Faculty welcome Eisgruber appointment, cognizant of future challenges

Chairs of many academic departments expressed their approval of Provost Christopher Eisgruber’s appointment as the University’s 20th president on Sunday. Department heads cited Eisgruber’s familiarity with University affairs gained through his long tenure as provost, saying they expected him to continue to carry out many priorities begun by the Tilghman administration.

“Oh, I was pleased,” politics department chair Nolan McCarty, who has also worked with Eisgruber as former associate dean of the Wilson School, said. “The University has been doing very well for a long period of time in large part because of his work with President Tilghman as provost.”

Dean of Engineering Vincent Poor has worked with Eisgruber for seven years during his own tenure and as a member of the Academic Planning Group, which Eisgruber leads.

“Well, I was delighted. I’ve worked with Provost Eisgruber for seven years, and it’s been a really wonderful relationship,” Poor said.

Chairs described Eisgruber as a fair and thoughtful provost who had effectively forged compromises and solutions during his tenure.

“The thing that I really appreciate about Chris is that he’s very thoughtful, he’s very principled, he cares a lot about getting to a solution that works for everybody, for faculty, students, staff,” Dean of the Wilson School Cecilia Rouse said. “Also, he’s just so smart. He sees potential compromises, potential solutions, but he does so in a very thoughtful, measured way.”

Some chairs said they had identified Eisgruber as among the top candidates for the presidency prior to his appointment. “I’ve been thinking that Chris Eisgruber was a leading candidate for the position, and I think he’s an outstanding choice,” English department chair William Gleason said.

Several chairs also anticipated that Eisgruber’s presidency would continue many of the policies implemented during Tilghman’s presidency.

“My guess is that while he will obviously have his own priorities and set his own agenda, I don’t expect that things will change very much,” McCarty said.

Molecular biology chair Lynn Enquist said he also expected continuity, noting, “He’s got an understanding of what Shirley has put into place.”

Rouse added that, while she expected Eisgruber to continue some of the previous administration’s policies, she also believed that Eisgruber would bring his own distinctive agenda to the office.

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“I think what’s great is he both understands Tilghman and many of the initiatives and the projects that she’s put into place, but I know that Chris has his own vision, and I look forward to seeing all of that come to fruition,” Rouse said.

Some chairs expressed their hopes for the way that Eisgruber’s administration could help their departments continue to overcome the challenges they currently face.

One of the key challenges that the Eisgruber administration will have to confront is the changing nature of research funding at a time when federal research funding is being reduced, Enquist noted.

“We can’t rest on our laurels. The fact is that the U.S. research enterprise is changing; it’s being challenged on every level. Research funding is hard to get and the public is making more demands,” Enquist explained.

“I know [Eisgruber] is thinking hard about that, and I really hope that he’s going to be able to step up and put the pedal to the metal as we move forward with all the research programs that we’re putting together,” he added.

Enquist will step down in June from his position as chair, and molecular biology professor Bonnie Bassler will take his place.

Rouse said that the main challenge for the Wilson School in the coming years will be maintaining the quality of education and resources in the school’s undergraduate major following the elimination of the program’s selective admission process, which many expect will cause enrollment in the major to grow significantly.

“I know that he’s very committed to ensuring that our major remains robust and strong and that students get the best education they can at Princeton as they always have and that this change, especially in the selectivity, does not affect the quality of the program,” Rouse said.

McCarty said he hoped that the administration would help the politics department tackle some potential projects of its own in the next few years. “I’m hoping that there will be more opportunities for us to expand our opportunities for teaching abroad, say, in comparison to the Woodrow Wilson School,” McCarty said.

McCarty said he also hopes that the politics department’s current problem of limited space would be resolved under the next administration. The department is a bit constrained in its office space, as it currently shares Corwin Hall with the economics department. McCarty said he hopes that the politics faculty will have more space after the 20 Washington Road building, which will eventually accommodate the economics department, is completed.

Regarding the School of Engineering, Poor said he expected that Eisgruber would continue to support the school, particularly its ongoing construction of the Andlinger lab complex.

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