Greetings to the entire Cougar community,
I can’t tell you how honored and thrilled I am to be joining WSU
as your next Provost. Even though my interview took place exclusively
via Zoom, I was able to get a strong sense of WSU’s culture, priorities,
challenges, and opportunities. While I will be doing as much as I can to
ramp up over the coming months, I cannot wait to get to work full‑time,
meet you all, and visit the campuses in person. I hope that I will be
able to come to Washington in June for some initial meetings, and then
move with my family and two dogs in July.
I will be joined by my husband, Michael Sugerman, who is excited to
be joining the Department of Anthropology at WSU. He is an archaeologist,
like myself, and has done most of his work in the circum‑Mediterranean.
My son, Emmet, will also be moving out with us this summer. He is a
freshman at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and is an accomplished
classical pianist. All three of us love hiking, kayaking, and canoeing,
and we look forward to exploring all of the above in Washington as time
permits. I am also an avid choral singer and will be looking to my
colleagues in the music department for suggestions in the area!
I know that this is an extraordinarily challenging time in higher
education—for our students, faculty, and staff—and for the communities
that we serve. As a land‑grant university, WSU has a critical role to
play in how well the state of Washington can respond to the impacts of
the global pandemic. I look forward to being a part of the Cougar
community as we work together to address the current challenges and move
forward on the Drive to 25. I would like to recognize Bryan Slinker for
his leadership and service as Interim Provost—it would have been a role
requiring strong leadership under any circumstance, and this has certainly
been a year unlike anything that any of us could have imagined.
I have already received dozens of emails from the WSU community with
warm words of welcome. Your thoughtfulness means a great deal to me and
my family as we start to plan our cross‑country move. I look forward to
seeing you all in the not‑too‑distant future, and please don’t hesitate
to be in touch in the meantime.
Go Cougs!
Elizabeth Chilton
elizabeth.chilton@wsu.edu
Twitter: @echilton2
