Bill Ford '79 Becomes CEO of Ford Motor Company, 2001

William Clay (Bill) Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is currently the President, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer of Ford Motor Company. Ford was born in Detroit, Michigan, the great-grandson of both Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. His father is William Clay Ford, Sr., and his mother is Martha Parke Firestone. Edsel Ford II, son of Henry Ford II and also a Board member, is Bill's cousin. Bill graduated from Princeton University in 1979, having majored in history and served as president of The Ivy Club. In 1984 he received a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is married to Lisa, and they have four children, all living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [Source: Wikipedia]

Jon E. Barfield '74 Completes Term as Princeton Trustee, 2001

Jon Barfield was appointed President of the Bartech Group in 1981 and was named Chairman in 1995. Prior to his current position, Mr. Barfield also served as President of Barfield Manufacturing Company. Earlier in his career, Jon practiced corporate and securities law at one of the nation's leading law firms, Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood in Chicago.

Mr. Barfield serves on the Board of Directors of National City Corporation, Tecumseh Products Company, Dow Jones & Company, BMC Software and Granite Broadcasting Corporation. He is also a Director of Pantellos Group Limited Partnership, Inc., the energy industry's leading internet-based procurement marketplace.

Jon volunteers his time as a Director of several major, non-profit institutions. He is a Charter Trustee Emeritus of Princeton University, and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Henry Ford (formerly Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village), Reading Is Fundamental, Kettering University and Detroit Renaissance. He has served as a Director of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, The Children's Center and the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan. He is also Past President of the National Technical Services Association, one of the staffing industry's leading trade associations.

Mr. Barfield graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1974, and received a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1977.

Dr. Harold T. Shapiro *64 Leaves Michigan to Head Princeton, 1988

Dr. Harold Tafler Shapiro, Ph.D (born June 8, 1935) is a former president of Princeton University and the University of Michigan. Born in Montreal, Quebec and trained as an economist, Shapiro earned his B.Comm from McGill University and his Ph.D from Princeton University's economics department in 1964. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan that same year and held a variety of academic and administrative appointments until his selection as President of that University in 1980, a position he held until he was called to Princeton in 1988. As Princeton's president, he oversaw the largest increase in the University endowment in the history of the school.

Shapiro was made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990. He announced his retirement from Princeton in the fall of 2000. Shirley Tilghman, his successor, took office on June 15 of the following year.

Shapiro continues to live in Princeton, and is professor emeritus in the departments of economics and public policy at the University. His present academic interests include bioethics, on which he writes extensively. Shapiro chaired the National Bioethics Advisory Commission during President Bill Clinton's second term. He also sits on the boards of a number of prominent for-profit and non-profit ventures, including HCA (founded by the Frist family, which donated the Frist Campus Center to Princeton), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, DeVry, Inc., and Dow Chemical Company.

He is the twin brother of Bernard Shapiro, first Ethics Commissioner of Canada and former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University. [Source: Wikipedia ]

Former U-Detroit Teacher Joyce Carol Oates Becomes Princeton Professor, 1978

Joyce Carol Oates, or "JCO," (June 16, 1938 - ) is a noted 20th and 21st century American author and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978. Oates is also the editor of the Norton anthology Telling Stories - An Anthology for Writers. She serves as a contributing editor for The Ontario Review, the literary quarterly for which her husband is the editor. Oates received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1961.

Oates taught at the University of Detroit, publishing her first novel, With Shuddering Fall, when she was 28. Her novel then received the National Book Award in 1970. Oates has also written several books, mostly mystery novels, under the pen names Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly. She also taught at the University of Windsor in Canada for ten years before moving to Princeton in 1978. [Source: Wikipedia]

Oznot, Joseph David ?68

Oznot, Joseph David, was probably the best known character admitted to the University in his time. His qualifications were eminently meritorious. The Admission Office's file on him showed that at high school in East Lansing, Michigan, he was a top student, a classicist, a concert pianist, and class treasurer, with College Examination Board scores in the 700s.

Notice of his admission to the Class of 1968 was accordingly sent him on April 16, 1964, and on the same day his name duly appeared on the official admission list posted in West College. Two days later newspapers from coast to coast carried an Associated Press report that Joseph David Oznot "was not,'' that the University had been tricked into admitting a fictitious character by a clever, well-executed hoax, perpetrated by six sophomores, four at Princeton, one at Columbia, one at Michigan State University.

The Michigan State sophomore had submitted Oznot's preliminary application for admission in October, giving his fraternity house as Oznot's address. During the Christmas recess the Columbia sophomore came to Princeton for Oznot's interview at the Admission Office and made a favorable impression. In January two of the Princeton sophomores took Oznot's College Board exams, with highly creditable results. The final application papers, with space for marks and comment by the high school, were received by the Michigan State sophomore, and carefully filled out by the six conspirators. They settled on April 1 for Oznot's birthday and private detective as the occupation of his father, William H. Oznot ( W.H.O.).

E. Alden Dunham, who was then Director of Admission, found the hoax "ingenious," and took a professional view about Joseph David Oznot. "We would have loved," he said, "to have had him." [Source: Princeton]

G. Mennen Williams '33, Governor of Michigan (1948-1961)

Gerhard Mennen Williams, also known as Soapy Williams, (February 23, 1911–February 2, 1988), was a politician from the U.S. State of Michigan. A Democrat, Williams served for twelve years as Governor of Michigan and also served on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Williams was born in Detroit, Michigan to Henry P. Williams and Elma Mennen—a prominent family. His mother's father, Gerhard H. Mennen, was the founder of the Mennen brand of men's personal care products (now marketed by the Colgate-Palmolive company). Because of this, Williams acquired the popular nickname Soapy.

Williams attended the Salisbury School in Connecticut, a highly exclusive Episcopalian preparatory school. He graduated from Princeton University in 1933 and received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Williams married the former Nancy Quirk daughter of a prominent Ypsilanti family involved in banking and paper milling. While attending the university, she met Mr. Williams on a blind date. The couple married in 1937. The union produced a son, G. Mennen Williams Jr., and two daughters, Nancy Ketterer III and Wendy Stock Williams.

While at law school, Williams became affiliated with the Democratic Party, departing from his family's strong ties to the Republican Party. He worked with the law firm Griffiths, Williams and Griffiths from 1936 to 1941. During World War II, he served four years in the United States Navy as an air combat intelligence officer in the South Pacific. He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander and earned ten battle stars.

Williams was named to the state Liquor Control Commission in 1947. The following year he was elected Governor with the support of labor unions and dissident Republicans. He was subsequently elected to a record six two-year terms in that post. Williams left office on January 1, 1961, having served for twelve years, a record equalled only by William Milliken and John Engler. Williams unsuccessfully challenged United States Senator Robert P. Griffin in the 1966 election, but two years later was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. Williams was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1970, and in 1983 was named Chief Justice. He left the Court on January 1, 1987 and died February 2, 1988. There was a formal military funeral for him and he was buried in the Protestant Cemetery on Mackinac Island. [Source: Wikipedia]

Cause, or Coincidence?

Why are the University of Michigan's football helmets so similar to Princeton's?

Princeton Football Coach "Fritz" Crisler Moves to Michigan, 1938

Michigan's football helmet is surely one of the most instantly recognizable icons in college sports. The famous "winged" design dates from 1938 when Coach Herbert O. "Fritz" Crisler arrived from Princeton to begin a new era in Michigan football.

Crisler (January 12, 1899 in Earlsville, Illinois - August 19, 1982) was head football coach at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1947. He also coached at Princeton University (1932-1938) and the University of Minnesota (1930-1931). He played football at the University of Chicago under Amos Alonzo Stagg, who nicknamed him Fritz after violinist Fritz Kreisler.

After retiring from coaching, he served as the university's athletic director. At Michigan, Crisler won 71 games, lost 16, and tied one for a winning percentage of .805. Known for his innovative strategies, Crisler is credited with popularizing the two-platoon system, in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. At Michigan, Crisler is also well-known for the distinctive winged football helmet he introduced in 1938. The Michigan football team has worn a version of his design ever since. Crisler had first introduced the winged helmet at Princeton in 1935, whose football team also still wears that design.

Crisler's 1947 team, dubbed the "Mad Magicians," had an undefeated campaign, capping it off with a 49-0 Rose Bowl triumph over Southern California. Afterwards, the team was selected the national champion by the Associated Press in an unprecedented post-bowl vote. (Notre Dame, which was voted champion at the end of the regular season, disputes the validity of this vote.) Crisler Arena, home of the Michigan men's and women's basketball teams, was named for Crisler.

Michiganer Edward S. Corwin, Princeton Professor, 1905-1946

Edward S. Corwin was born to Frank Adelbert and Dora Lyndon Corwin in Plymouth, Michigan on January 19, 1878. He was president of his class and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan in 1900. He received his Ph.D. from the University o f Pennsylvania in 1905. He married Mildred Sutcliffe Smith on June 28, 1909.

Corwin was a renowned authority on United States constitutional law and theory, administrative law, international law, and jurisprudence. One of the original group of preceptors hired at Princeton University by Woodrow Wilson in 1905, Corwin became a full professor in 1911 and assumed Wilson's McCormick Professorship in Jurisprudence in 1918. Corwin was also the first chairman of Princeton's Department of Politics, which he headed from 1924 to 1935.

A prolific author, Corwin wrote more than 20 books, including The Constitution and What It Means Today (1928). His other books include John Marshall and the Constitution (1919); The Twilight of The Supreme Court (1935); The Comm erce Power Versus States Rights--Back to the Constitution (1936); Court Over Constitution (1938); The President--Office and Powers (1940); Constitutional Revolution (1941); The Constitution and World Organization (1944); Total War and the Constitution (1947); Liberty Against Government (1948); and A Constitution of Powers in a Secular State (1951). Corwin was also co-editor of The War Cyclopedia (1917).

In addition to teaching and writing, Corwin was an advisor to the Public Works Administration in 1935, and in 1936 and 1937 he served under the U.S. Attorney General as a special assistant and consultant on constitutional questions. In 1937 he gave ful l support to President Roosevelt's Supreme Court reorganization plan. In 1954 he served as chairman of a national committee which opposed the Bricker Amendment to restrict the treaty-making powers of the President.

Corwin was a president of the American Political Science Association and a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was also a member of the American Historical Association, the Southern Political Science Association and the Institut Internatio nal de Droit Public.
Corwin retired from Princeton in 1946 as McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus. Following his retirement, he taught at Columbia University, the University of Virginia, New York University School of Law, Emory University, the University of Minne sota, and the University of Washington though he continued to live in Princeton. He died on April 29, 1963.

Princeton and Michigan Share National Football Championship Title, 1903

According to www.ncaasports.com, in 1903, Princeton University and the University of Michigan, both with perfect records of 11-0-0, were nationally recognized winners of the National Football Championship Title for college football. Pictured is the Princeton Squad. Worthy of note is the fact that Michigan never played Princeton that year, and never beat any east coast "Ivy League" team until 1909.

Princetonian Major John Biddle Represents Michigan in US Congress, 1829

BIDDLE, John, a Delegate from the Territory of Michigan; born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 2, 1792; attended the common schools and Princeton College; enlisted in the War of 1812; appointed a second lieutenant in the Third Artillery July 6, 1812, first lieutenant March 13, 1813, and captain in the Forty-second Infantry October 1, 1813; assistant inspector general with the rank of major, June 19, 1817-June 1, 1821; attached to the staff of General Scott on the Niagara frontier; paymaster and Indian agent at Green Bay, Wis., 1821 and 1822; register of the land at Detroit, Territory of Michigan, 1823-1837; commissioner for determining the ancient land claims at Detroit, Mackinaw, Sault Ste. Marie, Green Bay, and Prairie du Chien; mayor of Detroit in 1827 and 1828; elected a Delegate from the Territory of Michigan to the Twenty-first Congress and served until his resignation on February 21, 1831 (March 4, 1829-February 21, 1831); president of the convention that framed the State constitution for Michigan, 1835; president of the Michigan Central Railroad Co., 1835; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1835; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Michigan; member of the State house of representatives in 1841 and served as speaker; retired from public life and active pursuits and resided on his farm near Wyandotte, Mich.; later spent much time on his estate near St. Louis, Gratiot County, Mich.; went to White Sulphur Springs, Va., for the summer, and died there August 25, 1859; interment in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Mich. [Source: US Congress]