Diversity, online courses among challenges for Eisgruber’s administration

Upon beginning his term July 1, University President-elect Christopher Eisgruber ’83 will be tasked with continuing the various initiatives started by current President Shirley Tilghman. The greatest challenges he will face include expanding the University’s online curricula and international presence and encouraging diversity on campus.

Building diversity: bringing “all the right people to the right place”

Eisgruber will have the task of implementing the recommendations of the Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity, organized by Tilghman in 2012 to focus on increasing diversity in graduate students, faculty and senior administrative staff. The findings of the committee will be released within the next two months.

Tilghman said that she believes Eisgruber will be committed to addressing diversity at the University. “What I was really encouraged to hear in his opening remarks at the press conference is that he — and I’ve known this for a very long time — shares my commitment to having a broadly diverse community.”

Eisgruber, through his position on the Board of Trustees, gave input to the ad hoc committee at various times throughout the course of their work. He also participated in a conference and panel organization organized by the committee.

“It’s great that [the new president will be Eisgruber] because he’s been regularly updated on the progress of the committee during the last year-and-a-half that it’s been operating,” psychology professor and department chair and committee co-chair Deborah Prentice said. “He’s been very supportive of our work so far. He’s very much acquainted with our project.”

Regarding socioeconomic diversity, the main challenge for Eisgruber is the broader need to bring “all the right people to the right place — bringing them to Princeton,” according to Dean of Religious Life Alison Boden, who served on the Educational Access Committee commissioned by Tilghman. Boden explained that the committee was in the final stages of preparing its report assessing Princeton’s success in recruiting lower-income students and students who are the first in their families to attend college.

Although Tilghman commissioned the committee and the report, Boden noted that there is an understanding that “the recommendations aren’t just for her, but are for the senior administration and the Board of Trustees.”

Tilghman noted that Eisgruber shares her concerns that the University reach out to students across all socioeconomic groups. “What I heard in his [press conference] remarks was a commitment to these issues,” she said.

According to Boden, these issues involve many different aspects and the idea of creating a campus culture that welcomes a diverse student body. “The challenge for Princeton going forward will be to create a culture where the University has space for everyone ... gender, sexual identity, religion, income, nationality, physical ability — I mean it’s many, many things,” noted Boden.

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Linda Zhong ’15, who is the co-president of the Asian-American Students Association, is optimistic that Eisgruber will be proactive with minority issues on campus. Regarding the initiative for creating an Asian-American studies program, Zhong noted, “he was incredibly supportive and understanding of how the University could help.”

After AASA submitted a formal proposal to the University for the creation of an Asian American Studies certificate program, Eisgruber said that the establishment of such a program would be “an incremental process” dependent on the field’s strength of scholarly inquiry, the level of faculty commitment and available funding.

Zhong noted that under Tilghman’s presidency, the University has strengthened its African American studies program, and Eisgruber is likely to focus on other aspects of minority studies. She said that Eisgruber had been in contact with English professor Anne Cheng and is asking her to develop a bigger course with an Asian-American studies focus.``

“He seems very interested,” said Zhong. “All signs point to go.”

A digital presence for “the most conservative university”

As provost, Eisgruber was involved in exploring publicly accessible scholarship with online course material and lectures. The University spent $250,000 in April 2012 to launch the Coursera platform, which makes certain online classes available to everyone with Internet access. With peer institutions expanding to other online education platforms, Eisgruber will have to remain abreast of rapidly changing developments in the field.

At the Sunday afternoon press conference where Eisgruber was announced as the next president, he highlighted online education as an important aspect of the University’s agenda.

“A place at Princeton is a gift, one that can transform the life of any student, faculty member or other scholar who was lucky enough to receive it, and we have an obligation to ensure that this gift is fully available to the entire range of people who can benefit from it,” Eisgruber said.

History professor Jeremy Adelman, who taught HIS 201: A History of the World since 1300 through Coursera last fall, said that the ongoing discussion of online education platforms will focus on examining other newly developed platforms. Adelman’s lectures have received one million views, 800,000 downloads and 400,000 posts on the online forum.

“I think that there is a lot of uncertainty around this,” Adelman said. “Compared to a year ago when Coursera was first created, there are many more players on the market.”

Since the online education market opened up, numerous similar startup programs have been created, and many peer schools have joined Coursera or similar programs such as edX, an interface developed by Harvard and MIT.

“You have to make decisions based on very incomplete information because things are changing so quickly,” Adelman said. “But if [Eisgruber] can really focus on what is our mission, which is to improve teaching for Princeton students, and understand some basic principles on what online learning can offer, then it will become clear to him how to move forward.”

Adelman said that the new president would need to have discussions with faculty and peer institutions in order to assess the landscape of online education.

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Eisgruber said that the University will need to consider how online education will fit into the University’s credit policy, an area in which Princeton is “the most conservative university.” While other institutions offer online courses and certificates for credit, the University currently does not. Eisgruber added that he will be stepping down from the advisory council for Coursera and allowing his successor to represent the University in this area.

“Princeton in the World”: international initiatives

Eisgruber has previously focused on increasing the University’s international presence. Along with Tilghman, he commissioned the 2007 “Princeton in the World” report and appointed the first vice provost for international initiatives, Diana Davies, in 2008. He also helped expand the Bridge Year program, which sends admitted students abroad to perform community service prior to matriculation.

“I feel this is one of the areas where Princeton can move the needle and become even better than it is right now,” Eisgruber said of the University’s international opportunities in an interview in 2012.

Eisgruber’s previous involvement with the University’s internationalization efforts will facilitate a “virtually seamless” transition with regard to the University’s focus on internationalization, Tilghman said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.

“President-elect Eisgruber has taken the lead on a lot of our initial international initiatives,” noted Tilghman. “He is already extremely well-versed in them; he is involved in every single important decision we’ve made about partnerships.”

As Eisgruber begins his term, he will have to complete the development of some of the international programs that began under Tilghman’s administration. In the past year, the University has signed strategic partnerships with international universities, which will involve ongoing research collaboration between faculty members and increased student mobility between institutions. The University is also in the process of establishing its first business center abroad in Beijing, Davies said.

“I know he has a special interest in supporting undergraduates having structured international experiences, and he’s been a great supporter of raising funds and creating resources and infrastructure to allow more students to study abroad or have internships abroad,” Davies said.

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Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the title of Diana Davies. She is the vice provost for international initiatives. The 'Prince' regrets the error.