Slide show - Tilghman at 10

2001: After 15 years on the biology faculty, Shirley Tilghman is formally installed as Princeton’s 19th president Sept. 28, 2001. In her speech, Tilghman addresses the recent Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying that “history will judge us in the weeks and months ahead by our capacity to sustain civil discourse in the face of deep disagreement.” (Photo: Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications)

2002: Professor Cornel West *80, pictured, and colleagues Kwame Anthony Appiah and Eddie Glaude *97 arrive on campus, bolstering Princeton’s expertise in African-American studies and building momentum for the creation of the Center for African American Studies, which launches in 2006. (Photo: Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications)

2003: Longtime admission dean Fred Hargadon retires, and new dean Janet Rapelye, pictured at head of table, arrives to take the post, becoming the first woman to hold the top admission job at Princeton. In the span of eight years, Rapelye and her colleagues see the University’s applicant pool grow by more than 70 percent. (Photo: Office of Communications)

2004: Too many A’s at Princeton? The faculty believes so and decides to act, approving a new set of guidelines that aim to curb grade inflation. The goals include limiting A grades to 35 percent of all grades in regular courses and 55 percent in junior and senior independent work. (Photo: The Daily Princetonian)

2005: Enrollment for the incoming undergraduate class increases, beginning a gradual expansion of the student body first outlined by the Board of Trustees in 2000. The freshman class reaches its steady-state size of about 1,300 students in 2009. (Photo: Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications)

2006: In perhaps the most significant fundraising moment of Tilghman’s presidency, Peter B. Lewis ’55 pledges $101 million to Princeton, the largest gift in University history, to support an expansion of programs in the creative and performing arts. (Photo: Beverly Schaefer)

2007: Whitman College opens, providing a new collection of collegiate Gothic views and ushering in Princeton’s four-year residential colleges. Pictured, from left, are donor Meg Whitman '77, architect Demetri Porphyrios *80, and Tilghman. In November, the University launches Aspire, a five-year fundraising campaign that aims to raise $1.75 billion. (Photo: Frank Wojciechowski)

2008: After more than six years, the University settles its legal dispute with members of the Robertson family, descendants of the donors who funded the Woodrow Wilson School’s graduate program in 1961. Princeton maintains control of the bulk of the bequest. In other news, Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 pledges $100 million for energy and environmental research, and the Frank Gehry-designed Lewis Science Library opens. (Photo: Brett Tomlinson/PAW)

2009: In the fall, 650 participants join Tilghman and other University hosts at “Coming Back & Moving Forward,” Princeton’s largest gathering of African-American alumni. Also in the news this year, Princeton’s endowment declines sharply as the financial markets drop, forcing the University to enact a series of belt-tightening measures. (Photo: Evelyn Tu/Office of Communications)

2010: Tilghman’s vision of a science neighborhood on the south end of campus takes a major step forward with the opening of the new Frick Laboratory, home of the chemistry department. The building was funded by royalties from a cancer drug conceived in the Princeton lab of emeritus professor Ted Taylor. (Photo: Denise Applewhite/Office of Communications)

2011: Four decades after the beginning of coeducation on campus, Princeton hosts “She Roars,” a conference that draws 1,400 alumnae. In town-gown news, the University’s proposed arts-and-transit neighborhood runs up against opposition from residents and local officials who object to moving the Dinky station. (Photo: Sameer A. Khan/Office of Communications)