Paul Muldoon, Peter Benchley, Gina Kolata, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Emily Mann to be celebrity volunteers

Princeton University President Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman will be Honorary Chair for the New Jersey Unit of Recording of the Blind & Dyslexic's (RFB&D) 2004 Record-A-Thon (R-A-T) which takes place April 19-24 at the unit's studios in St. Joseph's Seminary in Plainsboro.

PLAINSBORO, NJ--Princeton University President Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman has agreed to serve as Honorary Chair for the New Jersey Unit of Recording of the Blind & Dyslexic's (RFB&D) 2004 Record-A-Thon (R-A-T), according to James R. Marhold, the unit's executive director.

Tilghman,  a world-renowned scholar and leader in the field of molecular biology, served on the Princeton faculty for 15 years before being named president in 2001.She was also one of the founding members of the National Advisory Council of the Human Genome Project Initiative for the National Institutes of Health and renowned not only for her pioneering research, but for her national leadership on behalf of women in science and for promoting efforts to make the early careers of young scientists as meaningful and productive as possible.

Record-A-Thon is RFB&D's annual event to increase awareness about the organization, raise funds for the local unit's operation and produce textbooks needed by its members for the coming semester. This year's event takes place the week of April 19-24 at the unit's studios in St. Joseph's Seminary in Plainsboro.

Tilghman is among many celebrities who will volunteer that week including Henry Louis Gates, Jr., visiting professor at the Insitute for Advanced Studies, Chair of the Department African and African American Studies at Harvard University and author of numerous books, most recently America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans; 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry Paul Muldoon; New York Times science reporter and author Gina Kolata; Peter Benchley author of Shark Trouble, Jaws and The Deep; Princeton Borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchly; Rep. Rush Holt; New York Times restaurant critic Karla Cook; poet and Home News Tribune editor Charles H. Johnson; professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Studies and author Freeman Dyson; Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes; McCarter Theater Artistic Director, playwright and director Emily Mann; historian and Cuba expert Jane Frankin; Time magazine science writer Michael Lemonick; Princeton University Professor of English Lawrence Danson.

Major supporters of the event include lead sponsor Nassau Broadcasting Partners, L.P., studio sponsors PSE&G and Caliper and booth sponsors Volvo of Princeton and Bloomberg.

RFB&D, a Princeton-based nonprofit, is the nation's educational library for students who cannot read standard print effectively because of a disability. Founded in 1948, RFB&D serves more than 117,000 students from kindergarten to graduate school and beyond with its library of 98,000 recorded textbooks. More than two-thirds of RFB&D's members have learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

The New Jersey Unit is home to one of 29 recording studios throughout the nation that record material distributed by the national library. Nearly 500 volunteers record texts, provide audio production support and assist with the unit?s fundraising efforts. Volunteers also help the unit provide educational outreach services to schools throughout the state. More than 5,000 New Jersey students are RFB&D members.

Click here for more information about Record-A-Thon 2004