“It’s a great day to be a wildcat!” students and faculty chanted Friday at the inauguration of the University of New Hampshire’s 21st president Elizabeth Chilton.
In a speech at the school’s Memorial Union Building, Chilton said she didn’t set out to be a university president. As a college student, she originally sought to be an archeologist. She recalled how during her undergraduate years, she left a private liberal arts college feeling like she didn’t belong. However, she found community at a public university.
It was later in her career that she was drawn to university administration — becoming a dean, a provost and eventually a chancellor.
“This is an honor that the insecure and anxious 18 year old I spoke about earlier would never have imagined, and one that I'm grateful and excited to pursue,” Chilton said.
In her speech, Chilton looked back to UNH's beginnings as a land grant university and noted that it now has both sea and space grant designations.
“This is why our campus is embarking on a strategic planning process this year,” Chilton said. “To ask ourselves a key question: ‘Where does UNH want to be in 2030 and how do we get there?’ ”
Chilton said her goals include helping more students and families choose UNH, continuing to build the school as a place of inclusion and showcasing the university's research.
