2 minute read
With Wisdom
15 MINUTES WITH
CAROL CRONHEIM ’82
Carol Cronheim ’82 enjoyed a long career in government, including four years as Assistant Secretary of State, focusing on the social and economic benefits of the arts and history to improving the quality of life for the people of New Jersey. Carol is now advisor to the Graduate Interclub Council at Princeton University. She earned her BA in the classics from Princeton, her MA in politics from Rutgers, and a PhD in planning and public policy, also from Rutgers.
How did you choose your career path? I didn’t really choose it; it chose me. Thanks to Kent Place faculty member Mr. Appleton, at Princeton I majored in Latin and Ancient Greek. After graduation, I had an offer to teach Latin at the Peck School, but in the same week I received an offer from New Jersey Governor Kean’s Office of Constituent Relations. I figured I’d do that for a year and then teach. I wound up staying in government and politics, and still serve on state and county boards.
What’s been the most fulfilling part of your career? Working with our arts and history communities to create vibrant downtowns, bring tourists to the state, and improve education for our students — it’s all been an honor. The creativity of our nonprofit sector and the professionalism I’ve seen in state government always impress me, no matter the hurdles that must be overcome. For example, New Jersey didn’t lose a single theater during the pandemic, and that didn’t happen by accident: It took hard work by advocates, government, and nonprofit leaders.
What achievement are you most proud of? Working 24/7 to help elect the first — and still only — woman governor of New Jersey. I started on Christie Whitman’s primary campaign as an intern in grad school and rolled over into paid staff for the general election. All along the way, the “experts” told me I was putting my money on the wrong horse. They were wrong, and I spent the next eight years in various positions in the Whitman administration, including speech writer, acting secretary of state, and deputy chief of policy and planning.
What challenges did you face? When I began in government, there were no written sexual harassment policies. Women were definitely in the minority in the State House in Trenton and in Congress. As a young woman, I wasn’t always taken seriously, and progress in this area is still too slow.
What advice would you give today’s students? I’d say to be more thoughtful about what you want to do with your future, take more risks, and be more adventurous. A speaker at our KPS graduation said, “At eighteen, about a quarter of your life has already passed. How do you want to spend the rest of it?” That stuck with me.
What are three items you can’t live without? A cup of hot tea, my family, and the Jersey Shore.
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NONPROFIT ORG. U.S.POSTAGE PAID
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ PERMIT NO. 1
—JULIA MESSERMAN ’24, A VOLUNTEER WITH THE SEEING EYE PUPPY-RAISING PROGRAM
