FUND FOR REUNION/PRINCETON BTGALA
A Non-profit Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Princeton Alumni, Students, Faculty and Staff
P.O. Box 1481, Princeton, New Jersey 08542
| NEWS FROM THE FUND FOR REUNION/PRINCETON BTGALA A Non-profit Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Princeton Alumni, Students, Faculty and Staff P.O. Box 1481, Princeton, New Jersey 08542 |
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| Volume XVIII, No. 1 | May, 2005 |
In the Spring of 2004, the Post-Doctoral Fellowship Committee of Fund for Reunion worked with Leonard Barkan of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts to establish the first LGBT Postdoctoral Fellowship offered by a university. FFR pledged a gift of $271,000 to the University to establish the Fellowship. A description of the position is as follows:
The postdoctoral fellow will be expected to pursue research in any scholarly areas that will make a positive contribution toward public discourse around contemporary LGBT issues ... The fellow is also encouraged to share his or her research interests with the wider campus community, with the aim of creating a sustained dialogue on issues related to LGBT equality. The postdoctoral fellowship is awarded for three years and includes an appointment as lecturer.The Society of Fellows received an astounding 100 applications from individuals across a wide spectrum of academic fields for the LGBT Fellowship, all of whom were completing or had recently completed their doctorates. That large number of responses is itself an indicator of the attention the Princeton University/FFR initiative has received.
The first Fellowship was awarded to Gayle Salamon, who received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2002. Salamon brings innovative and critical approaches to queer theory, gender theory and twentieth-century continental philosophy and cultural theory. Salamon also has extensive teaching experience in LGBT and gender studies at Berkeley, teaching the core courses in the LGBT minor and offering a broad range of courses on issues such as "passing," literary and cultural representations of sexuality, the relationship between biological and psychological accounts of sexual diversity, and feminist theory. She has received accolades for her research as a Pembroke Fellow at the Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University (2002-3), has had several articles accepted for publication, and has given over a dozen conference papers on a diverse range of topics. At Princeton, Salamon will be teaching a fall semester course in the English department, and an LGBT course in the Women and Gender Program for the spring semester.
To add to our excitement, the Society of Fellows was so happy with the applicant pool that it awarded the Cotsen-Perkins Fellowship to Margot Canaday, and she will be joining Salamon on the Princeton campus in the fall. Canaday, who received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Minnesota in 2004, is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Sexuality Research Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council. Canaday's teaching interests are in gender and social policy, history of sexuality, research methods in queer history, the intersections of legal and political history with history of sexuality, law and public policy, as well as US history more broadly.
She co-organized a national conference in 2003 in honor of the 20th anniversary of John D'Emilio's book "Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities." She has also served as a consultant at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, and for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in the Affirmative Action Office.
The Board of FFR would like to express our profound thanks to the Society of Fellows, Jeff Nunokawa, Diana Fuss, Christine Stansell and Debbie Bazarsky, among others, all of whom join us in celebrating the excellence of our first fellows. We look forward to the positive impact that Salamon and Canaday will make on the Princeton University campus. The Fellowship has allowed FFR to help add two brilliant colleagues with interests in LGBT Studies to the Princeton community. We wait in eager anticipation for the fall semester to begin!
Each year, FFR solicits applications for funding from students working on Junior Papers, Theses, and Dissertation research. In this newsletter, we would like to spotlight doctoral candidate Beatriz Preciado, who has been awarded a five-month scholarship to finish her dissertation research.
Born in Burgos, Spain, Preciado achieved an honours degree in Philosophy from the University of Comillas before gaining a Masters in Contemporary Philosophy and Gender Theory at the New School for Social Research in New York, where she studied with Agnes Seller and Jacques Derrida. Currently undertaking her doctorate in Philosophy and Architectural Theory at Princeton, Preciado is also the author of Manifiesto contrasexual (2000), acclaimed by the French critics as one of the most influential and provocative intellectual works of the new century.
FFR has supported undergraduate and graduate student research in LGBT areas in the past, but Preciado's letters of recommendation are particularly worthy of note. Her advisor told us:
"I simply regard Preciado as today's strongest scholar of the relationship between gender, sexuality, and the built environment. While respectfully drawing on the pioneering work in this area over the last decade, she has single-handedly managed to take these issues to a whole new level. She has already contributed enormously to the evolution of queer theory and the research she is carrying out now promises to open a whole new field of inquiry. Preciado is in every sense a role model."We are delighted to be able to support work of such high quality.
For the second year, FFR partnered with Debbie Bazarsky of Princeton University's LGBT Student Services to create a program of lectures on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer topics. This abbreviated list should give you a flavor of the lectures and events we sponsored during the 2004/2005 academic year:
Reunions will be held at Princeton University on the weekend of May 27 and 28. The Fund for Reunion will be hosting events for our members, students, faculty, friends, and family - all are welcome! We hope to see you there!
The Festivities Begin! Reception
Friday, 27 May 2005, 9:00 pm to 11:00 am
Library, Bendheim Center for Finance (formerly Dial Lodge)
Fund for Reunion/Princeton BTGALA Reception and Annual Meeting
Saturday, 28 May 2005, 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Library, Bendheim Center for Finance (formerly Dial Lodge)
LGBT "After the Tents" Reunions Dance Party
Saturday, 28 May 2005, 12:00 midnight to 4:00 am
Senate Chamber, Whig Hall
On Saturday, April 16 a dozen FFR members, partners, friends and two guest students had a gala opera evening in New York. We had dinner at the New York State Theater and then walked across the lobby to hear the New York City Opera's production of Girl of the Golden West, one of Puccini's last operas.
For those of you who don't follow opera, Girl of the Golden West is a turn-of-the-last-century Italian's version of a western. It's a total melodrama, complete with a heroine who's waiting for Mr. Right while acting as Mother to a mining camp full of lonesome cowboys, and a bad-guy-turned-good-guy hunk. Despite [because of?] the melodrama, the music is just wonderful - Puccini at his mature best.
The FFR contingent had a great time - thanks to David Beaty for arranging the event. Also, special thanks to two FFR members who gave us the ability to offer places to the two students; we really appreciate your contributions.
David and Phil Mahin are already scouting out events for next fall. If anyone has ideas, please let them know.
The newsletter is a chance for you to get to know members of the Fund for Reunion Board of Directors. In this edition, we are featuring Bob Hotes '85, Senior Associate at DPK&A Architects of Philadelphia:
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, I grew up in the Washington, DC, suburbs. I graduated from Princeton in 1985, having majored in architecture and civil engineering. After working in DC for a few years, I returned to academia and received a Master of Architecture with a Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. While at Penn, I fell in love with the City of Philadelphia, and I have been here ever since. I am now a Senior Associate with DPK&A Architects, working for founding partner Dan Peter Kopple '56 *58. I specialize in restoration architecture, particularly for institutional and governmental clients. Outside of the office, I am active in AIA Philadelphia, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, the Union League of Philadelphia, and, of course, Princeton University, where I currently serve as Secretary of FFR and President of the Class of 1985. In my free time ... when I have some ... I enjoy heading down to the family place in Rehoboth Beach or catching a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Following is our annual report for our 2003/2004 business year.
| Operating Fund | |
| Opening Balance | $8,643.50 |
| Income | |
| Dues and Contributions | 5,747.75 |
| Transfer from Endowment | 14,000.00 |
| Expenses | |
| Campus Related Funding | 7,544.23 |
| LGBTQ Lecture Series | 14,500.00 |
| Scholarships | 789.79 |
| Newsletter | 687.49 |
| Reunions | 2,176.17 |
| Transfer to Endowment | 0.00 |
| Other Expenses | 94.95 |
| Closing Balance | $2,598.62 |
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Endowment | |
| Opening Balance | $1,282,115.02 |
| Transfers | (14,000.00) |
| Interest/Dividends | 4,323.52 |
| Gain/Loss | 281,650.47 |
| Closing Balance | $1,554,089.01 |
Notes:
Our business year runs from July 1 to June 30.
Dues and contributions were down from the prior year's contributions.
Expenses were up substantially. Campus expenses were up 35% and we
funded the first year of the new LGBT lecture series. We transfered
funds from the endowment to pay for the bulk of the lecture series, but
the lower dues level resulted in a significant reduction to our
operating fund.
Investment results in the endowment fund were very solid, with about a 22% gain. Once again we thank our investment manager Brandon Fradd '83.
Thank you if you have already paid for this year.
We've revised our dues structure to include the following categories:
| Member | |
| Friend | |
| Benefactor | |
| Patron | |
| Student (at any institution) |
Contributions to FFR are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Thank you for your support!
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ELECTRONIC PAYMENT OPTION:
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Contributions so far have come from 185 people on our 900 + name mailing list. In the last 10 weeks of the fiscal year we're going to work the telephones to increase participation and giving. You can help us by calling members of your class - this works really well, even if you don't already know them - or people in your neighborhood ... or we'll give you some alums to call. Lex Kelso is spearheading this final push; please get in touch with him at lexkelso@alumni.princeton.edu if you can help. Otherwise, he'll call you.
FFR is a non-profit 501c3 corporation, incorporated independent of Princeton University. We have an operating fund that we use for day-to-day operations, and an endowment that is earmarked for special endeavors.
We are run by a talented, devoted, unpaid Board of Volunteers: Christina Alvarez '03, Anne-Marie Barrett '02, David Beaty '50, Mark Blasius *90, Shawn Cowls '87, Gordon Harrison '68 *70, Robert Hotes '85, Jonathan Hsu '04, Lex Kelso '71, Dana Leslie '78, Dick Limoges '60, Philip Mahin '85, Marcus Tye '90, Emily Wood '03, and Elise Wright '83.
Board membership is a privilege available to all dues-paying members of FFR. We are actively looking for alumni interested in serving on our board, in particular women and recent alumni. We are also eager to have more volunteers to help with the Endowment Committee, our web site, the newsletters, membership development, campus support, Reunions and Alumni Day events, and regional alumni events and fundraisers. Don't let this list fool you: this is more fun than your day job. Come help FFR, meet some people and make a difference!
Please contact us if you would like more information. If you approached us before, please be persistent and hit us up again - we really do want your involvement!
Note this is a special addition for the electronic version of our newsletter edition. FFR includes 947 Princeton alumni, faculty, and staff - 89 more than we had last year!
By Class
The FFR community grew 10% this year, from 858 at this time last year to 947.
The biggest growth was in the classes from '96 to '00 which as a group grew
19%. With the exception of the class of '52, we cover every class since 1945.
Our oldest alum is from the class of '38. Our largest class is '85 with 38
alumni followed closely by '87 with 35. The class of '64 is a stand out, with
13 alumni - the classes of '63 and '65 have 5 alumni and 1 alum respectively.
Hold out classes include the class of 1998 with eleven alumni and the class of
1975 with five.
| 1940 and Prior | 1 |
| 1941 - 1945 | 1 |
| 1946 - 1950 | 8 |
| 1951 - 1955 | 12 |
| 1956 - 1960 | 16 |
| 1961 - 1965 | 29 |
| 1966 - 1970 | 34 |
| 1971 - 1975 | 44 |
| 1976 - 1980 | 80 |
| 1981 - 1985 | 138 |
| 1986 - 1990 | 122 |
| 1991 - 1995 | 101 |
| 1996 - 2000 | 87 |
| 2001 - 2005 | 88 |
| Graduate Degrees | 116 |
| Current Students | 36 |
| Faculty and Staff | 34 |
We're from all over the world. We had growth in all regions except Philadelphia. Northern California grew by 19%. Our foreign population grew a striking 24%.
| Boston | 62 |
| Midwest | 53 |
| New York City and Environs | 373 |
| Northern California | 94 |
| Philadelphia | 29 |
| South | 70 |
| Southern California | 80 |
| Washington, DC | 77 |
| Other US | 62 |
| Foreign | 47 |
The ratio of men to women shrunk slightly, going from 3.4 to 3.1 men for every woman. Transgendered alumni remain a very small percentage of our base.
| Female | 228 |
| Male | 712 |
| Trans | 7 |
The number of folks who have paid dues in the past two years is slightly greater than reported last year. More than half of us have never paid dues.
| Paid through 2003 or 2004.. | 224 |
| Paid Dues prior to 2003 | 191 |
| Never Paid Dues | 532 |
Contacting Us: We can be reached at:
Fund for Reunion/Princeton BTGALA, P. O. Box 1481, Princeton, NJ 08542
For faster response, send e-mail to
Fund for Reunion
You can sign up for FFR/Princeton BTGALA using our mail form.
This document was last modified on September 14, 2005.