In Short: Vice President Calhoun to Retire at End of 2026-27

Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun will retire at the end of the 2026-27 academic year, her 12th at Princeton, the University announced Sept. 8. In a role that oversees athletics and recreation, residential life, diversity and inclusion, health services, and other student services, Calhoun has prioritized community and belonging, health and well-being, service, and free expression, according to a University release. Her recent contributions include establishing a Mental Health Task Force; planning for the new Frist Health Center; and expanding recreation and fitness facilities. In 2018, reacting to clashes over controversial speakers on college campuses, Calhoun led the effort to update Princeton’s guidelines for speech and protest, creating a crew of “open-expression monitors” to attend events.

The U.S. Department of Energy and Princeton signed a five-year extension of the contract for the University’s management and operation of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), according to an Aug. 24 release. The new contract begins in April 2027.

“At PPPL, we have big ideas and do big science that reverberates around the world and through history,” Steve Cowley *85, director of the laboratory, said in the release. “We’re excited to continue that tradition through our renewed partnership with Princeton University, enabling us to pursue groundbreaking science for years to come.”

The new Leinweber Forum for Theoretical Physics at Princeton will support research by faculty, graduate students, and postdocs in the field, according to a release by the Office of the Dean for Research. Established with a major gift from the Leinweber Foundation, the forum will include researchers from Princeton’s departments of physics, astrophysical sciences, and mathematics.

The Leinweber Foundation, founded by philanthropist and software engineer Larry D. Leinweber, has committed more than $165 million to fundamental research in a collaborative network of theoretical physics groups at nine U.S. institutions. “Princeton has a long and distinguished tradition of foundational research in theoretical physics, and the Leinweber Foundation’s generous gift will support this work on our campus while also enabling deeper collaboration with our peer institutions,” President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 said in the release.

The National Science Foundation has committed $27.9 million in funding over five years to the Princeton-led Quantum Leap Challenge Institute, which aims to develop new quantum computing techniques, according to a University announcement. Nathalie de Leon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-director of the Princeton Quantum Initiative, will direct the new institute, which is one of eight funded by a $290 million NSF program created in 2020 and expanded in August. The institutes “are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in,” acting NSF director Brian Stone said in a release. 

The Princeton Center for Complex Materials was chosen to receive $18 million over six years from the National Science Foundation’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers program. The funding is intended to accelerate the discovery of new electronic materials for computing and sensing technologies and the development of programmable bio-inspired materials to advance medicine and manufacturing, according to a University release. The center, established in 1994, is led by chemistry professor Leslie Schoop and draws on research by more than 30 Princeton faculty members from six departments in the natural sciences and engineering.