In Brief

English professor ANNE CHENG ’85 told the audience at the University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Jan. 21 that “we should not be timid about confronting the gifts and failures of American diversity.” In a keynote address in Richardson Auditorium that explored racial identity, Cheng said that “racial difference remains, for better and for worse, a part of American life in both tangible and intangible ways.” During the program, Karen Jackson-Weaver ’94, associate dean for academics and diversity at the graduate school, received the University’s MLK Day Journey Award.

The latest course in the University’s 13-year-old alumni-studies program is a six-week exploration of “Shakespeare and Performance,” led by ­theater professor Michael Cadden. Those enrolled in the online course, which starts March 1 and costs $40, can attend performances on campus and in New York City, and take part in online forums. The deadline to register is Feb. 15. More than 250 lectures are available on the Alumni Association’s website.

PHOTO: DENISE APPLEWHITE/OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

IN MEMORIAM PETER B. KENEN, professor emeritus of economics and international finance, died Dec. 17 in Princeton of respiratory failure following a long illness. He was 80. According to his colleague Professor Alan Blinder ’67, Kenen’s understanding of international monetary policy and later work on the European Monetary Union earned him the nickname “EMU guru.” Kenen joined Princeton’s faculty in 1971 after teaching and serving as provost at Columbia. He retired from Princeton in 2004, but taught part time until 2011.