Mentor Inspired Women to University President Positions
For more than two decades, Harold Shapiro identified talented women and gave them high-visibility assignments that helped propel them to the top
Harold T. Shapiro, a former president of Princeton University, is credited with the increase in female presidents at Ivy League schools. While just 4 percent of chief executives at Fortune 500 companies are women, half of the presidents of the eight Ivy League schools and 26 percent of all U.S. colleges and universities are run by women. Of his role in promoting women, Shapiro states, “You have a moral obligation, whether it’s a woman or a man, to support their advance.”
This article from Bloomberg.com describes the impact a mentor and sponsor can have on the representation of women in top university positions: Shapiro is identified and mentored Shirley Tilghman, president of Princeton, Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, Ruth Simmons, the former president of Brown University, Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, and S. Georgia Nugent, president of Kenyon College.
Read the full article.
