recognizes administrators, staff and faculty who through their careers and service to Princeton, exemplify the type of performance and spirit that ABPA considers noteworthy for their excellence and value as symbols to other Princetonians. This award, originally named the University Service Award, was renamed as a memorial to Dr. Fields, the 1985 award recipient, after his passing in 1998.

Dr. Carl A. Fields was an educator and advocate who pioneered creative and practical policies and practices which increased enrollment and retention of African- American, Jewish and female students. He served the University from 1964-1971 and was promoted to assistant dean of the college in 1968, becoming the first African-American dean of an Ivy League university. Fields set up the surrogate family hosting program and the community service summer work program and supported the Princeton-Blairstown Center and the establishment of the Third World Center. He was a very valuable mentor to many Princeton students and helped develop several student associations, including the Association of Black Collegians, the first Princeton student organization focused on the specific concerns of African-Americans and a forerunner to the Association of Black Princeton Alumni. Fields was also instrumental in establishing the University’s Frederick Douglass Service Award, in 1968, which is given annually on Class Day to a student(s) "who has exhibited courage, leadership, intellectual achievement and a willingness to contribute unselfishly toward a deeper understanding of racial minorities… the tradition of service embodied at Princeton.”