New this year, the award recognizes faculty who have made exceptional contributions in service to Princeton not only within, but also beyond their academic departments. It was established to better steward, recognize and honor the faculty service which is so vital to the life and success of the University.

“Good citizenship and selfless service are essential to the health of any university community, but too often they go unrecognized,” said President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “I am therefore grateful to Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett for creating the Distinguished Faculty Service Award, and I am especially delighted that the first honorees are Sandie Bermann and Rick Register. They are wonderful people who have served Princeton with distinction and positive energy; indeed, I cannot imagine any more deserving recipients.”

All nominations were reviewed by a University-wide committee consisting of the dean of the faculty, the dean of the Graduate School, the dean of the college, the vice dean for diversity and inclusion, and the clerk of the faculty. In future years, award recipients will also serve on this jury.

The honorees are recognized with a dinner at Prospect House, a medal, and a monetary award.

Said Jarrett, “I have been privileged to work with the president and colleagues to develop an award to honor our Princeton faculty for their remarkable University-wide service — indeed, for the kinds of service, not only within but also beyond their academic departments, that contribute immensely to the life and success of the University.” [Read Jarrett's full remarks.]

Sandie Bermann

Sandie Bermann, a specialist in translation, literary theory and 20th-century French and Italian literature, joined the Princeton faculty in 1976. 

Over the years, Bermann has served the University as a member of many faculty committees and in numerous leadership roles, several of which have been student facing.

“I take particular joy not only in receiving [the Distinguished Faculty Service Award] with my friend and colleague, Rick Register, but also in knowing the award will continue being given well into the future, honoring so many colleagues now serving Princeton or who will do so in years to come,” Bermann said.

She added: “Princeton and its people entered my heart from day one. I’ve seen the University change in such positive ways over the near half-century I have been a part of it, and I’ve tried to give back whenever I could to share my gratitude for the dynamic life this University offers.”

Bermann spent more than four years on the Committee on Committees, which nominates faculty candidates for committee service, and over two years on the University Student Life Committee. She was twice elected to the C3 (Committee on Appointments and Advancements) and served as acting clerk of the faculty from 2022-23. Bermann also served as chair of the Department of Comparative Literature from 1998 to 2010, and she co-founded the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication in 2007.

In addition to her dozens of other committee service roles related to academics, student life, and diversity and inclusion, Bermann served as head of Whitman College from 2011-19, and of Stevenson Hall from 1984-93. 

Bermann has been a key contributor to international learning opportunities at Princeton, serving as chair of the President’s Bridge Year Program planning group in 2008. She was founder and director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies’ Migration Research Community from 2016-19, and director of the Fung Global Fellows Program from 2020-21.

Tom Hare, the William Sauter LaPorte ’28 Professor in Regional Studies, and professor and chair of the Department of Comparative Literature, said that, to the present day, Bermann possesses “the same cheerful energy, the same willingness to help, the same enthusiasm and love for this institution” that first persuaded him to move to Princeton.

“Sandie served indefatigably as chair of comparative literature in what I see as its most crucial transitional years, as it expanded its vision of the discipline, as it grew under her leadership and became the most prominent department of its kind in the U.S.,” Hare said. “It has been a great pleasure and privilege to work with her, as my chair and as my colleague, in a range of creative initiatives that she conceived.”

Bermann is the author of “The Sonnet Over Time: Studies in the Sonnets of Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Baudelaire,” translator of Manzoni’s “On the Historical Novel,” and co-editor of “Nation, Language, and the Ethics of Translation” and “A Companion to Translation Studies.” She is a recipient of Whiting and Fulbright fellowships, has been a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, and served as president of the American Comparative Literature Association from 2007-09, and president of the International Comparative Literature Association from 2019-22. 

Rick Register

Rick Register joined the faculty in 1990 as an assistant professor. He is a leader in the study of complex materials, specializing in materials synthesis, processing, structure and properties, and transport phenomena. 

Register was elected to several University committees early in his tenure, and found himself stepping into leadership roles as his career progressed. He has served Princeton as a member of six different standing faculty committees, including seven-plus years on the Committee on Committees and five years on the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School.

“I knew that each of these committees did important work for the University, but what I didn’t appreciate beforehand was how much I would learn from serving on these committees,” Register said. “Those experiences enriched my appreciation for Princeton, and were particularly helpful later on, when I served in other roles where I worked with faculty and staff across campus.”

“It’s a real honor to be chosen for this award, when there are so many other deserving candidates,” he added.

Alongside his teaching responsibilities, Register served as director of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials from 2005-08, chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering from 2008-16, and director of graduate studies for chemical engineering and chemical and biological engineering from 1998 to 2003 and 2020 to 2021, respectively.

Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, noted Register’s consistent ability to go above and beyond his call of duty.

“Simply put, Rick has been an extraordinary University citizen,” Maravelias said. “In addition to the major leadership roles he has held and the numerous committees he has served in, he is also always willing to help with all sorts of departmental tasks — from enthusiastically participating in student recruiting to consistently attending faculty meetings.”

Register is the author of more than 200 journal articles. He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society and American Institute of Chemical Engineers, which awarded him the Charles M.A. Stine Award in 2002. At Princeton, he received the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s inaugural Distinguished Service Award in 2023 and its Distinguished Teacher Award in 2018. He was also recognized with the Graduate Mentoring Award in 2008.

Nominations for the 2026 Distinguished Faculty Service Award will open again in summer 2025. The nomination form will be made available on the Office of the Dean of the Faculty’s website.