The Tilghman Years: Faculty tributes

The following remarks from faculty representatives were delivered at the April 29 faculty meeting, Shirley Tilghman’s last as president of the University.

Jeff Nunokawa, professor of English

Whereas Shirley Tilghman has been one of the best friends that humanists at Princeton have ever had — doing all that she could to extend and deepen our chances to learn and to teach,

Whereas Shirley Tilghman inaugurated and oversaw a monumental expansion and transformation of the arts at Princeton,

Whereas Shirley Tilghman has attended virtually every single student performance put on during her Presidency,

Whereas Shirley Tilghman’s own interdisciplinary intellectual curiosity has served as an emblem and agent for conversations between scholars who might well have imagined that they could have nothing to say to one another,

William Jordan, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History

Whereas President Shirley Tilghman has offered year in and year out sumptuous hospitality to hundreds of hungry chairs of departments and their wards, newly hired senior professors, and has listened with great good will to the latter’s word pictures of themselves, followed by her putting of thoughtful, penetrating and altogether well-informed questions to them, no matter what their field of study;

Virginia Zakian, Harry C. Wiess Professor in the Life Sciences

Whereas, she transformed the Natural Sciences by starting two institutes, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and Princeton Neurosciences Institute, which bring together researchers from different departments, fosters interdisciplinary research, and provide state of the art facilities for genomics and imaging research that would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve within a traditional departmental structure.

Whereas, she has promoted faculty and student diversity at Princeton University, by gender, sexual orientation, racial/ethnic origin, and economic status. I am particularly proud of being part of an institution where students with financial need graduate without debt.

James Sturm, William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science

Whereas as President, she put the clothes back on the emperor and restored sanity to the grading process.

Whereas she kept Princeton afloat during the financial meltdown crisis, and

Whereas through her 24-7 duties as President, she went out of her way to be open and welcoming to all in the Princeton community, to appreciate the service of every employee on all levels, and to seemingly (and actually probably) know the name of every faculty member.

David Dobkin, dean of the faculty

And whereas this is the last faculty meeting she will chair, be it resolved that we as a faculty salute her efforts during the past 12 years and thank her for her excellent and continual work on our behalves. Please join us outside for a toast to Shirley.