)

Members

William Gleason, Hughes-Rogers Professor of English and American Studies and Chair, Department of English; Amaney Jamal, Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and Director, Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice; Hyejin Jang ’19; Daniel Linke, University Archivist and Curator of Public Policy Papers; Nadirah Mansour ’14 gs (NES); Laurence Morse *80, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Fairview Capital Partners, Inc.; Jennifer Rexford ’91, Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering, Professor of Computer Science and Chair, Department of Computer Science; Adalberto Rosado ’19; Ryan Ruskin ’90, President and COO, The Ruskin Group and Chairman, MyEco, LLC; Nicole Shelton, Stuart Professor of Psychology,  Amina Simon ’18; Catherine Toppin ’02, Senior Patent Counsel & Manager, General Electric - Corporate Legal

Sat with Committee

Debby Foster ’92, (Secretary), Senior Associate Director for Administrative Planning, Office of the EVP; Tawana Lewis-Harrison, Coordinator, Assistant Director for Administrative Planning, Office of the EVP