June 10: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 Wins a Tony

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06’s Purpose, about a prominent Black family in Chicago, won a Tony for best play, marking the first time a Black playwright has taken the award since August Wilson 38 years ago. He won a Pulitzer Prize for the play this year as well. — Vanity Fair and The New York Times

Economist Joseph Nye ’58, whose theories on the “soft power” of global influence shaped American diplomacy, died in May at 88 years old. “Seduction is always more effective than coercion,” he said in a 2005 interview. “And many of our values, such as democracy, human rights and individual opportunity, are deeply seductive.” — The New York Times

As CEO of the College Sports Commission, Bryan Seeley ’00 will run the new enforcement agency charged with overseeing NCAA schools as they begin paying their athletes for the first time. — The Athletic

On a podcast with Real Clear Politics co-founder Tom Bevan ’91, Princetonians for Free Speech co-founder Edward Yingling ’70 criticized Princeton’s response to protests at an event featuring the former prime minister of Israel, particularly mentioning a critical essay by Danielle Shapiro ’25. — Real Clear Politics

The Congressional Budget Office is doing what it’s supposed to be doing, said director Phill Swagel ’87, even as Republicans attack its calculation that President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will raise the deficit by $2.4 trillion over 10 years. — The Wall Street Journal

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt ’76’s Special Competitive Studies Project hosted its second annual AI+ Expo, gathering Washington insiders “to ensure America leads the AI age.” — Fortune

In an op-ed, activist and consumer advocate Ralph Nader ’55 listed ways the American media is failing in its reporting on the war in Gaza. — Counterpunch

Ace Acuna ’23 said that as a Catholic undergrad at Princeton, he’d say a prayer at the Chapel most mornings and evenings and attend noon Mass. “Sometimes you just want silence, and you just want a place where you can lay down your burdens.” — The Associated Press

Journalist Richard Rein ’69 penned an essay about writer — and long-ago PAW student columnist — Edward H. Tenner ’65 and his new book, Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences. — TAP into Princeton

Author John Seabrook ’81 discussed his new book about his family’s industrial farming saga, The Spinach King, with New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81, touching on “the consequences of inherited wealth, and overcoming a family legacy of suspicion and emotional abuse.” — The New Yorker Radio Hour

Just two of the Fortune 500 companies are led by Black women CEOs — and one of them is Toni Townes-Whitley ’85 at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). — Black Enterprise

CNN anchor and legal analyst Laura Coates ’01 received WhyHunger’s inaugural Bill Ayres Social Justice Award at the nonprofit’s 50th anniversary gala. — Live for Live Music

Lawrence University history professor Jerald Podair *97 said that a trend in which Americans buy goods and services only from businesses that share their political beliefs is bad for the country both culturally and economically. — WTAQ

Derek DiGregorio h’12, 27, who catalyzed campaigns to find a cure for Ataxia-telangiectasia syndrome, a genetic disorder he faced, died June 5 at home. He was the son of late Princeton football coach Steve “Digger” DiGregorio and received his honorary degree for supporting and inspiring University athletes. — Planet Princeton

Nigerian artist Temitayo Ogunbiyi ’06 has a “captivating new” exhibit at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York City, titled “Temitayo Ogunbiyi: You will wonder if we would have been friends.” — The Week

“That paradox of identity — my father’s, my own — has changed the way I encounter the Odyssey. Reading it now, I see that the epic poem is a work about the often perplexing challenge of embracing what is most human about us, not least our mortality, in a time of great uncertainty.”

— Bard College professor Daniel Mendelsohn *94 writing in The New York Times about his new translation of The Odyssey.

Time listed Audition, Katie Kitamura ’99’s new novel about a man who claims to be the son of a successful actress, among its 14 best books of 2025 so far. — Time magazine

American Ninja Warrior host Matt Iseman ’93 opened up about getting married for the first time, to criminal defense attorney Britton All, in his 50s. “I waited to find the right woman, and I found her,” he said. — People

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