Award for Service to Princeton

The Alumni Council Award for Service to Princeton recognizes outstanding service contributions to Princeton by any member of the Princeton family, with special emphasis on those who serve significantly, but inconspicuously.

Award recipients are recognized at events during Reunions.    

2008 Award Recipients:

Carol Barash *89

Carol Barash's interests are manifold. She has taught at Rutgers, written a book on 17th-century English women’s poetry, started her own interactive marketing agency, developed initiatives for a healthcare holding company, and currently directs Development, Alumni Relations and Communications for William E. Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York. She loves to travel, and she does volunteer work in conflict resolution with a group of Israeli and Palestinian teachers. We are especially impressed at how she resolved the conflict between her undergraduate alma mater, a certain university in New Haven, and Princeton, where she received her Ph.D. in English.

Princeton won, hands down.

How lucky Princeton is that Carol brought her energy, her passion, and her infectious enthusiasm to serve this University. In the past ten years Carol has touched and motivated nearly every nook of Princeton’s volunteer world. Her first assignment came as chair of the Communications Committee for the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni (APGA) as the University prepared to celebrate the centennial of the Graduate School in 2000. In her own words, she sought "to bring some of the zaniness of the undergraduate alumni hoopla to the graduate alumni experience." Fast-forward to 2008 and you will see evidence of her success everywhere, from graduate alumni participation in the P-rade to their Reunion jackets to the growing sense among graduate alumni that they are indeed part of the Princeton community.

But she didn't stop there. At the same time, she took on leadership positions in both the APGA and the Alumni Council, serving as an APGA board member and officer and sitting on the Alumni Council's Executive Committee as the vice chair of the Alumni Relations and Communications Committee. She has also joined the exalted ranks of P-rade marshals.

Carol inhabits both houses of the Princeton volunteer world. She has been instrumental, if not indeed phenomenal, in her role of building a true graduate alumni presence in Annual Giving. As the Graduate School Chair of Annual Giving, Carol has increased the ranks of graduate alumni AG volunteers from six to 100, bringing in not only increased dollars but also increased participation on every level. And let’s not forget her involvement in the Women in Leadership Steering Committee.

Those who know Carol will remind us, however, that another one of Carol's gifts is her ability to make connections, and she certainly does that with Princeton. The chair of Graduate Alumni in her regional association, the Princeton Alumni Association of Essex County, she has also been active in Alumni Schools Committee work, has served on her local Princeton Prize in Race Relations Committee where she was "invaluable" and spearheaded an event at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, featuring Prof. Eddie Glaude *97 and convincing both the APGA and the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA) to co-sponsor the event in order to insure broader alumni engagement. In her role as a Career Service volunteer, she has spoken in Philadelphia at one of the award-winning Net Nights sponsored by the Alumni Council’s Careers Committee, pulled together the APGA and Careers Committee symposium at last year's Reunions, and just several months ago participated as a panelist at a student/alumnae career discussion hosted by Career Services.

Whew! We are out of breath and out of space, but not out of admiration for all you have done for Princeton, Carol. This Award for Service to Princeton is richly deserved. We devoutly hope, though, that, to quote a line written to a 19th-century English woman poet, "the best is yet to be."

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Melvin R. McCray, Jr. '74

In 1997 for Princeton's 250th Anniversary, Melvin McCray produced Looking Back: Reflections of Black Princeton Alumni, a video documentary on the history of African American students at Princeton. In 1998, the video won a Bronze Medal from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Not only does the documentary "touch the hearts of all who have seen it," as a fellow member of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni notes, but it serves as the corner stone of the body of service that Melvin has given to Princeton, and in the words of Bob Durkee ’69 Vice President and Secretary of the University, "given in a way that he has been uniquely qualified to provide."

Melvin has been for more than 25 years an editor at ABC News World News Tonight, after having put in his earlier years as a reporter for a number of national magazines. Also a producer of independent documentaries, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Film Institute's Filmmaker of the Year Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award. An adjunct professor at Columbia, he has taught at Cooper Union, Long Island University, and the Institute of American Indian Arts College. He has worked on special projects for many non-profit organizations, such as the Urban Resource Institute and the National Council of Negro Women.

He has brought all the skills and talents of all those endeavors to Princeton.

Melvin's work on the 250th anniversary video led to a second video on one of Princeton's few pre-20th century black students, John Chavis, probably the first African American to matriculate at Princeton, in the Class of 1795. He also produced a video about Carl Fields that was shown at the dedication of the Carl A. Fields Center in 2002.

The academic life of the University has also been enriched by Melvin's presence. He has served as the Ferris Professor of Journalism at the Council for the Humanities, giving the keynote address at the University's annual Martin Luther King Day program while he was here. Melvin lectured on Chavis for the University's Center for Human Values/African-American Studies lecture program. In the summer of 2007, he participated in the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, which brings 20 high school students from low-income backgrounds to Princeton's campus for an intensive, 10-day seminar on journalism with all expenses paid. And as recently as last fall, he worked with Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell in her course "Introduction to African American Politics."  Melvin helped students produce videos examining African American issues from national, local and campus perspectives.

Perhaps the most widely visible role Melvin has played in the past several years was in September of 2006, when the conference "Coming Back and Looking Forward: A Princeton University Conference for Black Princeton Alumni" brought to campus over 500 alumni and their guests for two days of discussion and dialogue about the University, higher education and issues of importance to black alumni. Melvin was the opening speaker, videotaped the conference for public access on the Alumni Association's Web site, interviewed many participants in preparation for a follow-up to the 250th video, and produced a highlight DVD which captured both the substance and the magic of the weekend.

Ask any Princetonian, among alumni or staff, who has worked with Melvin and you will hear that he has never said "No" to a Princeton request, and he is often the initiator. Always interested in expanding the circle of those involved in a Princeton project, Melvin never hesitates to suggest other alumni to call for help. Just ask Jan Robinson  '75, who has answered the phone numerous times after Melvin has urged, "Call my wife…"
Melvin, it is both a pleasure and an honor to present to you this Award for Service to Princeton.

Duncan W. Van Dusen '58

Duncan Van Dusen has a Princeton pedigree that would fill a full paragraph—and that would be just listing the class years. From 1879 to 1997, Duncan can number his Princeton relations. Grandfather, father, brother, three sons. Nieces, nephews, cousins, and in-laws. His connection is deeper than just the names and numbers, though: it is from the heart.

Although Duncan has been a long-time administrator at Penn, he began his work for Princeton even before his graduation. Legend has it that he has been involved in Alumni Schools Committee (ASC) interviewing for more than 50 years, in particular, leading the Philadelphia ASC with distinction for several decades. In 1996 Philadelphia won the S. Barksdale Penick Award for excellence in ASC activities. And at the beginning of the new millennium, Duncan helped Philadelphia became one of the first "large city" ASC's to achieve a 100% interviewing rate, a rate that continues to be sustained.

He has also served as a Career Service volunteer and his class secretary and solicitor. You have seen him for many years along the P-Rade route sporting the characteristic DaVinci hat of a marshal. He has long been a stalwart of the Princeton Club of Philadelphia. A current officer of the Club notes that "Duncan has had a role in all aspects of our governance and is the glue that holds everything together." In fact, it is often for the Princeton Club of Philadelphia that he demonstrates most clearly where his first loyalty lies. He has made arrangements for the Club's board to meet, for free, in the Ralston House at the University of Pennsylvania. He has not hesitated to appropriate Houston Hall (Penn's equivalent of Nassau Hall) for a post-Princeton v. Penn football game Club reception, and he happily led the band and Princeton revelers waving orange and black deep into Penn's inner sanctum on a day when Princeton beat Penn no less. Did we mention that Duncan wears his Penn ID on a Princeton lanyard?

Others have benefited from Duncan's generous volunteer spirit, from Penn itself to his local township outside of Philadelphia to his church. All can be thankful to Duncan’s father, Lewis Van Dusen '32, whom Duncan credits for developing in him "the Princeton values of honesty, integrity, selfless caring for others, social justice, compassion, gratitude, and service to the community, service to Princeton." These values are echoed in the remarks of the many alumni who have been touched by Duncan. "He is the first to offer kindness," from inviting a lonely classmate to his club during his undergraduate years to reaching out with comfort and advice to any in distress. He is a "mentor and a valued source of information" to both his ASC candidates and his ASC colleagues. He "does all the work and takes no credit," even if it means setting up nametags at a Princeton Prize in Race Relations ceremony.

Those who know Duncan point out that he himself has a favorite word: "thrive."  His first thoughts are to ensure that those around him are thriving. Where will this high school senior best “thrive”? How can he help this organization or that person in need "thrive"? Is it a coincidence that Princeton’s own motto is grounded by the Latin word "viget," from vigeo, to thrive? We don’t think so.

Duncan, we are delighted to go against all your attempts to deflect praise. This crystal tiger will serve as concrete evidence of our deep gratitude and praise for all you have done for Princeton University and for Princetonians of several generations and many walks of life. And with this Award for Service to Princeton, we also venture to say that, with a change of pronoun, Princeton’s motto applies to you as well.

Dei sub numine viget: May he thrive under the will of God.

Previous Award Recipients [PDF]