Tilghman renews pledge to hire women

President Tilghman renewed her pledge to support women faculty in science and engineering at a faculty meeting Monday, in the wake of the controversy surrounding Harvard president Larry Summers' recent comments.

The remark, Tilghman's second public statement on the subject, came toward the end of a meeting that addressed a range of issues including the chemistry department's expansion plans and a planned revision of University course offerings.

Presiding over the meeting, Tilghman was asked to comment on the controversy by Maria Klawe, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Though Klawe did not mention Summers by name, she referred to "a certain president of another school who is prepared to sacrifice his career for the sake of [certain statements regarding] women engineers."

Summers recently came under fire for suggesting that the lack of successful women in scienceand math-related careers might be due to "innate" differences between the genders.

In response, Tilghman said she could "say with absolute confidence that the ground at Princeton is extremely fertile for talented women scientists, mathematicians and engineers" starting their careers.

"We're prepared to be the Ellis Island," she said, suggesting Princeton could serve as a haven for female academics in the sciences.

Graduate school dean William Russel, a chemical engineer, reported earlier in the meeting on the chemistry department's plans to expand, including the possibility of a new building.

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Russel said the department is striving to "launch itself into the upper ranks [of chemistry departments] nationwide." In particular, the department is looking at what subfields of chemistry will be most important in the future and which of the University's other departments might be "critical partners" in interdisciplinary efforts, he said.

Russel explained that plans for a new building are still in the "information-gathering stage," but that a conceptual design of the building was outlined in the late 1990s.

A more detailed report on the chemistry department's efforts is expected later in the spring.

Other issues raised during the meeting included the creation and removal of courses in various departments — which were all approved unanimously — as well as this year's record number of undergraduate applications.

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Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel, who presented the proposed curriculum changes, said that the number of proposed new courses was normal but the large number of proposed deletions — 31 — was "perhaps less usual." She explained that such deletions become necessary every five or six years, due to events like the departure of faculty members.

Tilghman then asked Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye to report on the record-high number of applications to the University this year. Rapelye said the University's switch to the Common Application and its decision to make the Princeton application available online attracted a larger applicant pool. She also said the University has stepped up recruiting efforts.

Looking ahead, Rapelye said she hopes to attract more students in the creative arts and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.