Shirley M. Tilghman

President of Princeton University

Tilghman succeeded Harold Tafler Shapiro and became the 19th president of Princeton University in 2001. She was elected Princeton's first woman president on May 5, 2001, and assumed office on June 15, 2001. Under her administration, the university built a sixth residential college, named in honor of alumna Meg Whitman, to accommodate an 11 percent expansion of the undergraduate student body (an increase of some 500 students), as recommended by a special committee of the Board of Trustees chaired by Paul M. Wythes. In 2012, Tilghman announced that she would step down from her presidency in June 2013. She was succeeded by the university's then-provost, Christopher L. Eisgruber.

For Tilghman, Princeton has two essential missions. "One is to ensure that our doors are open as wide as possible to every talented student in the world who is capable of doing the hard work we ask of them. And that means maintaining our commitment to financial aid, which is the tool – the critical tool – to get those students to Princeton. And the second thing is that we must address the most critical issues, and push back the frontiers of knowledge, and not just in science and technology, but in social policy, and in public policy, and in understanding the nature of the human condition."

The establishment of Whitman College, together with the reconstruction of Butler College, accompanied a significant reconfiguration of Princeton's residential college system, which now incorporates upperclassmen as well as freshmen and sophomores, providing new residential options and increasing opportunities for social interaction across the student body. In addition, an effort has been made to strengthen the relationship between the university and Princeton's independent eating clubs, where most upperclassmen take their meals, with the goal of enhancing the undergraduate experience of all students. In 2009, she appointed a committee chaired by Nannerl O. Keohane to review undergraduate women's leadership at Princeton.

Academics

Tilghman has presided over a number of academic initiatives at Princeton, including the creation of a Center for African American Studies, the Lewis Center for the Arts (named after alumnus Peter B. Lewis), the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (after alumnus Gerhard R. Andlinger). Along with the renewal of the Department of Chemistry, these steps have both capitalized on Princeton's existing strengths and broken new ground, ensuring that the university will, in Tilghman's words, continue "to make the world a better place through the power of the mind and the imagination."

Diversity

More broadly, Tilghman's presidency has placed an emphasis on increasing the diversity of Princeton's faculty and students; widening access to the university through improvements to its generous financial aid program and the elimination of admission through "early decision"; fostering a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and research; and strengthening the university's international perspective through a wide range of initiatives – from the Global Scholars Program, which brings international scholars to campus on a recurring basis, to the Bridge Year Program, which gives incoming freshmen an opportunity to defer their studies for a year in order to devote themselves to public service overseas.

Funding higher education

Student loans

As her presidency started the university accomplished the long-hoped-for goal of eliminating the need for student loans; Princeton became the first American university to replace student loans with grants from its endowment. In principle, students earning a Princeton degree could graduate debt free.

Tuition

The size of the endowment and the success of these programs prompted some to question whether Tilghman would implement a policy of eliminating tuition altogether. In her Wall Street Journal article on this matter, she indicated that Princeton would continue to charge tuition, and that she felt that charging tuition was a morally and economically correct policy to maintain.

Fundraising

During her tenure the percentage of students receiving some form of financial aid increased and the size of the average award also increased. These policies were partially facilitated by the growing size of the university's financial endowment, whose income is used to finance the university's mission alongside tuition, and the annual funding of the operating budget through alumni donations from Princeton's Annual Giving campaign.

University donor complaint

During her presidency, Tilghman was embroiled in a court case pitting her against the family of a major donor to the university, the Robertsons. The children of the original donors, who were themselves Princeton alums, alleged that the university failed to apply the funds donated by their parents to the intended purpose, and asked for the funds to be restored to the family for use elsewhere. The donated funds had become joined with the university's general endowment, resulting in efficiencies and benefits in fund management and performance, which were not the subject of the Robertsons' complaints. The case was settled in 2008 with a payment to the family of $40 million in legal fees and another $50 million, plus interest, to a new foundation to support education for government service. Princeton retained the remainder of the money for the Wilson school.

Precedents

While Tilghman disquieted some alumni by championing affirmative action policies, establishing a single admission process, and broadening the range of residential and dining options available to students, she also found strong support for these actions and their underpinning vision. Tilghman presided over a major effort to advance the growing community of Princeton Alumnae, culminating in a campus conference entitled "She Roars". In her final year, Tilghman led the first major university celebration for "alternative genders", resulting in an immensely successful on-campus LGBT alumni gathering; this was the first of its kind on any campus in the United States and set a precedent for the advancement of the LGBT community nationwide.

Internal roles

As president of Princeton University, Tilghman was also an ex-officio trustee of the Princeton Board of Trustees, and chairman of Princeton Honorary Degrees Committee.

Tilghman orchestrated an orderly transition from her other Princeton roles after being named president. David Botstein succeeded Tilghman as the Director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics in 2003. Ned S Wingreen succeeded her as the Howard A Prior Professor of Life Sciences. She eventually closed her lab to dedicate her time fully to the presidency; in doing so, she assured that all students who had begun with her as adviser were able to successfully complete their degrees and associated research before the lab closed.

An award-winning teacher, Tilghman continued to conduct classes even while serving as president.

She became a "Princeton Parent" when her daughter matriculated at Princeton as an undergraduate during her tenure as president and was accorded honorary alumna status to a record number of Princeton classes.

External roles

While serving as president of Princeton, Tilghman accepted membership on the board of directors of Google, and served in that capacity from October 2005 to February 2018. As compensation for joining the board, she received 6,000 shares of stock that by 2005 were worth in excess of her Princeton compensation package that by 2003 had reached $533,057.

Beginning in 2001, she served for a time on the Queen University's Chemistry Innovation Council in order to help the development of the Chemistry program at Queen's, which is based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Tilghman served on the board of trustees at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), Long Island, New York, during the early years of her presidency.

In 2006, Tilghman was one of three sitting university presidents who served on the Duke University President's Council that investigated the university's wide-ranging actions after the lacrosse players scandal wherein members of the Duke lacrosse team were charged with various types of inappropriate and allegedly illegal off campus behavior.

Successor

On September 21, 2012, Shirley informed the Princeton Board of Trustees that she planned to step down as the 19th president of Princeton University at the end of the 2012 academic year. On April 21, 2013, it was announced that Christopher L. Eisgruber would succeed Tilghman as Princeton's president, effective July 1. Notable Princeton alumnus Peter Lewis 1955 said at the time, "Ideally, she'd be remembered for grooming a terrific successor."

Ivy League seven-week athletic moratorium

Tilghman signed on to the Ivy League-wide seven-week athletic moratorium, since modified, in which intercollegiate athletes were enjoined from taking part in supervised practices and other obligatory athletic activities for seven weeks during the academic year in order to encourage them to participate in other activities. Supporters of the proposal pointed to studies by former Princeton president William G. Bowen, whose controversial book The Game of Life purported to describe widespread academic "underperformance" of college athletes. Detractors claimed that the book was flawed, and the moratorium represented an encroachment on students' freedom to use their time as they saw fit.