WSU picks new provost while lawyers review treatment of predecessor
Washington State University has selected a new provost and executive vice president after a nationwide search that produced four top candidates.
Elizabeth Chilton will start the job on Aug. 1, reporting directly to WSU President Kirk Schulz. She holds a doctorate in anthropology and is currently the dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University in New York.
“Her leadership experience, strengths in creating collaborative relationships, and commitment to diversity and inclusion since the beginning of her career make her the ideal person to lead our statewide academic enterprise during a period of both great opportunities and great challenges,” Schulz said in an announcement Friday.
The provost is the university’s highest-ranking academic officer, overseeing teaching and research across WSU’s five campuses.
Chilton will replace Bryan Slinker, who has served as interim provost since late September, when Mitzi Montoya left the position for a faculty job in the university’s Carson College of Business.
Montoya spent less than two months as provost after she was recruited away from Oregon State University. In internal WSU emails, she described receiving sexist performance reviews as well as resistance from other administrators who disliked her efforts to streamline budgeting and decision-making processes.
Montoya reached a settlement with WSU that describes her departure from the provost position as a mutual decision between her and Schulz. The agreement also provides Montoya a one-year transition period with a $460,000 salary, as well as a recommendation letter signed by Schulz that she can show to future employers.
WSU has hired a law firm to review how Montoya was treated, including allegations of gender bias and any “improper influence or pressure” surrounding the decision to end her appointment as provost. WSU spokesman Phil Weiler said Friday that investigation is ongoing.
Chilton was chosen for the provost position out of four finalists, who participated in question-and-answer sessions with WSU students, faculty, staff and administrators via Zoom last month.
The other finalists were André-Denis Wright, the dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences; Tami Eitle, a vice provost at Montana State University; and Bob McMaster, a vice provost at the University of Minnesota.
Greg Crouch, a chemistry professor who serves as chairman of WSU’s faculty senate, said all of the finalists were “well-qualified” and faculty members are pleased with the decision to hire Chilton.
During interviews, Chilton answered questions “in such a way that we had confidence that she understood the complexity of the system,” Crouch said. “She had done her homework on WSU.”
After completing her undergraduate work at the University of Albany, Chilton earned master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
She spent several years teaching and curating museum exhibits at Harvard University before returning to Amherst, where she spent 16 years serving as a professor, anthropology department chair and associate vice chancellor, among other roles.
Chilton started her job at Binghamton University, a part of the State University of New York system, in July 2017.
Her scholarly work has focused on New England archeology and Native American studies, among other disciplines. She also serves as president of the archeology division of the American Anthropological Association, and as a faculty fellow for the Higher Education Leadership Programs for Women.
“I’ve spent my professional career as an anthropologist thinking about how systems work most effectively, as well as how the cultures and histories of individual campuses connect to the overall system,” she said in the WSU announcement.
Her husband, Michael Sugerman, will join WSU’s College of Arts and Sciences as an associate professor of anthropology.