Bulletinvolume 102, Number 5 June 17, 2013 Christopher L
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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY BULLETINVolume 102, Number 5 June 17, 2013 Christopher L. Eisgruber named 20th president of Princeton University hristopher L. Eisgruber, Princeton’s provost for the past nine years, has been named the C University’s 20th president, effective July 1. He succeeds Shirley M. Tilghman, who last fall announced her intention to step down at the end of this academic year after completing 12 years in office. Eisgruber was appointed April 21 at a special meeting of the University’s Board of Trustees on the unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation of a 17-member search committee following a six-month search. The search committee included nine trustees, four faculty members, three students, and a member of the staff; it was chaired by Kathryn Hall, the chair of the board. At a media conference following his appointment, Eisgruber said it will be an honor to lead the Uni- versity that has shaped his life ever since he was a Princeton freshman 34 years ago. “Over the years, I have developed a heartfelt appre- ciation for the characteristics that make [Princeton] Applewhite Denise by Photo special,” Eisgruber said in the Faculty Room at Nassau President Shirley M. Tilghman (left) and chair of the Board of Trustees Kathryn Hall (right) listen to Provost and President-elect Hall, surrounded by portraits of University presi- Christopher L. Eisgruber (center) address questions at a media conference in the Faculty Room of Nassau Hall. dents and other important figures from the school’s past. “Most importantly, this University aims like no other to be simultaneously a great research university Chicago. After clerking for U.S. Court of Appeals provost in 2004 and in that capacity has been the and the world’s best liberal arts college and we insist Judge Patrick Higginbotham and U.S. Supreme University’s second-ranking official and its chief on, what I consider to be, the audacious belief that Court Justice John Paul Stevens, he taught at New academic and budgetary officer. these two things are not simply two equally desirable York University School of Law for 11 years. A renowned constitutional scholar, whose most goals, but rather two complementary parts of a single He joined the Princeton faculty in 2001 as the recent books examined the Supreme Court appoint- ideal.” director of the Program in Law and Public Affairs ments process and religious freedom and the A member of the Princeton undergraduate Class of and the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public constitution, he is also a gifted teacher who has con- 1983, Eisgruber majored in physics, spent two years Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public tinued to teach as provost. This past fall, he taught a at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and and International Affairs and the University Center then received his law degree from the University of for Human Values. He was named Princeton’s 11th Continued on page 9 At Commencement, Tilghman celebrates the Princeton experience, urges graduates to lead lives of service K ARIN D IENST For more on the 2013 Commencement ceremony and related events n her final Commencement address — including stories, speech texts, social media coverage, photos and video — June 4 as president of Princeton visit http://bit.ly/13PUC. I University, Shirley M. Tilghman reflected on the Princeton experience academic year. She will be succeeded Whether a “dancer who studied and urged graduates to lead lives of by Provost Christopher L. Eisgruber, physics” or an “accredited civil engi- purpose and service. who will become Princeton’s 20th neer inspired by green technology” or After serving at the helm of the president on July 1. “a chemist resolved to cure cancer,” all University since 2001, Tilghman will Tilghman, who received an honorary Princeton students have absorbed the return to the faculty at the end of this doctoral degree during the ceremony, value of learning, Tilghman said. said that she, like the graduating “Your education has not so much students, has been thinking about what given you all the answers as it has she has learned and what she will “take taught you to ask the right questions,” away from this remarkable University.” she said. “It has given you a thirst Speaking to a crowd of approxi- for free inquiry and the nimbleness mately 10,000 students and guests of mind to cut through complexity to assembled on the sun-dappled front the insights within. It has given you a lawn of Nassau Hall, Tilghman powerful voice to make your case and addressed the new Princeton gradu- the intellectual confidence to change ates after conferring their degrees. your mind. And it has exposed you Applewhite Denise by Photo “You are the beneficiaries of that most to the staggering breadth and rich- Celebrating the new graduates of Princeton distinctive of American inventions — a ness of your own and other societies University, President Shirley M. Tilghman modern liberal arts education — and around the world. It is the best presides over the University’s 266th you leave here knowing far more about preparation I can imagine for the rest Commencement held June 4 on the front the world in general, and your chosen of your life.” lawn of Nassau Hall. discipline in particular, than when you arrived,” she said. Continued on page 6 What’s David S. Lee named Princeton provost 2 Eisgruber asks freshmen to read Appiah book 4 inside? Thirty-two faculty transfer to emeritus status 10 PRINCETON 2 UNIVERSITY BULLETIN June 17, 2013 David S. Lee named provost of Princeton Spotlight in 2007 as a member of the Depart- scholarly achievements, their dedica- DANIEL DAY ment of Economics and the Woodrow tion to Princeton and its mission, as avid S. Lee, professor of econom- Wilson School of Public and Interna- well as their service to the nation. ics and public affairs and the tional Affairs. “In my discussions with President- D director of the Industrial Rela- “When I returned to Princeton as a elect Eisgruber, it became clear to me tions Section at Princeton University, faculty member, I had little else on my that serving as provost would be a will become provost effective July 1. mind except research, teaching and wonderful opportunity to pay forward Lee’s appointment was announced advising,” Lee said. “After a series of all that which has been given to me, by June 5 by Christopher L. Eisgruber, conversations with President-elect Eis- working with an outstanding adminis- who has been provost since 2004 and gruber about the role of the provost at trative team to ultimately help attract will become the 20th president of the Princeton in the context of the broader a world-class faculty and student body, University on July 1. mission of the University, I came to and then to support them in achieving “I am delighted that David Lee has realize that serving in this role would their fullest potential.” agreed to serve as Princeton’s next be a fantastic way in which to serve Before he joined the Princeton fac- provost,” President- Princeton, and I am very excited to ulty, Lee was a professor of economics elect Eisgruber said. take on the challenge.” at Columbia University from 2006-07, “He is an outstand- Lee has been director since 2009 of an associate professor at the Univer- ing scholar whose the Industrial Relations Section, an sity of California-Berkeley in 2006, an experiences as both a academic unit that promotes research assistant professor at UC-Berkeley from student and a faculty and training in labor economics. The 2000-06, and an assistant professor member at Princeton section supports the collection of at Harvard from 1999-2000. He was a have given him a deep library materials and data for indus- faculty research fellow for the National Applewhite Denise by Photo appreciation for the trial relations and labor economics Bureau of Economic Research from Lee defining values of this research, and it brings in scholars from 1999 to 2008, and has been a research Name: Kathleen “Kate” Braunstein around the world to present their find- associate for the bureau since 2009. University. Position: Budget analyst in the bud- ings and exchange ideas with faculty Lee is married to Christina Lee, also “I have had the opportunity to get office in the Office of Finance and graduate students. a Princeton Ph.D. and an associate collaborate with Dave on several occa- and Treasury. Serving as the main Lee’s own research interests are research scholar in the Department of sions during my own time as provost, contact for more than 100 academic primarily in the areas of labor econom- Spanish and Portuguese Languages and he has invariably impressed and administrative departments’ ics and econometrics. He has examined and Cultures. They have a daughter me with his good judgment, his budget needs, and calculating and income inequality in the United States, and a newborn son. administrative skill and his generous distributing their budgets. Working particularly the role of the minimum Lee said in taking up his new duties collegiality. He will be a superb pro- on the Chart of Accounts mapping wage, and has worked on develop- he will first focus on learning as much vost. I look forward to working closely and Reporting Advisory Committee ing quasi-experimental methods for as he can about the University as a with him in the years to come.” for Princeton Prime, the University’s analyzing aspects of the labor market whole and on understanding “the As provost, Lee will be the Universi- new financial management infra- ranging from the impacts of unions, inner workings of how the administra- ty’s chief academic and chief budgetary structure system launching in July and job training and unemployment tion helps make this University be as officer, responsible for long-range plan- 2014.