Linda Goldberg *88 aims to expand graduate community as APGA president

Goldberg, a New York City native who becomes APGA president in July, had never traveled on an airplane when she arrived at Princeton, fresh from Queens College, City University of New York, to further her economics studies. She made up for that quickly enough by spending nine weeks traveling through Europe the summer following her first year as a doctoral student.

With a smile, she notes that she collected currencies from each country she visited on that excursion, a prelude to her current work on the international use of currencies.

Goldberg knew her doctoral focus would be on international finance and macroeconomics, and interactions with her Princeton colleagues — many of them international students — reinforced her decision and expanded her horizons. Today she is a senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her main areas of expertise are global banking, international capital flows and the international roles of currencies. She also co-chairs the International Banking Research Network.

“My life has been greatly changed by Princeton,” Goldberg said. “Starting out, living in the Bronx, going to a commuter school and working as an undergraduate, and then arriving at this august place — I’m very appreciative. So I see service, through the APGA and hopefully to the broader University, as a way to both give back and as a way for others, and myself, to expand the Princeton experience to be more lifelong.”

Growing Engagement

As president, Goldberg wants to expand the imprint of the graduate community at Princeton through programming and service. “I think the programming should be strategic and really aim to connect with current and future alumni — generations of alumni,” she said.

Goldberg, who connects academics and policy makers in her work, points to promoting exchanges on career questions among grad alums, current graduate students and recent graduate alumni as an example of a way to connect this group. “Academia is wonderful, but there are lots of different choices and ways to build on the amazing opportunity and foundation that the University gives its students,” she said.

“We also look to provide access to intellectual content for this rich community,” Goldberg said, citing faculty forums, seminars and presentations. Other examples to compound engagement are continuing to reinforce contributions from graduate alumni through awards like the Madison Medal, and further developing service opportunities. Efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion are also in her prospectus.

And true to her focus on international issues, Goldberg said she hopes to increase engagement not only in domestic regional alumni associations, but in international groups, too, and enhance graduate alumni connection with various affinity groups.

Keeping Connected

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, Goldberg was a professor of economics at New York University and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She taught as a visiting lecturer at Princeton in 2005-07, and spoke at the University’s 2013 Many Minds conference for graduate alumni, returning in 2014 to moderate a Reunions panel. At the 2021 virtual Alumni Day Service of Remembrance, Goldberg read Mary Oliver’s poem, “White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field.”

Participating in different University events has not only nurtured Goldberg’s connection to Princeton, but forms the basis of the engagement she wants to promote as APGA president. “That engagement, meeting other alumni… I really appreciate the community that comes together in order to make the community even larger. I’m very appreciative of all that I’ve gotten personally from Princeton, and I’m hoping to both give back and also grow that for others.”