DURHAM, N.H. — The University of New Hampshire’s newly announced incoming president, Elizabeth S. Chilton, said public research universities have a “superpower.”
Her own undergraduate experience, as an anthropology student at the State University of New York at Albany, introduced her to the idea that she would not only acquire new knowledge from brilliant professors in her field but also participate in creating it.
“To me, that was the light bulb that set off my life and my career: understanding how new knowledge is created,” she said.
And that tradition of participatory learning is the sort of experience that sets public research universities like UNH apart, she said.
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“I really think that is their superpower,” she added.
Chilton earned a master’s and doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her academic career since then has included time teaching at UMass Amherst, Harvard University, Binghamton University, and Washington State University, where she is now chancellor of WSU’s Pullman campus.
Her new job at UNH, which the university announced Tuesday, begins in July. She will succeed outgoing president James W. Dean Jr., who announced last fall he would retire in June.
Chilton told the Boston Globe she did not plan at the outset of her career to become a university president.
“My plan was to do archaeology around the world and go on exotic digs and travel — and I did do some of that for sure,” she said. “But really being trained as an anthropologist has helped me a great deal as I’ve … made the switch to academic leadership, because each university has its own history, its own culture, and its own social context, economic context, political context.”
With each new leadership opportunity, Chilton said she has taken an almost ethnographic approach to understand the dynamics at play and recognize the trends and needs in the local community, the state, and the higher education landscape.
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Chilton said she is just beginning that getting-to-know-you phase with UNH. Although she visited years ago and has a nephew who graduated from UNH, she did not step foot on the Durham campus throughout the confidential search and hiring process, she said. Now that her new role has been announced, she will visit UNH campuses on Thursday and Friday.
“I’m really excited to get to know UNH students, faculty, and staff,” she said.
When asked for her views on the demands of pro-Palestinian protestors who are calling on UNH and other institutions to divest from Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Chilton declined to be specific at this stage.
“Each university has its own context, including how it manages its endowment and other financial resources,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing where we can go as a community. That’s going to take some time.”
On the affordability of higher education and rising skepticism that college is worth it, Chilton said leaders should underscore the value proposition and help the public see past the sticker price, since scholarships and other forms of financial aid can make a college education affordable.
In-state tuition at UNH, which has been frozen for the past six years, is $15,520 while out-of-state tuition will be more than double that, $36,170, for the coming academic year. That doesn’t include other direct and indirect costs, like housing, food, and books.
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“I still think that UNH is still an amazing, best-value college in that it’s providing a top-tier educational experience and research experience for students as well, and it’s still incredibly affordable in comparison on a national scale,” Chilton said.
Studies show long-lasting benefits not only for careers but also other quality-of-life markers for those with at least some college experience, she added.
“We’re preparing students not just for that first job or second job,” she said, “but for their lives and their ability to navigate all the twists and turns that life has to offer.”
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.