The world traveler’s vision

Shirley M. Tilghman, the president of Princeton University since 2001, is a proponent of treating the whole world as a classroom. So much so, in fact, that she and her administration developed a program that encourages Princeton students to shed the constraints of the campus and, well, travel. Far.

Launched in August, the “Bridge Year” provides incoming freshmen with the option to take the first year off from academic pursuits and instead spend the time volunteering abroad.

“I want to give students a chance to experience another part of the world in public service,” Tilghman says. “The students will not study but instead focus on helping others before they focus on themselves.”
The program is the first of its kind among American colleges and universities, and Tilghman is confident its realization will pave the way for other schools to follow suit. The concept originated, Tilghman says, from her own experience in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where she spent two years teaching science. A world-renowned molecular biologist who worked on the Human Genome Project and was involved in groundbreaking stem cell research, Tilghman joined Princeton’s faculty in 1986 after rejecting offers from M.I.T. and other highly regarded schools.

“The first time I walked through this campus, I knew I was in the right place,” she says.

In the 23 years since, Tilghman won the university’s distinguished teaching award, among a host of others, and became the first female president in the Ivy League school’s history.

“A big part of what I’ve accomplished is due to my time volunteering in Africa in which I gained immense international perspective,” Tilghman says. “I want Princeton students to have this same opportunity.”
Twenty students, in the program’s pilot year, were selected to spend nine months in one of four countries: Peru, Ghana, Serbia and India. — Lillian M. LeClair