The University of New Hampshire has a new president. Elizabeth Chilton will succeed current president James Dean on July 1.
Chilton was selected following a national search, and while she’s from the Northeast, she most recently served as chancellor of Washington State University’s Pullman campus.
NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa spoke with Chilton about her priorities as she prepares to step into this new role.
Transcript
So what are you hoping to accomplish as president of UNH? What are your priorities?
Well, I mean, first and foremost, I was drawn to UNH because of its stellar reputation, but then I had the opportunity to learn a great deal more throughout the search process. First of all, UNH research is on the rise, ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a top tier research university. And really continuing to support that rise is one of my priorities and the broad range of research, you know, everything from climate change, to archeology to using robots in health care settings. You know, UNH really supports a broad range. The faculty and staff there support a broad range of research. But I also want to continue the tradition of that deep commitment to the transformative student experience and student success. So continuing to focus on preparing students for their careers, but also for their lives.
So those are some of the things, really, I'm hoping to continue to learn a lot more about UNH. I did not have the opportunity to come to the Durham campus or any of the campuses during the search process, even though I've been there before. My nephew graduated from UNH and my sister raised her four boys in New Hampshire, and I got to spend quite a bit of time there. So I'm looking forward to really [getting] to know UNH students, faculty and staff, as well as community members, and really learning more about how I can continue to move the university forward.
Dr. Chilton, colleges across the country are dealing with rising costs and are competing for students. And earlier this year, UNH announced it would lay off 75 employees as part of an effort to reduce expenses. How are you planning to address the institution's financial challenges?
Well, this is a challenging time in higher education, you know, some have said unprecedented. Really a lot of the challenges started before the pandemic, but the pandemic has really exacerbated them. And I think really at the crux of the challenges is the value proposition of a college degree, you know, making the case for the fact that as an individual, your economic well-being is greatly enhanced by having even some college education, as well as having a degree, and the impacts on positive health outcomes for college graduates, as well as being prepared to navigate all the twists and turns that life has to offer. Those of us in higher education know the value and we can show it with data.
But, you know, the rising costs of education are certainly there, in part because for public universities, a general trend of declining state support. But on the other hand, we have to get the word out on how affordable college can be. You know, here in the state of Washington, for example, at Washington State University, 40% of our students pay no tuition whatsoever. So if you just go on our website and you look at the tuition cost, especially if you were a first gen college student or someone whose family didn't have the means to afford that, it might turn you off immediately. Whereas I think what we need to do is get the word out to allow students to explore how affordable it can be, and to find a campus that suits the needs of every student so that they have the opportunity to get a college education.
And when you say you want to make that case to students about the value of a college degree, what ideas do you have to increase undergraduate enrollment and make that case to students?
Well, you know, every university is different. I'm trained as an anthropologist, and so I approach each university that I've come to -- you know, I was in the UMass system, I was in the SUNY system in New York, and then here I've been at the Washington State University system, both as a system leader and the flagship chancellor. And in each case, while the challenges to higher education are the same across the nation, each university has to deal with that in its own way. Each university has its own history, its own culture, its own economic setting, its own political and social setting. And while I have gotten to know a great deal about UNH through the search process, I'm really hoping to continue to learn both about what UNH and the state needs at this time in its history. And so that's exactly what I'm looking forward to working on with the other members of the campus leadership and the campus community is how we make the case for the value of higher education, how we both communicate its affordability and ensure that it's affordable, and then how we continue to leverage research for the public good.
The New Hampshire state government spends less than almost any other state on higher education. Would you like that to change, and if so, what role would you play in making that change?
Well, again, you know, I need to get to know a lot more, and I need to get to know our lawmakers and our state representatives. I've not met them. I've not had the opportunity to talk to the governor. These are all the conversations that I need to better understand. First of all, how the university funds itself. You know, what are the different sources of revenue that come in? What are the different costs that we incur? And that deep dive is going to begin to happen on day one once I'm physically there and once I'm starting my position. That's exactly the task that I need to undertake.
Graduate student workers at UNH voted to form a union in March. As you step into your presidency, what approach do you plan to take when it comes to bargaining with them for a contract?
So what I will say, again, I need to better deeply understand the local context. But I will say that most of my experience as a leader in higher ed has been in very highly unionized campuses, both for student employees as well as for faculty and staff. And in fact, our student employees just voted to unionize last year, and we've just successfully negotiated our first contract with them. So, I have experience in previous institutions, but again, the local situation is always one that I would want to know a lot more about before I felt comfortable speaking on specifics.
Students across the country, including at the University of New Hampshire, are calling for their schools to divest from companies that profit from Israel's actions in Gaza. What is your response to their call for action?
So, you know, this is part of, when I referred to this being a challenging time in higher education, this is certainly one of the challenges that we face. And we have had some protests here at WSU as well. I think, again, what is most important is getting to know UNH, better understanding the concerns that are local at UNH and understand better how this is unfolding. And that's exactly what I plan to do in the months and the years to come.
And when it comes to those protests, the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth both called in police to respond to peaceful protests from students last week. What are your thoughts on the police response? Would you call on the New Hampshire State Police again to break up student protests?
I don't have enough information about that at this time to answer that question credibly.
Dr. Elizabeth Chilton, thank you so much for your time.
Absolutely, a pleasure to talk to you.
