In Brief

The University announced Oct. 29 that 43 STAFF MEMBERS would be laid off and an additional 18 would have their hours reduced involuntarily. “There will be no further layoffs or involuntary reductions as part of the current two-year budget-reduction plan,” the University said in a statement. The statement said that the layoffs are taking place across the University and at various job levels, with employees leaving their positions by June 30. Princeton said that it required fewer layoffs than originally anticipated to meet its staff reduction target of $15 million, which also relied on vacancy and overtime savings, a retirement incentive program accepted by 145 employees, and voluntary reductions in hours. Among Princeton’s peer institutions that have announced layoffs, the totals ranged from 472 at Stanford and 275 at Harvard to 31 at Brown.  

To mark the 11th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, in Laramie, Wyo., the Lewis Center hosted an Oct. 12 student reading of the new play THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER, written by members of Tectonic Theater Project, which created the original off-Broadway production, The Laramie Project. The new play — which focuses on the long-term effects that Shepard’s death had on the town — was presented that evening at more than 150 venues in the United States and abroad.  

Princeton was ranked as the BEST PLACE TO WORK in academia among U.S. institutions, according to a survey by the life-science magazine The Scientist. Among the University’s strengths, according to the Web-based survey, were collaboration, team-building, funding opportunities, and teaching and mentoring.  

IN MEMORIAM   Edward Seckel ’43 *48, a member of the faculty for 25 years, died Sept. 28 in Princeton. He was 88. Seckel was a professor of aeronautical engineering and was director of the Flight Research Laboratory before retiring in 1977. He wrote The Stability and Control of Airplanes and Helicopters.