As Mother's Day approaches, many University students are stopping by the U-Store or taking a stroll along Nassau Street in search of cards and packages to send home to that loved one who is at once advice-giver, confidante and friend.
For Rebecca Tilghman '02, that special person also happens to be the first woman president-elect of Princeton University.
Rebecca said she was surprised and pleased when her mother told her earlier this week that she had been elected to the presidency of the University. Though Rebecca had been aware that her mother was a candidate for the presidency, she had never really fathomed that her mother would actually be chosen.
..."I knew that she was being considered [for the presidency], and I knew that she would do a wonderful job, but I wasn't sure that it would actually happen," Rebecca said.
Rebecca shared her thoughts on what skills will make her mother a successful University president.
"So many people who I talk to always tell me that she is one of the most sincere people that they've ever met," Rebecca said. "She's also a very down-to-earth person."
Rebecca also pointed to her mother's talent for communication. Having witnessed her in action at various molecular biology conferences and lectures over the past 15 years, Rebecca commented on her mother's rare ability to convey complicated ideas in ways her audience can appreciate and understand.
Rebecca noted that her mother's decision to leave teaching behind in order to become a president was not an easy one. "Science had been her life," Rebecca said. "It was difficult for her to step away from that."
Professor Tilghman's passion for both science and teaching was evident in the great following and stellar reputation she developed among her students. "One of her students," Rebecca recalled, "actually shaved 'SMT,' — her mother's initials — into his head at the end of the semester."
Rebecca remembered another student who, upon realizing she was the daughter of then-professor Tilghman, asked if she could get him a position in her mother's research lab for the summer. "I told him 'No,' " Rebecca laughed.
During Rebecca's freshman year, her mother taught a course on evolution under the auspices of the Science and Technology Council, which professor Tilghman chaired from 1993 to 2000. The course, "Origins of the Human Condition," was geared toward humanities students. Rebecca noted that people would come up to her and tell her that they had loved her mother's class.
The main factor that helped her mother make the tough choice to leave teaching was, in Rebecca's words, her "undying love for Princeton." Rebecca observed that though her mother received many job offers during her 15 years as a University professor, she turned down every one of them because she could not bear to leave Princeton.
Having the opportunity to lead the institution she had so grown to love was, as Rebecca put it, "too tempting to pass up."
In addition, the fact that her mother will be the first female president in the Univesity's history next month is "a really big step and great for her," Rebecca said, pointing to her mother's long-time concern with issues such as getting more women involved in science and research and helping women to secure tenure at the college teaching level.
When Rebecca decided to come to Princeton three years ago, she did not give too much consideration to the fact that her mother would be teaching at the University. Her concern was more whether or not she wanted to stay in the same place after having lived in Princeton since she was six.
During her time at the University, Rebecca said, most people have not made the connection between her and her mother, aside from a handful of molecular biology students. Now that her mother is president-elect, Rebecca said she realizes that things will be somewhat different.
Rebecca said that in addition to the congratulatory notes she has received from her friends over the past several days, classmates who she has not seen in a while have been e-mailing to send along their congratulations as well.
"People are kind of coming out of the woodwork," Rebecca joked. "It's actually been nice for me, because I'm getting in touch with all these people I haven't seen since freshman year."
Looking ahead to next year, Rebecca said she hopes that being the daughter of the president "isn't going to be a big deal." She added that she has "no idea what it's going to be like really, but it can't be bad."
She also noted that over the past few years she has been able to provide her mother with an "inside look" on student life at the University, and said she will be able to continue to serve this role next year.
Rebecca, an art history major, considered but ultimately did not take her mother's STC class on evolution her freshman year. Despite the fact that she has not taken a class with her mother, she said Professor Tilghman clearly has been and continues to be one of the greatest teachers in her life.
"I don't think there's one part of my life that she hasn't influenced in some way," Rebecca said. "She's my role model and my best friend."
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