Shirley Tilghman doesn’t come across as one might expect from the president of one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Heck, in the world.
Shirley Tilghman doesn’t come across as one might expect from the president of one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Heck, in the world.
She seems more relaxed. More informal. Her office isn’t a stuffy place. It has personal memorabilia. She walks to work at Nassau Hall from her home in Princeton.
Yet, there’s iron in her, too. There has to be for someone to be at the head of an Ivy League university for 12 years.
During that time she’s dealt with lawsuits, controversies, administrative challenges, personnel and professors, sports teams wins and losses, raised $1 billion dollars and, last but not least, driven a segment of Princeton residents wild by planning to move the Dinky station as part of a new, $300 million arts and transportation project.
Through that time, despite how some people might feel, she and the university have been good neighbors with the residents of Princeton.
The university has given millions of dollars in the form of payments in lieu of taxation.
It provides generous funds and programs that benefit organizations and individuals in the community.
The arts and transit project will provide jobs and, when finished, increase the number of people coming to town for theatrical performances. They will visit our merchants and eat in our restaurants.
Now she’s moving on. On Monday, her successor, Christopher Eisgruber, takes over as the 20th president in the school’s history.
But Ms. Tilghman is not going to fade away. A biologist and former professor at the university, she will come back to teach undergraduates. But not right away.
First, she plans to get out of town, and Mr. Eisgruber’s way, for a year. She will take a sabbatical, some of it at the Royal Society of London, which provides science advice to the British government.
But she’ll be coming back.
”Princeton’s my home,” she said in an interview with the Packet.
We’re glad she feels that way. She has been and will be a good neighbor.
We wish her all the best.