Elizabeth Chilton, chancellor of the Washington State University Pullman campus, will be departing WSU after being named the next president of University of New Hampshire.

Chilton will assume the position July 1, according to a press release from UNH.

Chilton’s departure comes after President Kirk Schulz’s announcement to retire following the 2024–25 school year. Schulz plans to name an interim chancellor for the Pullman campus in the coming weeks, according to a press release from WSU.  

Prior to her appointment of Pullman’s chancellor in January 2022, Chilton joined the WSU community as provost and system-wide executive vice president in May 2020.  

As WSU Pullman’s inaugural chancellor, Chilton has facilitated system-wide budget redesigns and the allocation of $1 million to address faculty salary inequities across WSU’s campuses, according to the Office of the Provost. In addition to establishing structural changes to WSU Pullman, Chilton hired 15 faculty experts on racism and social inequality and founded the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence.

“Dr. Chilton has left her indelible mark on WSU’s evolution as a statewide system — both as a provost and the inaugural chancellor of the WSU Pullman campus,” Schulz said. “I have appreciated her leadership and exhaustive commitment to WSU during the past nearly four years and wish her well.”

Chilton served as both chancellor and provost in an effort to allow Schulz “to focus on growing and developing the entire WSU system … [and] to broaden the scope of his work while ensuring WSU Pullman maintained dedicated leadership,” according to a WSU press release.

The roles of chancellor and provost will be separated when T. Chris Riley-Tillman assumes his position as provost July 1. As provost, Riley-Tillman will assist Schulz and the interim chancellor in determining the future of WSU’s administrative structure, according to a WSU press release.