Shields ’87, Picoult ’87 to return for 25th Reunion

Shields and Picoult will be two of about 20,000 alumni who come back to the University each spring for discussions, community service projects, parties and concerts. Though Shields spoke at Class Day at last year’s graduation ceremony, this will be her first time attending Reunions, she said.

Shields said in an email she was excited to return to campus for Reunions because she enjoys “seeing the growth and educational advancement of the undergrads.”

In order to help make the most of their undergraduate careers, Shields said students should be sure to balance work and extracurricular activities.

“Study hard, play hard, take your thesis seriously and don’t feel entitled,” Shields said.

Picoult said in an email that she has been back to the University several times to speak at events with the creative writing department, the Friends of the Princeton University Library and Whitman College. She also spoke at the “She Roars” conference last year, which celebrated women at Princeton. She will be attending this year’s Reunions with her husband, Tim Van Leer ’86, who will be attending his 26th Reunion.

Picoult said traveling from her Hanover, N.H. home was difficult but that Reunions was worth it.

“It’s great to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in ages and to marvel at the beauty of the campus and how it’s changed,” Picoult said.

Despite the success and fame they each have achieved, Picoult and Shields said returning for Reunions made them feel humbled by other alumni.

“I feel especially humbled around the most recent alumni because they are our future,” Shields said.

“I wouldn’t mind pulling up a chair beside [First Lady] Michelle Obama [’85],” Picoult noted.

Part of the connection Shields and Picoult still feel with the University comes from the impact certain professors had on their lives and careers, they said.

Specifically, Picoult credited former creative writing professor Mary Morris with shaping who she is today. While at Princeton, Picoult had two short stories published in Seventeen Magazine.

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Shields noted that some of the professors that taught her helped improve her self-confidence and recognize her potential. A concentrator in Romance languages and literature focusing principally on French, Shields gave particular credit to former Romance languages professor Karl Uitti, French professor emeritus Andre Maman and French professor Francois Rigolot.

She said they were all “strong professors that helped me believe in myself.”

Picoult noted that even though the current job market and economic climate is worse than the one she graduated into, current students should still benefit from the education they received at the University.

“Hang in there,” Picoult said. “The real world is a much less forgiving place than the one I entered, at least in terms of jobs and economy. But the education you’ve received here has equipped you to continue to raise discussions with others and hopefully make this planet a smaller, kinder, gentler place.”

Meg Whitman ’77, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a member of the University’s Board of Trustees, will be celebrating her 35th Reunion. Representatives of Whitman did not respond to a request for comment.