“Ballad for Trayvon Martin,” a composition by ANTHONY BRANKER ’80, director of Princeton’s Program in Jazz Studies, premiered in December. The piece honors the teenager who was killed in 2012 by a neighborhood-watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. Branker told The Star-Ledger that the incident brought to mind an experience he had as a young man, when he was stopped by police at gunpoint because it was believed he had broken into someone’s home.
A BEQUEST from industrialist and philanthropist William S. Dietrich II ’60, who died in 2011, will endow the University’s Economic Theory Center, which has been renamed for him. The gift will support faculty research, seminars, fellowship programs, visitors from around the world, and symposia, as well as student financial aid.
After 15 years as Princeton’s first ensemble-in-residence, the BRENTANO STRING QUARTET is moving to Yale in the fall. The quartet will perform its final campus recital Feb. 13 in Richardson Auditorium, though it will continue to work with students during the spring term.
As the University’s new executive vice president, TREBY WILLIAMS ’84 will lead development of a new campus plan and construction program while overseeing campus life, facilities, human resources, and a range of University services. Williams worked in the executive vice president’s office for seven years and was an assistant U.S. attorney for 12 years.
Paw in print
October 2025
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ’92; President Eisgruber ’83 defends higher ed; Julia Ioffe ’05 explains Russia.
1 Response
Abel Ragen *87
9 Years AgoJazz at Princeton
“Ballad for Trayvon Martin” by Anthony Branker ’80 (posted at PAW Online Feb. 5) is just lovely. An applicant I interviewed recently surprised me by saying he wanted to come to Princeton because he loved jazz. (They more often talk about science or world affairs.) But he had looked into jazz at Princeton and knew better than I did — as this piece shows.