Since 1900, Princeton University has had elected alumni representation on its Board of Trustees. The representation has grown from five elected alumni trustees in 1900 to 13 elected alumni trustees, nearly one-third of Princeton's Board. Four are Young Alumni Trustees, elected by the junior and senior classes and the two most recently graduated undergraduate classes. Nine alumni trustees are elected through an alumni-wide election overseen by the Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees (CTNAT).

In 2019, the Board of Trustees designated one of its nine alumni-elected trustee positions to be held by a recent graduate of the Graduate School, defined as an individual who has received a Princeton graduate degree within the five years prior to the year of the election. 

CTNAT has nine volunteer alumni members divided into three groups of three each. Each year the Alumni Council elects one group. Prior to the spring meeting of the Alumni Council, the Alumni Council's Committee on Nominations selects three alumni and reports their names as candidates for CTNAT to the Council in accordance with the bylaws of the Alumni Association. All CTNAT members serve a three-year term. The just past President of the Alumni Association sits on CTNAT as an ex officio member.

The committee meets three times each academic year, from September through January, to review and research the pool of potential alumni trustee candidates and to select the candidates for that year's alumni trustee ballots. Any Princeton alumnus/a, undergraduate or graduate, can suggest names of alumni to be considered by the committee, and the committee welcomes those suggestions. If you would like to recommend a Princeton alumnus/a, undergraduate or graduate, as a potential alumni trustee candidate, please send his or her name with a brief statement of support to Margaret M. Miller '80 at mmmiller@princeton.edu, Deputy Vice President for Volunteer Engagement.