From the Editor

Published in the April 1, 2009, Issue

As this issue is PAW’s annual offering on business and the economy, it seems appropriate to devote my letter to how the recession is affecting your alumni magazine.

When the economy was healthy, PAW was able to increase the number of pages we publish. This gave us more space for memorials, eliminating a backlog that had existed in the past, and for feature and news articles that could delve more deeply into their subjects.

The economic crisis — on top of structural changes in the publishing world — means that PAW must rethink how we do things. No doubt, future issues of PAW — particularly during the 2009–10 academic year — will be slimmer. But we intend to use the space we have wisely, with articles that are shorter but sharper, while focusing on what is most important to our readers. This environment presents opportunities along with the challenges.

As we report on page 10, Princeton intends to cut $82 million from the 2009–10 budget. PAW receives approximately one-third of its funding from the University, one-third from the classes, and one-third from advertising, and all these sources are under pressure. (We face many of the economic issues that confront all print publications.)

Our print magazine will continue. At the same time, we will make excellent use of PAW Online, at paw.princeton.edu, which was launched in the fall. There, you will find slide shows, video and audio material, and other content that supplements the articles you read in the print PAW. Several hundred readers have signed up to receive e-mail alerts when the site is updated; to join them, write to paw@princeton.edu.

In making decisions, we will draw information from a reader survey that was conducted by e-mail in February. As I write this in early March, we await an analysis of the results. In the meantime, please continue to send your suggestions about both our print and Web publications to mmarks@princeton.edu or to PAW, 194 Nassau St., Suite 38, Princeton, NJ, 08542. To everyone who completed our survey or sent me a note: Thank you. We hope to hear more.

Given the date of this issue, you may be questioning the upside-down address label on the PAW cover. It’s a new requirement, courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service.

Marilyn H. Marks *86
mmarks@princeton.edu