DEAN PAUL OFFERS A FEW WORDS OF WISDOM BEFORE HE LEAVES THE U. TO BECOME SENIOR EDITOR OF HUFFPOST RELIGION: “LIFE HAPPENS.”
Name: Paul Brandeis Raushenbush
Campus title: Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel
Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
President Robert F. Goheen
Where’s the best place to eat in town?
Any College
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
Create opportunities for students to answer three questions: 1) What do I believe? 2) What does my roommate believe? 3) How do our beliefs affect the way we live our lives?
What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Reading the same book many times.
I read that you used to be a DJ and record producer in Spain. How did you get from there to here?
A wonderful series of encounters with beautiful people. Life happens.
How can religious media coverage in the US be improved today?
Let more religious voices be heard.
What is your favorite quote?
“The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come. Bye now. You are fabulous creatures, each and every one. And I bless you: More Life. The great Work Begins.” – from Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Perestroika
Where do you do your best thinking?
Exercising
What are you pitching this week?
Yom Hashoah piece written by a Muslim Imam and former Holocaust denier.
Describe your 8-year-old self in five words or less.
Motivated, Confused, Precocious, Red Head
What is the best place on campus?
My office in Murray Dodge
Worst place?
Any place of despair.
What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Unfortunately, it is reach for my iPhone.
What makes you laugh?
Beauty and naughtiness
What makes you cry?
A profound truth revealed and people in pain
What do you hope to leave as your legacy at Princeton?
A more robust religious life and the valuation of wonder
Do you have any funny nicknames?
Dean Paul
Pet peeve?
Loud cell phone talkers
When’s bedtime?
11:00-ish (it gets earlier as I get older)
Complete the sentence: In ten years, I will be…
Going to bed earlier.
What makes someone a Princetonian?
Anyone who has sung the song; worn the jacket; or felt a sense of pride when the name Princeton is invoked. The first and third include me.