About Chancellor Chilton
Elizabeth S. Chilton, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Chancellor, WSU Pullman
Provost and Executive Vice President
pullman@wsu.edu
Haley Klemmetson
Executive Assistant
haley.klemmetson@wsu.edu
509-335-5949
Elizabeth Chilton was named WSU provost and executive vice president in May 2020. In January 2022, she was named the inaugural WSU Pullman chancellor.
Since coming to WSU, Chilton has led a system-wide budget redesign and initiated the institution’s first system-wide cluster hire program, bringing on 15 faculty with expertise in racism and social inequality. She has also initiated a faculty salary equity process, which has included allocating $1 million of base funds to date to address inequities in faculty salaries across the WSU system.
As chancellor, Chilton oversaw the strategic planning process for WSU Pullman, which resulted in the first-ever WSU Pullman strategic plan, now in its implementation phase. She also established a new WSU Pullman organizational structure, including a leadership team and the first Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence.
A first-generation college student, Chilton has a strong commitment to access and equity in higher education, particularly at public land-grant institutions. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology, with a specialization in archaeology, at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She then went on to obtain her PhD in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
After receiving her PhD, Chilton went to Harvard University, where she served as an assistant professor, an associate professor, and the curator for the Archeology of Northeastern North America at Harvard’s Peabody Museum.
Chilton then returned to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for 15 years, where she served as a professor, the anthropology department chair, an associate dean for research and programs, and the inaugural associate vice chancellor for research and engagement. She then served as a dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences and an anthropology professor at Binghamton University in New York, the most selective research university in the State University of New York system.
Chilton has conducted and published research on a wide range of scholarship, including Native American history, New England archaeology, historical ecology, cultural heritage, ceramic technology, and horticulture.