Under Shapiro's stewardship, Princeton's endowment has quadrupled from about $2 billion to about $8 billion. He is also responsible for beginning extensive overhauls of many of the buildings on Princeton's campus.

His efforts to improve Princeton's financial aid system triggered a series of similar improvements at competitor schools, including Harvard.

During his time as president, the faculty of Princeton has grown and become more diverse. The student body will soon follow: last spring, the school's board of trustees approved a decision to increase the size of the undergraduate student body by 10 percent.

Shapiro was instrumental in changing the university's motto from "Princeton in the Nation's Service" to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations."

During his tenure, Princeton also ventured into the information age, joining with Yale, Stanford and Oxford universities in a distance learning alliance that Harvard opted not to enter.

Shapiro has chaired the board of the Association of American Universities and has been a board member of several other organizations prominent in higher education, including the American Council on Education, the Educational Testing Service and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Before becoming Princeton's leader, Shapiro was the president of the University of Michigan.