The Aspire campaign is helping us to build a University that is both ready and eager to embrace the challenges of the 21st century, while remaining true to its historic strengths. In the service of this nation and all nations, we are developing critical new areas of inquiry, redefining long-established fields, and giving our students the insights and tools they need to make our world a better place for all.

Our campaign embodies a number of aspirations: to make the creative and performing arts an essential part of our educational mission; to bring the talents of our faculty to bear on the twin challenges of energy and the environment; to unravel the magnificent mysteries of the human brain through the power of neuroscience; to strengthen the University’s global perspective and involvement; and to ensure that the Princeton experience remains among the finest—and the most accessible—in American higher education, one that is open to all qualified students, regardless of financial circumstances.

These far-reaching goals require significant resources and the engagement of all Princetonians, and today, thanks to the exceptional generosity of alumni, parents, and friends, we are closing in on our campaign objective.

Every generation of Princetonians assumes responsibility for those that follow, ensuring that the students of today and tomorrow receive the best possible education of its kind. On behalf of these remarkable young men and women, I would like to thank you for sustaining this tradition, not only by supporting Annual Giving—an essential component of Aspire—but also by considering a gift to one of the campaign’s special initiatives, capital projects, or endowment funds.

If, as I like to tell our graduates, we aim high and be bold, this investment will yield immeasurable dividends—in minds opened, in discoveries made, and in services rendered to our fellow men and women.

Shirley M. Tilghman