Shirley M Tilghman

Shirley M. Tilghman, a pioneer in the efforts to map the human genome, was chosen Saturday to be Princeton University's first female president. Tilghman, an outspoken feminist and renowned molecular biologist, will succeed Harold T. Shapiro, who will retire next month after 13 years as university president, according to a Princeton news release. "She epitomizes the academic values of our university," said Robert H. Rawson Jr., chairman of the trustees' executive committee.

Shirley M. Tilghman, a pioneer in the efforts to map the human genome, was chosen Saturday to be Princeton University's first female president. Tilghman, an outspoken feminist and renowned molecular biologist, will succeed Harold T. Shapiro, who will retire next month after 13 years as university president, according to a Princeton news release. "She epitomizes the academic values of our university," said Robert H. Rawson Jr., chairman of the trustees' executive committee.

Princeton University became the second elite institution to drop its early-admissions program, following Harvard in a move the Ivy League schools say will benefit disadvantaged students and reduce anxiety. "We agree that early admission 'advantages the advantaged,' " said Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman, echoing Harvard's comments last week. Princeton had an "earlydecision" program, meaning applicants received word by Dec. 15 of their senior year but had to attend if accepted.

Princeton University has received a $30-million gift from the head of online auction house EBay and will use it to expand undergraduate enrollment for the first time since the Ivy League school began admitting women in 1969. The donation from 1977 graduate Meg Whitman will go toward the construction of another undergraduate residential college and the expansion of the student body by 10%, President Shirley M. Tilghman said.

Princeton University has reassigned its admissions director and is cooperating with an investigation by federal prosecutors examining unauthorized entries into the admissions Web site of Ivy League rival Yale University, officials said Tuesday. Shirley M. Tilghman, Princeton's president, said a summary of the university's internal investigation of the embarrassing incident was sent to the U.S. attorney's office in Connecticut.

Samantha Roper sometimes dreams about the mashed potatoes her mother makes on Thanksgiving, from potatoes grown at an uncle's farm 10 minutes from her Southern Idaho home. But today, with airfare costs and distance making a trip home impractical, the Chapman University freshman will go without the creamy spuds on the holiday for the first time. Instead, Roper, 18, is staying at her Fullerton dorm as classes shut down for the long weekend.