About Us
October 28, 2016
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Selection Committee Announced
Watson Fellows Elizabeth Arend '02, Zahid Chaudhary '97, Tabitha Decker '01, and Craig Safan '70, join Executive Director, Chris Kasabach, to form the 49th Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Selection Committee.
Elizabeth Arend '02
As a Watson Fellow, Elizabeth studied reproductive health law and policy in Ireland, South Africa, Egypt and the Netherlands.
Elizabeth serves as Quality Improvement Advisor for the National Council for Behavioral Health in Washington, DC. She has published original research in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the Journal of Homosexuality, and the African Journal of AIDS Research. Her opinion pieces have been published in the New York Times and the Guardian.
Zahid Chaudhary '97
During his Watson Fellowship, Zahid studied the rise of cultural nationalism in Scotland with emphasis on the place of race in Scottish cultural politics.
He is an Associate Professor in Princeton's English department specializing in postcolonial studies, visual culture, and critical theory. His courses range across literary and visual texts, and always assume a global context. His first book, Afterimage of Empire: Photography in Nineteenth-century India, analyzed how the invention of photography transforms human perception and our notions of truth, memory, and objectivity, and the role of politics in shaping such notions. His current book project, entitled Impunity, is about Cold War catastrophes that continue to have effects on global cultural politics. Zahid earned his PhD in English from Cornell University.
Tabitha Decker '01
Tabitha studied the experiences of women taxi drivers in Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, and Dubai during her Watson Fellowship. She subsequently returned to Dubai in 2009-2010 as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow to conduct ethnographic research on the political significance of the creation of the city’s Metro for her doctoral dissertation.
Tabitha is the Director of Research at Transit Center, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to improving urban mobility, where she is leading a campaign to improve the reliability and speed of NYC's buses. Prior to joining Transit Center, Tabitha was Program Director of IHP Cities in the 21st Century: People, Planning, and Politics, a multi-site study abroad program based in New York, São Paulo, Cape Town, Hanoi, Ahmedabad, Buenos Aires, and Dakar. Tabitha received her PhD in Sociology from Yale University.
Craig Safan '70
During his Watson Fellowship, Craig examined the rise of electronic music and "pop operas" in England. Over the next 40 years Craig he composed the music for many feature films, television shows, TV movies, mini-series, theatrical musicals, and circuses. He has been nominated for an Emmy and has received eight ASCAP awards. Craig was recently awarded the Poledouris Film Music Legend Award by the International Film Music Festival in Cordoba, Spain. His new CD, "Rough Magic", based on his impressions of Paleolithic art work, was released this year. Craig is a 30-year member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he sits on the Music Executive Committee.