Tilghman to be trustee of new Saudi university

“There is nothing comparable to [KAUST] right now in the Middle East,” Tilghman said, noting that she believes the opening of the nondenominational graduate-level research university will significantly increase opportunities for women.

“One of the reasons I have agreed to join the board is because they have made a strong commitment to educate women along with men,” she said, adding that women at the university won’t have to wear hijabs, and non-Muslims will study alongside Muslims.

While the opening of the university will not change the fact that women in Saudi Arabia live by very different rules from men, Tilghman said she sees it as “a promising beginning.”

“I think you have to begin somewhere, and this is something that is important for those of us in the West who believe in women’s rights,” she said, noting that KAUST aims to have a gender-balanced student body.

The new university, which will operate according to the American model, will be a unique institution in Saudi Arabian higher education.

“One of the hallmarks of the new university is the commitment to [changing the status quo], and the university is supposed to be run on the same norms as American universities and other reputable foreign universities,” said Wilson School professor Daniel Kurtzer, who served as the United States’ ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005.

“[Saudi Arabia] is a place where there are still traditional values that preclude women from advancing in society to equal treatment,” he noted.

He said he hopes that this university will begin to break down some of the obstacles that women face.

“This clearly is different from anything else that is going on in Saudi Arabia — a place in the Kingdom where there will not be barriers to women’s equal advancement and participation in academic progress,” Kurtzer said.

Barbara Bodine, a lecturer in the Wilson School and former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, lauded Tilghman’s inclusion on the board.

“I’m very pleased to say they included [President Tilghman],” she said. “That in itself is an important signal they’re trying to send about the kind of role women can play in the broader public space.”

In addition to promoting women in higher education, Tilghman will help shape KAUST into a research institution.

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“There is a strong commitment to having a research university in the Middle East,” Tilghman said. “[KAUST] will be competitive with universities all over the world ... [with a] strong program in science and engineering.”

Tilghman said she hopes KAUST will take off quickly.

“The presumption is that if you were to go to KAUST say, in 15 years, when it’s fully operational, it will be preparing students for careers in science and technology in ways that are indistinguishable from the way they are being prepared in other countries,” Tilghman explained.

Choon Fong Shih, who will serve as KAUST’s first president, said in a January statement that the university’s “openness to talented individuals of outstanding ability will be the hallmark of this new university and the best guarantee it offers for achieving its remarkable goals.”

An independent, 20-member board of trustees will govern KAUST. Of these individuals, three are women, and five are from the United States. KAUST is set to open in September 2009 with multidisciplinary research centers and 11 fields of study.