Relive Alumni Day 2022 and mark your calendar for next year’s mid-winter celebration: Feb. 25, 2023.
WATCH: Alumni Day Highlights
Nobel laureate Maria Ressa ’86, composer Julia Wolfe *12 and student award winners honored at Princeton Alumni Day
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe received top honors at Princeton’s Alumni Day on Saturday, Feb. 19. The event was the first in-person alumni celebration on campus in two years.
“You don’t really know who you are until you’re forced to fight for it.”
Woodrow Wilson Award Lecture
Nobel laureate Maria A. Ressa ’86, president and CEO of Rappler, Inc., discussed “The Honor Code and the Battle for Facts” during Alumni Day when she was honored with the University’s top undergraduate alumni award.
“When I got the call about the Princeton award I was stunned. As an artist you aren’t generally celebrated in the company of scientists, economists and historians. But it’s really fun.”
James Madison Medal Lecture
Pulitzer Prize-winning music composer Julia Wolfe *12 presented “Unsung Histories” upon accepting the James Madison Medal, an honor bestowed on a graduate alumnus with a distinguished career.
Spencer Weinreich, Erin Kado-Fong and Zachary Teed were recognized as winners of the 2021-22 Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, Princeton University’s top honor for graduate students.
This year’s Service of Remembrance honored the alumni, students and members of the Princeton University faculty and staff whose deaths were recorded by the University during 2020 and 2021.
Alumni Day on Feb. 19 was the first in-person alumni celebration on campus in two years. Mary Newburn ’97, president of the Alumni Association and chair of the Alumni Council, welcomed the audience to Richardson Auditorium.
Alumni Day on Feb. 19 was the first in-person alumni celebration on campus in two years. Mary Newburn ’97, president of the Alumni Association and chair of the Alumni Council, welcomed the audience to Richardson Auditorium.
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe *12 was awarded the Madison Medal. She shared audio clips from her albums, including “Anthracite Fields,” which was inspired by coal miners near her hometown in Pennsylvania.
President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 introduced the recipients of the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowships and Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize.
Claire Wayner ’22, a senior civil and environmental engineering concentrator pursuing certificates in environmental studies and sustainable energy, accepted the Pyne Prize.
Christian Potter ’22, a senior in the School of Public and International Affairs and president of the Undergraduate Student Government, accepted his Pyne Prize via video.
Maria Ressa ’86, the winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, traveled from the Philippines to accept the Wilson Award.
At the end of the program in Richardson Auditorium, the Katzenjammers a cappella group led the audience in the singing of “Old Nassau.”
“Three cheers for Old Nassau!”
Alumni Day 2022 in Richardson Auditorium
The band serenaded alumni as they exited Richardson Auditorium.
The winners of the 2021-22 Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowships: Spencer Weinreich, Erin Kado-Fong and Zachary Teed
Maria Ressa ’86 met with fellow 2021 Nobel Prize winners, David MacMillan, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry, and senior meteorologist Syukuro “Suki” Manabe.
The Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton and the Princeton Area Alumni Association cohosted a Year of the Tiger lunch at Lan Ramen Restaurant.
The Service of Remembrance in the University Chapel
The Princeton Chapel Choir performed at the Service of Remembrance.
Symbolic white carnations were placed in the memorial wreath to honor those Princetonians whose deaths were recorded in 2020 and 2021.
Take a look back at the past recipients of the most prestigious awards presented at Alumni Day.
Other Alumni Day Awards
Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize
The Pyne Honor Prize, established in 1921, is awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership.
Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship
The Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, Princeton's top honor for graduate students, supports the final year of study and is awarded to students whose work has exhibited the highest scholarly excellence.
2022 Pyne Prize Recipients
2022 Jacobus Fellows
History of Alumni Day
First observed on Lincoln’s birthday in 1915, the day drew 100 alumni to what the PAW called “an intellectual pilgrimage” to Princeton. From 1916 to 1955, it was on Washington’s birthday; thereafter, it has been on the Saturday nearest February 22.