The Resident Graduate Student (RGS) program is intended to enhance the residential college experience and help foster a fully integrated campus community that unites undergraduates of all four years, graduate students and faculty across the disciplines.
Office of the Dean of the College
How does the Edwards Collective manage to pull off so many rich and exciting events? The Resident Graduate Student program! Throughout the academic year, two graduate students help Collective members plan visits to exhibits and facilitate performances. In addition to external events, Edwards Collective RGSs also host regular brunches and run bi-weekly study breaks. Feel free to reach out to them with inquiries into Collective life!
I believe learning is a communal event… [The Collective] explicitly makes communal life its purpose. And that’s a double blessing for me in my role as a RGS of the Edwards Collective.
-Denis Z. (previous Edwards RGS)
Peter Benson (pbenson@) hails from the coast of Virginia. He’s an introvert but occasional performer, an amateur photographer of off-the-map locations, and a writer. As a certified scuba diver he’s swum with sharks and barracudas and found them to be delightful companions. His nieces and nephews describe him as a storyteller and voice-actor.
A 6th year in the English department, Peter studies nineteenth-century literature, theology, and speculative fiction. Prior to his current studies he attained masters degrees in divinity and literature. Ask him about ghosts and androids.
Claire Massy-Paoli (cm8048@) is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the department of French & Italian. Ask her why she chose to study French literature in the US–she may answer that, once, she had a fancy for John Waters’ movies, and that it made her stay.
A former student from the Conservatory, you can still hear her playing some Bach on her violin. Claire also spends her time dancing, reading, and walking around Princeton. What about her life as a scholar? It’s all the same. She can be shooting a stop-motion movie, or preparing an 800k walk, it will all end up in an article (or in a good story).
A newcomer to the US and Princeton, Claire also speaks Spanish and will welcome any chat about arts and life – isn’t it the same?