Shirley Marie Tilghman, l; born 17 September 1946) was a scholar in molecular biology and academic administrator, President of Princeton University. He was the first woman to hold that position and only the second female president in the Ivy League. A leader in the field of molecular biology, Tilghman is a member of the Princeton faculty.
Early life and family
Tilghman graduated from Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba and received his B.Sc. Achievement in chemistry from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1968. After two years of secondary school teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa, he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under the Richard W. Hanson.
Personal life
She married Joseph Tilghman in 1970. This marriage ended in the 1980's, leaving Tilghman to the custody of their daughter (Rebecca) and infant son (Alex). He attributes his success balancing a scientific career and care for the family to the organization and focus. The goal is to not feel guilty when at work or at home, instead focusing on the task at hand.
Research
Tilghman work in molecular genetics is focused on gene regulation during development, particularly in the field of genomic imprinting.
During postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health, Tilghman made a discovery while members of the team that cloned the first mammalian gene. He went on to show that the globin genes together, a finding that helped confirm some of the revolutionary theory then arises about the behavior of genes. He continued to make scientific breakthroughs as an independent investigator at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia and as a professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tilghman went to Princeton University in 1986 as Professor Howard A. Before of Life Sciences. Two years later, he also joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as a researcher. He is a leader in the use of mice to understand the behavior of genes by examining the effects of insertion of the gene in embryonic cells.
In 1998, he took on additional responsibilities as the founding director of Princeton's multi-disciplinary Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, while continuing to study how the genome men and women are packed and the consequences of the differences to regulate embryonic growth.
Presidency
Tilghman succeeded Harold Tafler Shapiro and became the 19th president of Princeton University in 2001. She was elected the first female president of Princeton on May 5, 2001 and assumed office on June 15, 2001. Under his rule, the University built a sixth university dormitory, named in honor of alumnus Meg Whitman, to accommodate the expansion of 11 percent of the undergraduate student body (an increase of approximately 500 students), as recommended by a special committee of the Board of Trustees is chaired by Paul M. Wythes.
Formation of Whitman College, in conjunction with the reconstruction of Butler College, accompanied by a significant reconfiguration of Princeton University dormitory system, which now combines seniors and freshmen and sophomores, providing new housing options and increased opportunities for social interaction throughout the student body. In addition, attempts have been made to strengthen the ties between universities and the independent Princeton eating clubs, where most seniors take their meals, with the aim of improving the experience of all undergraduate students.
Tilghman has led a number of academic initiatives, including the establishment of the African American Studies Center, Lewis Center for the Arts (after alumnus Peter B. Lewis), Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Center for Energy and Environmental Andlinger (after alumnus Gerhard R. Andlinger). Along with the renewal of the Department of Chemistry, the measures have both Princeton harnessing the power of existing and new ground broken, make sure that the university will, Tilghman said, continued "to make the world a better place through the power of the mind and imagination.
More broadly, President Tilghman has placed emphasis on increasing the diversity of Princeton faculty and students, widening access to universities through generous financial aid program improvement and removal go through "early decision"; adopt a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and research, and strengthening the international perspective of the university through variety of initiatives - from the Global Scholars Program, which brings international scholars to campus on a recurring basis, for the Bridge Year Program, which gives new students the opportunity to defer their studies for years to devote himself to public service abroad.
For Tilghman, Princeton has two important missions. "One is to ensure that our doors open as wide as possible for each student is gifted in the world capable of doing the hard work we ask of them. And that means keeping our commitment to financial aid, which is a tool - an essential tool - to get the students to Princeton. And the second thing is that we must address the most critical, and pushing 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 .
Although President Tilghman has been accused of supporting women in the practice of hiring him, in fact, he had appointed the majority of men. The woman he had hired for senior positions including Amy Gutmann (who was chosen as president of the University of Pennsylvania in early 2004) as the Provost, the second most powerful administrative position at the University, Anne-Marie Slaughter as Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Christina Paxson successor, Maria Klawe as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (elected as President of Harvey Mudd College in 2006), and Janet Lavin Rapelye as Dean of Admission. Prominent people he has appointed Charles Kalmbach including as Senior Vice President for Administration, the postal administration of the highest non-academic, David P. Dobkin as Dean of the Faculty, the replacement of Christopher L. Gutmann
Eisgruber, and replacement of the H. Klawe Vincent Poor.
Tilghman also signed on league-wide moratorium on seven weeks of Ivy athletics, where intercollegiate athletes who were ordered to take part in practice shall be supervised and athletic activities for seven weeks during the academic year to encourage them to participate in other activities. Proponents of the proposal pointed to a study by former Princeton president William G. Bowen, whose book The Game of Life describes the academic underperformance area college athletes. Detractors claim that it is a violation of the freedom of students to use their time as they see fit.
While Tilghman has agitated some of the alumni to promote a more diverse university community, building a single admissions process, and expand the range of housing and dining options available to students, he also found strong support for this action and support their vision.
Community and awards
Tilghman is a member of the American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and the Royal Society of London. He was a founding member of the International Genome Society.She mammals serves as a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. From 1993 to 2000, Tilghman chaired Princeton's Council on Science and Technology, which encourages the teaching of science and technology to students outside the sciences. In 1996, he received the Princeton President's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Nineteen graduating class of Princeton, 1941-2005, President Tilghman has made an honorary member.
