Harold Tafler Shapiro

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Harold Tafler Shapiro
Shapiro at a 1994 Princeton Tigers football game
18th President of Princeton University
In office
1988–2001
Preceded byWilliam G. Bowen
Succeeded byShirley Tilghman
10th President of the University of Michigan
In office
1980–1988
Preceded byAllan F. Smith (interim)
Robben Wright Fleming
Succeeded byRobben Wright Fleming (interim)
James J. Duderstadt
Personal details
Born (1935-06-08) June 8, 1935 (age 88)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityAmerican
SpouseVivian Shapiro
ResidenceNew Jersey
Alma materMcGill University (BComm, LLD)
Princeton University (MA, PhD)
AwardsWilliam D. Carey Award for Leadership in Science Policy (2006),
Clark Kerr Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education (2008),
NAS Public Welfare Medal (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsEconometrics, science policy, education
OccupationEconomics professor

Harold Tafler Shapiro (born June 8, 1935) is an economist and university administrator. He is currently a professor of economics and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Shapiro served as the president of University of Michigan from 1980 to 1988 and as the president of Princeton University from 1988 to 2001.[1]

Biography[edit]

Born to a Jewish family in Montreal, Quebec,[2] Shapiro attended Lower Canada College, a prestigious independent school in Montreal which was at that time boys-only. He earned his B.Comm., with honors, from McGill University in 1956 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1964, both in the field of economics.[3][4] His doctoral dissertation was titled "The Canadian monetary sector: an econometric analysis."[5]

Shapiro's parents owned the famous Ruby Foo's in Montreal. After his father's untimely death, the restaurant was passed down to him and his twin brother, Bernard, who would later become the first Ethics Commissioner of Canada and 14th principal of McGill University. Shapiro managed the restaurant while studying economics at McGill University, where he also began graduate school until he moved to Princeton University.[4]

He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as assistant professor of economics in 1964. He held a variety of academic and administrative appointments, including as chairman of its department of economics and vice-president for academic affairs, until his selection as president of that university in 1980. He was president of Michigan until he left to become president of Princeton University in 1988. As Princeton's president, Shapiro oversaw the largest increase in the university endowment in the history of the school.[6] Shapiro was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1990.[7][8] He announced his retirement from the presidency of Princeton in fall 2000 to take effect in June 2001. Shirley Tilghman, his successor, took office on June 15 of the following year.[9]

Shapiro continues to live in Princeton, and is professor emeritus in the departments of economics and public policy at the university. He is trustee emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study. His present academic interests include bioethics, on which he writes extensively. Shapiro chaired the National Bioethics Advisory Commission during President Bill Clinton's second term. He also sits on the boards of a number of prominent ventures, including the for-profit HCA (founded by the Frist family, which donated the Frist Campus Center to Princeton), and the non-profit Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution.[10] He also served on the United States Olympic Committee for a number of years, and was a director of Dow Chemical Company.[11]

His fields of specialization in economics include econometrics, science policy, and the evolution of postsecondary education.[12] He is author of several books, including A Larger Sense of Purpose: Higher Education and Society (Princeton University Press, 2005). In 2000, Shapiro received the Council of Scientific Society Presidents Citation for Outstanding Leadership. In 2008, he was awarded the Clark Kerr Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education, presented annually by the University of California-Berkeley Academic Senate. He also received the William D. Carey Award for leadership in Science Policy from the American Association for the Advancement of Science..[6]

Personal life[edit]

Shapiro has been married to Vivian Shapiro for 53 years. Together they have four children: Anne, Marilyn, Janet and Karen. They also have 11 grandchildren. Vivian was a practicing psychologist and earned her PhD. His daughter, Janet, is a professor of psychology and the dean of the Graduate School of Social Work at Bryn Mawr College. His daughter, Karen, is the chief administrative officer of the Rutgers School of Health Professions.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Harold T. Shapiro". scholar.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  2. ^ Synnott, Marcia Graham (2013). Student Diversity at the Big Three: Changes at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton since the 1920s. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4128-1461-4.
  3. ^ "Harold Tafler Shapiro". Princeton University. November 26, 2013.
  4. ^ a b McLarin, Kimberly J. (April 2, 1995). "PROFILE; A Pair of Presidents Keep It All in the Family" – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ Shapiro, Harold T. (1964). The Canadian monetary sector: an econometric analysis.
  6. ^ a b "Harold T. Shapiro". scholar.princeton.edu.
  7. ^ "Harold Tafler Shapiro". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  8. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  9. ^ a b "Princeton - President Harold T. Shapiro biography". pr.princeton.edu.
  10. ^ The Hastings Center Hastings Center Fellows. Accessed November 6, 2010
  11. ^ "White House Office of Science and Technology Proceedings 25th Anniversary Symposium" (PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. May 1, 2001.
  12. ^ "Harold Shapiro". Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. September 19, 2013.
Academic offices
Preceded by 10th President of the University of Michigan
1980–1988
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Princeton University
1988–2001
Succeeded by