Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni (APGA)
2010 Commission on Graduate Alumni Relations
Commissioner Biographies
Rev. 10-29-09

Peter D. Bell *64 P*04 (Chair) has been a senior research fellow at Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations since September 2007. He has also cochaired the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS and chairs the facilitation group for the NGO Leaders Forum. Previously, he served for 10 years as president of CARE USA, one of the world’s largest private relief and development organizations. Before becoming president of CARE in 1995, he had been a member of its board of directors for seven years, the last five as its chair. Mr. Bell has a long-standing commitment to fighting poverty, advancing human rights and preventing violent conflict. As president of The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for nine years before joining CARE, he sought to improve conditions for people who are poor and disadvantaged, primarily in the United States. Mr. Bell was a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1984 to 1986, and president of the Inter-American Foundation, which supports grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 1980 to 1983. He served as deputy under-Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter Administration. Earlier, he worked for the Ford Foundation for 12 years, including 10 with its Latin American program. Mr. Bell’s volunteer positions include being vice chair of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, a director of The Global Water Challenge, a director of Transparency International-USA, a trustee of the World Peace Foundation and chairman emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue. He was formerly chair of the ONE Campaign, a director of Human Rights Watch, chair of the Refugee Policy Group and chair of the advisory council of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. In recognition of his work as a global philanthropist and humanitarian, the APGA awarded him the Madison Medal in 2003. Mr. Bell has published articles on international affairs in major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and The Christian Science Monitor, and in various journals and books. A native of Gloucester, MA, Mr. Bell is a graduate of Yale College and obtained a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and has lived in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Japan.

Daniel Abramowicz *84 is an executive vice president, Technology and Regulatory Affairs, Crown Holdings, with global responsibility for technology development, including new product design, process improvements, materials developments, engineering, and systems that enable process monitoring, database management, and cost reductions across the breadth of Crown’s packaging products (food cans and ends; beverage cans and ends; aerosol containers; metal vacuum closures; specialty packaging; and packaging equipment). In addition, Dr.
Abramowicz heads Crown’s Environment, Health and Safety Organization and Crown’s Sustainability Initiative. Before joining Crown, Dr. Abramowicz was a technical director in the GE Global Research Center. In this leadership role, he was responsible for technology development across GE’s Industrial and Consumer Businesses, including Appliances, Lighting, Transportation Systems, Industrial Control Systems, and Electrical Distribution & Control. In an earlier role with GE, Dr. Abramowicz headed GE’s Environmental Laboratory, utilizing chemical, biological and physical methods to develop innovative remediation and pollution prevention systems, as well as methods of green product design. Dr. Abramowicz received a B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Mathematics & Computer Science from St. Francis University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Princeton University. He was an adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a past president of the APGA (2004 to 2006), and a past director for the Industrial Research Institute. He is currently serving as the vice-chair of the Board of Trustees at Salus University, as the chair of the Advisory Board of the Clemson University Department of Packaging, as chair of The President’s Advisory Board of Conwell Egan Catholic High School, and as a member of the Executive Corporate Committee of The Franklin Institute Science Museum.

Christina Bodurow Erwin *84 joined Eli Lilly in 1984 in the Chemical Process Research Division after completing a Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry at Princeton University. She was a member of the team that produced the first 3.2 kg of loracarbef for Clinical Trials (later the product Lorabid), and directed a research program to investigate organic synthesis techniques for the construction of betalactam antibiotics. In 1989, Dr. Erwin became the Ph.D. recruiter for the company, responsible for the recruitment of all biologists, chemists, and post-doctoral fellows for Lilly Research Laboratories (LRL). She was also involved in a number of academic outreach programs, such as FAMILY, Academic Relations Committee, Science Education Committee, and initiated a program of fellowships to cultivate relationships with key critical universities which supply scientists to LRL. In 1991, Dr. Erwin became head of Pharmaceutical and Analytical Chemistry in the Pharmaceutical Product Development Division. Her role included responsibility for analytical chemistry related to the commercial development of “small” molecule products. Her department produced registration phase analytical packages for products in development, such as dirithromycin, Gemzar, Zyprexa, and Cymbalta, as well as support for marketed products like Ceclor and Prozac. In July 1995, Chris joined Pharmaceutical Projects Management and led the early phase development efforts for a number of Lilly’s Neuroscience projects. During that time, working closely with senior management in the Neuroscience Business Unit, she founded the Prozac Product Team and became its chief operating officer from 1996 to 2001.
In 2001, Dr. Erwin was promoted to director of operations for the Xigris Product Team and led the global R&D activities for that product, including its submission, approval and launch activities in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Most recently, Dr. Erwin has been serving as the senior director of operations for the Product Research and Development component in LRL. In 2004, she founded this new division of approximately 80 who are responsible for all the pan-component business processes in PR&D. In addition, she has served as the Six Sigma Champion for the division. Outside of work, Dr. Erwin has been an adjunct professor of chemistry at both Butler and IUPUI (1985 to 1993). She has also been extensively involved and a member for 30 years in the American Chemical Society (ACS). Following a three-year term as the national chair of the Women Chemists Committee, she became the chair of the Indiana Section of the ACS. As a result of her work in the development of female chemists and scientists, she was selected as the 2001 recipient of the ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences sponsored by The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Dr. Erwin’s current extracurricular interests include being the vice chair of Directors of the Board of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Advisory Committee of the Princeton University Chemistry Department, and the Leadership Council for the Graduate School.

 

Eileen Guggenheim *82 P08 is an educator and philanthropist who currently serves as chair of the New York Academy of Art. She also has served on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and the Prince’s Foundation, an organization founded by the Prince of Wales. She is founder and president of the Villore Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports educational institutions in the arts internationally. She has taught at Princeton University and served as professor and head of Art History, dean of students, and vice president of Development at the New York Academy of Art. She is a member of the Leadership Council for the Graduate School. Dr. Guggenheim holds a Ph.D. in Art and Archaeology from Princeton and a master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She lives in New York with her husband, Russell, daughter, Isabel, and Cairn terrier, Duncan.

 

 

Wesley Harris *68 is the Charles Stark Draper Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, associate provost, and director of the Lean Sustainment Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Harris has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1972, leaving from 1985 to 1990 to serve as professor and dean of engineering at the University of Connecticut, and headed the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2003 to 2008). He served as Associate Administrator for Aeronautics responsible for all programs, facilities, and personnel in Aeronautics at NASA (1993 to 1995). From 1990 to 1993, he was vice president and chief administrative officer of the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Dr. Harris earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering (with honors) from the University of Virginia and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton. He is a member of the Leadership Council for the Graduate School, former elected trustee of Princeton (2001 to 2005), and a former member of Leadership Council for the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Harris has served as chair and member of various boards and committees of the National Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Science Board, and several state governments. He is an elected fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Helicopter Society, and the National Technical Association for personal engineering achievements, engineering education, management, and advancing cultural diversity. He has been recognized by election to membership in the National Academy of Engineering, the Cosmos Club, and the Confrerie des Chavaliers du Tastevin. He has been awarded several honorary doctoral degrees.

 

Ann Kirschner *78 is university dean of Macaulay Honors College, the City University of New York. She began her career as a lecturer in Victorian literature at Princeton University, where she earned a Ph.D. in English. Her career as an entrepreneur in media and technology included the creation of satellite and internet businesses for the National Football League and Columbia University’s online education company, Fathom. A frequent contributor to conferences and publications, Ann Kirschner was named one of New York Magazine’s “Millennium New Yorkers” and honored as a distinguished graduate of Princeton University and University of Buffalo. She serves on the Board of Directors of Apollo, BPP, Public Agenda, the American Friends of Open University of Israel, the Leadership Council for the Graduate School, and the Princeton University English Department Advisory Council. Dr. Kirschner is the author of SALA’S GIFT (Simon and Schuster/Free Press, 2006), the story of her mother’s wartime rescue of letters from Nazi labor camps, published also in German, Polish, Italian, French, and Chinese editions. The original letters are in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library, and are the subject of a traveling exhibit in the United States and Europe, a theatrical play by Arlene Hutton, and a documentary film by Murray Nossel. She is currently at work on a biography of Josephine Marcus Earp. She received a B.A. in English from State University of New York at Buffalo, an M.A. in English from University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in English from Princeton University, where she was a Whiting Fellow in the Humanities. She lives in New York with her husband, Dr. Harold Weinberg, and is the mother of Elisabeth, Caroline, and Peter.

 

Laurence C. Morse *80 began his career in venture capital in 1983 as an associate at UNC Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital investment firm. In 1988, he joined Equico Capital Corporation, a venture capital investment subsidiary of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, as vice president. In 1992, Dr. Morse participated in the privitization of Equico Capital as a founding principal of TSG Ventures, the inaugural investment fund of TSG Capital Group of Stamford, Connecticut. In 1994, he co-founded Fairview Capital Partners, Inc., an independent investment management firm that creates and manages private equity fund-of-funds investment vehicles for public and corporate pension funds, and other institutional investors. As a general partner of Fairview’s fifteen managed funds aggregating more than $3.0 billion, Dr. Morse has participated in the investment of more than $1 billion in more than 60 traditional and specialized venture capital and private equity limited partnerships and currently serves on the advisory boards of a number of such private equity funds including Battery Ventures, ICV Capital Partners, Sierra Ventures, Trinity Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), to name a few. Dr. Morse also serves on the Leadership Council for the Graduate School. He is a past chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Investment Companies, a private, non-profit trade association representing some 40 private equity and specialty finance investment firms with approximately $9 billion in aggregate capital under management; and a member of the boards of directors of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS), the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO), the Institute of International Education and the national board of The English Speaking Union of the United States. In January 2003, he was named one of “The Top 10 Minds in Small Business” by Fortune Small Business Magazine. Dr. Morse graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Howard University with a B.A. in Economics, having spent his junior year at The London School of Economics and Political Science as a Luard Scholar. He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics at Princeton University and has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.