Not Just ‘Retired,’ These Emeritus Professors Lead Varied and Vibrant Lives

In the lab or in the office from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily: This is what retirement looks like for Eric Wieschaus, Nobel laureate and emeritus professor of molecular biology. “I basically live in the lab,” he quipped.

Wieschaus is getting around to all the experiments he was interested in, without the administrative workload of running a lab. “I haven’t retired from who I am or what I want to do,” he said. “I haven’t retired from being a scientist.”

Contrary to the stereotypes of retirement, many of Princeton’s emeritus professors continue to keep up active engagement with their community, in or beyond the University. For them, retiring is merely an evolution and expansion of their interests.

Professors of science often continue their research work for years after retirement, though Wieschaus is more active than most. George Mellor, who transferred to emeritus in 1995, continued his research on physical oceanography for years afterward, publishing his most recent journal article only five years ago — 25 years after retirement.

“Every human wants to be useful and wants to have an impact. By retiring, I don’t feel necessarily that I give up the membership in that club [the Department of Molecular Biology].”

— Eric Wieschaus
Nobel laureate and emeritus professor of molecular biology

Beyond research, some emeritus professors engage in teaching. Former School of Public and International Affairs professor Frank von Hippel taught a task force on avoiding nuclear war in 2023, seven years after “retiring.” The collaborative nature of professors’ work often means extended engagement on projects, or wrapping up advising for graduate students. Von Hippel, always an activist, continues to work actively in the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.

Other retirees pursue personal projects. Rena Lederman, a professor of anthropology at Princeton until transferring to emeritus status in 2024, was most excited about getting to projects sitting on the shelf for almost 20 years. These include research and writing but also hobbies. She now pursues sewing and Talavera, a Mexican ceramic art, which she had learned but never fully delved into when busy working and raising her family. “I want to open up a space to pay attention to other parts of my life that were really pushed out of the scene for a very long time,” she said.

For other professors, intellectual interests have taken them into other communities. Deborah Nord, who retired in 2020 from the English department, was invited to join the lecture committee at the Princeton Adult School. She has recently completed an online literature lecture series. Mellor, who lives in a retirement community in Connecticut, has created a mini politics group where he discusses issues of the day with people from the whole spectrum of political beliefs.

Despite the perks of retirement, the transition isn’t always easy. Many of the professors who spoke with PAW said they miss certain parts of teaching, such as working with colleagues and students.

The psychological shift is often the hardest. “I was doing basically what I wanted to do when I was teaching [at Princeton],” Lederman said. While some people see retirement as the chance to finally do what they enjoy, professors often have already found that in their careers.

“It’s an overwhelming change to no longer have this particular professional identity,” Nord said. “It affects the sense of what you are and your ego.”

Still, many find renewed purpose as retired professors.

“I feel that if I have any role as a citizen or retired person, it is to defend the role of the humanities in university education,” Nord said. “Now, even more urgently, to defend the role of universities in society.”

“Every human wants to be useful and wants to have an impact,” Wieschaus said. “By retiring, I don’t feel necessarily that I give up the membership in that club [the Department of Molecular Biology].” Wieschaus hopes that by being in the laboratory, he’s also able to give perspective, both scientifically and personally, as well as be a sounding board for ideas.

“I think that is the job of emeritus professors, is to just kind of be around.”

Emeritus Faculty

Fourteen professors and advanced lecturers transferred to emeritus status at the end of the 2024-25 academic year after serving on the faculty for more than 400 years combined: 

Stanley Allen *88, architecture
Mark Beissinger, politics
Michael Cadden, theater
Michael Celia *83, civil and environmental engineering
Michael Cook, Near Eastern studies
Janet Currie *88, economics and public affairs
Anthony Grafton, history
Paul Muldoon, creative writing
Deborah Prentice, psychology and public affairs
Volker Schröder, French and Italian
Annabella Selloni, chemistry
Michael Smith, philosophy
Sankaran Sundaresan, chemical and biological engineering
Emily Thompson *92, history