A few weeks ago, just shy of three years, said goodbye to my home department, and said hello to another one at Princeton. Besides the dramatic change of scenery, I have discovered there are really good departments, and really great ones. I always suspected this was the case, but now have indisputable evidence.

These days I’m surrounded by tremendous works of art–some of which have been under the University’s stewardship for over a hundred years, and all part of a collection that soon will enc...