The TigerCard is your University Photo ID card verifying your affiliation with Princeton University. Many University departments will ask to see your TigerCard, including: Firestone Library, the Athletics Department, and the Frist Campus Center Ticket Office. For a fee, spouses are eligible for a TigerCard. It will afford them access to many of the campus amenities, such as the library and gym (gym memberships are paid separately).

You may obtain your TigerCard anytime after your appointment date. The TigerCard Office is on the A floor of the New South building (609-258-8300).

Your TigerCard acts as your library card for all of the Princeton University libraries. You must present your Tiger Card at Firestone Library’s Circulation Desk in order to have it activated for borrowing. Once it is swiped into the main library’s system, you may use it at any of the associated libraries on campus. 

If you will be parking a car on the Princeton campus during business hours, you are required to obtain a no-fee virtual parking permit from the Transportation and Parking Services Office on the A floor of the New South building. Please visit the Transportation and Parking website for details on how to register your vehicle. You will need to provide the license plate number, model, make, and year of your vehicle. You must park only in your designated lot or risk being ticketed by Department of Public Safety. You may register up to five cars, but you may park only one vehicle on campus at a time. 

There may or may not be a phone in an office assigned to you.  In most recent years, most fellows have just opted to continue to use their mobile phones. If you would like a Princeton extension please let Debby know, and she see if one can be configured at your desk.  

For those with a campus phone:

• On Campus Calling Procedures: In order to dial an on-campus extension, you will dial internally by entering “8” followed by the last four digits of the on-campus phone number you wish to call. These four digits are referred to as the “extension”.
• Outside Calling Procedures: In order to place a long-distance call off campus from a campus phone, you must first dial “9” for an outside line, then “1”, then the area code and phone number. The greater Princeton area is now a ten-digit dialing area, so for any numbers, even local, you must dial 9-1-area code-phone number when calling from a campus phone.

The University telecommunications office will e-mail you (to your Princeton email address) instructions for setting up your voicemail. By following these instructions, you can set up your own voicemail and record a personalized message to be played when you are out of the office. If you miss a call, the system will send you an email with the time of the call and phone number of the caller. You’ll also receive voicemails left for you via an emailed mp3.

Wireless Access and Politics Department Help Desk

The University provides wireless access through the Eduroam network. You may simply sign on to Eduroam with your [email protected] (important here to use the @princeton.edu) and password.  If you have any difficulty with accessing the internet or other technological issues please reach out to the Politics Department SCAD (Support for Computing in Academic Departments) Jeffrey Kontio, [email protected].  If it is after hours, feel free to contact the University OIT (Office of Information Technology) Help Desk (see next paragraph).

University OIT (Office of Information Technology) Help Desk

The Princeton University OIT Helpdesk (609-258-HELP) supports the entire university, and can assist you with your log-in, email configuration, and passwords. The OIT Helpdesk operates the Princeton Service Portal providing a searchable "Knowledge Base" with Princeton-specific answers to thousands of frequently asked computer questions, and a catalog of any known network or service problems (e.g., in case you're wondering whether your email problem is campus-wide or specific to you). 

If you are having any technical problems during your Fellowship, you can report them to Debby, or if it’s something you are comfortable troubleshooting, simply call the University OIT HelpDesk at 609-258-HELP. They will ask you for your NetID.

All mail sent to you should be addressed to:

[Your Name]
James Madison Program 
Princeton University
83 Prospect Avenue 
Princeton, NJ 08540

A staff member will alert you if you have mail or packages.  Please also check in with Debby any time you are in Bobst Hall if you are expecting something by USPS, UPS, FedEX, or Amazon.

Fellows housed in Whelan Hall may receive mail to Whelan Hall at their discretion. If a package comes delivered to you at Bobst a staff person will alert you via email. The mailing address for Whelan Hall is:

[Your Name]
James Madison Program
Whelan Hall
16 Stockton Street
Princeton, NJ 08540

There is a supply closet located on the second-floor stair landing in Bobst Hall that offers a wide range of office supplies, including Madison Fellows stationery, shipping envelopes, desk accessories, pens, copy paper, a few emergency neck ties, a First Aid kit, and more. Please contact Debby if you would like access to the supply closet.

The shared printers in Bobst Hall, 221 Nassau and Fisher 001 are all on the TigerPrint printer queues.

Installation: Anyone who is using a Windows device can follow the How to add the TigerPrint queues to Windows KB article and Mac users can use the How to add the TigerPrint queues to macOS KB article.

Use: Once you send your print job to the printer you will have up to 4 hours from when you press print on your computer to release the job at a copier before it expires. You can follow the How to use a PaperCut Managed Copier KB article for guidance to do so. If it expires, you will need to send the job again.

Please inform Program staff if you notice a printer is out of ink or paper.

If you have any questions or would like assistance adding these drivers or learning how to use the printers, please email [email protected].

For outgoing domestic flat letter mail that relates to your Fellowship work, the Madison Program uses the University’s online metering service for USPS mail for the program. If you’d like to use this service, please give your mail to Debby, and she will have it processed. It will be picked up from Bobst Hall for delivery first thing the following morning. We do not keep postage stamps in-house. Postage for personal use can be purchased from the Princeton Post Office located on 259 Nassau Street, just behind the 7-11 (4-minute walk from Bobst Hall). 

Campus Mail (or Inter-office mail) is delivered and picked up on a regular schedule from the mailbox area of Bobst Hall. Campus mail envelopes can be found in the supply closet. Be sure to clearly address the envelope to the person / department / office address to whom you wish to send it.

The cost of express delivery services relating to your research may be reimbursed to you, using your available research allowance, with receipt and an accompanying note stating the purpose of the shipment. JMP is not able to handle these shipments for you.  There are various UPS/Fed-Ex drop-off locations in town and on campus. Please refer to the respective service websites for up-to-date information on such drop-off and service locations and hours.

The kitchen on the first floor of Bobst Hall is shared with the Bobst Center. You are free to use the coffee machine, microwave, fridge, and toaster oven in the first-floor kitchen, and you may help yourself to the supplies stored there, such as plates, cups, etc. Please label any personal items that you might place in the refrigerator and remove unused/spoiled items on a weekly basis, and most importantly please clean up after your use of any of the common areas.

The break area at 221 Nassau Street also has a microwave and a Kuerig coffee maker.  The Madison Program will supply general coffee and tea pods; feel free to supplement with any personal favorites. Again, label any personal items you place in the refrigerator, and be sure to remove items on a weekly basis.  

All Bobst Hall office heating and air conditioning is centrally controlled by our facilities department. The heating / cooling system in your office automatically turns on at 8:30 a.m. and shuts off at 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is always off on the weekends. When you are working in your office during off-hours, you can manually turn the heat / air on using the wall thermostat. If you hold down the “Mode” button on the thermostat, it will extend the heat output in two-hour increments. Hold this button down until you see a small blinking clock in the LED window, then let it go. Your heat or A/C should come on within a minute or two of doing that. If you are having any problems with your office heat or AC, please let Debby know.

The Madison Program does not provide benefits to Visiting Fellows as you are maintaining your home institution benefits during your sabbatical year at Princeton. It is critical that you opt out of benefits online via the Self-Service portal.

Postdoctoral Research Associates and International Visiting Fellows will receive your benefits information package by campus mail. Once you have reviewed the benefits package you can enroll in your benefits online. If you have questions about benefits, please call a benefits specialist at 609-258-3302 or visit the HR webpage.

U.S. citizens receiving only Fellowship income receive no year-end reporting form (1099, W-2, or 1042-S) because the University does not know the payee’s personal circumstances to ascertain the taxability or non-taxability of the earnings. You will need to file an individual income tax return for your earnings and should use your final pay stub of the year with year-to-date figures. You can print your pay statements via the HR Self Service portal. Fellows and postdocs are paid once a month, on the last business day of the month. We encourage you to sign up for Direct Deposit, which you can do from the HR Self Service portal. Otherwise, payroll will send your check to the home address they have on file for you.  Please be sure this is correct in HR Self Service.

The James Madison Program will provide you with research support during your fellowship year, payable to you by reimbursement upon receipt of original itemized receipts. These funds are allocated to assist you in your research and are intended to pay for research-related expenses, such as the purchase of books and other research materials (including software), the employment of research assistants, payment of subventions, payment of translation expenses for research materials, research-related travel, and other research-related expenditures. We are not able to reimburse you for the purchase of computer hardware, such as peripherals, digital cameras, phones, iPads, etc. Entertainment expenses during travel are also not reimbursable. Please note that requests for all reimbursements must be submitted within 30 days of incurring the expense and should be accompanied by detailed receipts with the purpose of the expense clearly stated on each receipt. Any unused funds at the end of the year will be maintained by the James Madison Program for future fellowship use.  You will use the Concur system to enter your expenses for reimbursement.  Please see Debby for details and your research account balance.

If you are a John and Daria Barry Fellow your research funds will be administered by the Barry Fellowship as outlined in your Fellowship Contract.

James Madison Program sponsored public and private events, seminars, dinners, receptions, and various other opportunities will keep you very busy during your time in Princeton. Some of these events are mandatory, others are optional. To keep everyone updated on the happenings of the program we have a private JMP SharePoint calendar specifically for the Madison Program Visiting Fellows. You will login with your NetID and Princeton password.

The Princeton Train Station is located just at the edge of campus on Alexander Road. Locals call this the “Dinky” station, because the only train that runs to and from this station is a two-car shuttle called “The Dinky”. It’s essentially a link from the campus to the Princeton Junction Station, the main departure station for trains to New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, and beyond. The shuttle trip is a five-minute ride to Princeton Junction and back; but be aware that the Dinky has its own schedule and does not meet every train, so please consult a current schedule before making plans to link up with New York, Trenton, or Philadelphia-bound trains. The line to select for New Jersey Transit trains (www.njtransit.com) in or out of Princeton Junction is the Northeast Corridor Line. Tickets for New Jersey Transit Trains, including the Dinky, can be purchased at the automated ticket machines at the Princeton Dinky Station, or at the Princeton Junction Station, located about 4 miles from campus. Ticket purchases can also be made conveniently through the NJ Transit mobile app available from the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

New Jersey Transit (NJT) has a specific stop at Newark International Airport that connects to the Air Train, a monorail system that takes you directly to the airport from your NJ Transit train stop. Information on this option is available on the NJ Transit web site.

SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) runs a Regional Rail line between Trenton Station and Central Philadelphia. Information on this service is also available on the SEPTA web page. You would need to switch rail lines (to/from NJ Transit) in Trenton when traveling to Princeton Junction from Philadelphia or vice versa. SEPTA also runs a Philadelphia Airport Rail Line from any of the four Central Philadelphia train stations.

Amtrak (Nationwide / Northeast Corridor) tickets can be purchased online or from the Princeton Junction Station, which has a regular ticket agent. Amtrak fares to Newark, New York City, and Trenton are generally much more expensive than New Jersey Transit, but Amtrak is usually much faster and makes fewer stops. You can find Amtrak fares and schedules here.

The Princeton University Travel Portal website offers a list of hotels and motels in the area for lodging. The Nassau Inn on Palmer Square, just off Nassau Street in the center of town, is the hotel most often used by the University for accommodating overnight guests, as it is within walking distance of the University itself. It fills up quickly if there are University events taking place, so early reservations are recommended. 

http://library.princeton.edu/ links to the library and various other reference sites.

www.princeton.edu/hr/progserv/sds/applications/selfservice.html is where you may view your payroll information, personal contact information, make changes to benefits (for postdocs) and sign up for direct deposit.

The University website has a comprehensive interactive campus map, a parking map, and a printable map here: http://m.princeton.edu/map/campus

 www.princeton.edu/campusrec/ provides information on all campus recreational facilities, such as Stephens Fitness Center and Dillon Gym. Memberships are available for purchase for the academic year. The Athletics Ticket Office for University games can be reached at extension 8-3538.

www.mccarter.org McCarter Theatre for the Performing Arts in Princeton is a Tony-Award-winning regional theatre, and one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year.