Hal Shapiro's last day as University president was June 15. By June 16, Shapiro had already left for London, where he stayed for more than three months. The main reason for his visit, Shapiro GS '64 said, was to get away from Princeton. He said he left both for his own sake and the University's.
Shapiro used his summer to enjoy Europe and spend time with children and grandchildren. In addition, he said he believed his absence would ease the transition into Shirley Tilghman's presidency.
Nine months after stepping down, Shapiro is back. During an interview last week, he seemed relaxed in his new office in Wallace Hall. The third-floor workspace was comfortable, but a bit small. It is a good place for quiet study and reflection.
Shapiro now has a fair amount of control over his schedule, a luxury he had to forego as president. He has used this control to reimmerse himself in the world of scholarship and research.
"All this is keeping me busy," he said, although his schedule is less demanding.
As president, Shapiro's work day was hectic. He was often frustrated by the insatiable demands for his time, many of which he could not meet but felt were important and worthy of his attention, he said.
Now things are different.
Professor Shapiro reports that his favorite aspect of not being president is being able to spend more time studying and considering academic questions.
Of course, a part of Professor Shapiro misses the hectic days of his old job.
"I miss the people I worked with the most," he said, "and I miss the level of excitement of dealing with a lot of people."
Nonetheless, Shapiro stressed how much he enjoyed having more leeway in daily activities.
"[I] have much more control of my agenda," he said.
Shapiro has chosen to fill much of that agenda with scholarship in bioethics. He has been preparing for his freshman seminar on historical and contemporary issues in bioethics, which he has taught in the past and plans to teach again next year.
He has also delivered lectures on bioethics across the United States since his return from Europe.
Shapiro, a Wilson School faculty member, said he is especially interested in ways that pluralistic democracies form public policies to deal with moral issues. He is also interested in the moral dilemmas that result from scientific progress. He is considering teaching a course next year on the interface of public policy and bioethics.
He also may teach a course about the social role of education, which is a topic he has been studying closely in recent months.
Shapiro has been appointed as the inaugural lecturer in a series of talks on higher education endowed by the University of California.
Topics he may address include the evolution of the concept of the liberal education, the role of government in higher education and the impact of foreign models on American education. His work on this lecture series will also result in a book on higher education.
Shapiro's opinion of higher education at the University remains positive.
He had only good things to say about President Tilghman's administration.
"I think she is doing a great job," he said. "Princeton is lucky to have her."
Shapiro declined to offer his thoughts about any specific policy changes he would like the University to make, but he did stress the importance of maintaining a spirit of reform.
"There is nothing we are doing perfectly," he said. "We always need to be looking for better ways."
He also had words of caution for the University community. There is a danger inherent to well-established success for distinguished institutions such as Princeton, Shapiro said. Such success causes institutions to take fewer risks and make fewer changes, he said.
Shapiro is also performing public service work. He has testified before Congress about stem cell research and is assisting in a congressional study of the National Institute of Health.
"We are studying whether [the NIH] is set up in a way optimal for research in the country given dramatic modern changes in medical research," he said.
The NIH is one of the largest sponsors of research in the nation's universities and laboratories.
After 22 years as president of Princeton and the University of Michigan, Shapiro is once again immersed in his intellectual and academic pursuits.
"I've gone back to where I started," he said.
This seems to suit him well. Many of his friends and family members have remarked lately, "Gosh, you look more relaxed!" he said.
Shapiro said he does not know what he will be doing in five or 10 years. He was quick to say, however, that he is not ready to retire.
"There are no retirement plans in my head," he said. "My plans depend on how well the teaching goes."
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