University of Michigan President Harold T. Shapiro was named president of Princeton University, officials there said yesterday.

The selection of Shapiro, an search for a replacement for William G. Bowen, who will leave Princeton by the end of the calendar year to head up the Mellon Foundation.

In telephone interviews yesterday Princeton officials said Shapiro had emerged as an early frontrunner among the more than 200 candidates they considered. Among those named by observers of the search process as a top candidate for the post was Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence, who is a Princeton alumnus.

"Harold Shapiro was identified very early as a very attractive, positive candidate and was pursued strongly," said Princeton General

Counsel Thomas H. Wright, who also served assecretary to the trustee presidential searchcommittee. "President Shapiro was the personfocused on right from the beginning."

Princeton officials refused to comment on anyother candidates or the procedures of the searchcommittee, saying only that Shapiro was inPrinceton two weekends ago for intense"conversations."

Spence has remained silent on his alma mater'spresidential search until yesterday.

"I am delighted to learn of Princeton's choiceof its next president," Spence said in a releasedstatement. "Harold Shapiro is an inspired choiceto succeed Bill Bowen."

"I had the privilege of working for Harold asan economist one summer many years ago; he is amarvelous person," Spence's statement continued."I am sure I share the feelings of many otherloyal Princeton alumni and alumnae of optimism forthe future of this great university with Harold atthe helm."

Shapiro, who--like Bowen and Spence--is aneconomist, received his Ph.D. from Princeton in1964 and then began his career at Michigan. The51-year-old Shapiro served as chairman ofMichigan's economics department and then as theuniversity's vice president for academic affairsbefore becoming its president in 1980.

He will become the university's first Jewishpresident and its first president in more than 100years not to come from within Princeton's faculty.

"They have appointed the very best person whoemerged," said Princeton Vice President for PublicAffairs Robert K. Durkee.

"I really see him as having a broad vision forhigher education I have yet to see in anyoneelse," said Don Lu, a Princeton junior who servedon the campus advisory committee for the search.

Lu said he thinks Shapiro will tackle minorityand women's issues in addition to trying toreconcile Princeton as both a teaching andresearch university.

"He has a terrific track record and really atremendous amount of experience," said Rebecca S.Wells, a junior on the campus advisory committee."The guy has a lot more energy than I do--hesleeps less than I do."

Shapiro, who has Canadian and U.S. dualcitizenship, attended McGill College and aftergraduating in 1956 ran a Chinese restaurant withhis twin brother Bernard, who later received adegree from Harvard's Graduate School ofEducation.

Educators praised Shapiro as an excellenteconomist and university president.

"He's very respected by this colleagues in theAssociation of American Universities," PresidentBok said of Shapiro, whom he called a personalfriend. "He's highly regarded by academicleaders."

"He was an excellent department chair," saidHarvard Professor of Economics Jerry Green. "Ihave a very favorable opinion of him.