When University of Idaho presidential finalist Elizabeth Spiller left Florida State University, FSU English Department Chair Gary Taylor predicted she would become president of a university within ten years. That was five years ago.
Spiller has served as Dean of University of California Davis’s College of Letters and Science since 2017. She continued to work as an academic through her transition to management positions. She has published 25 times over the course of her career, the most recent of which was forthcoming in 2017, according to her Curriculum Vitae. She has two book manuscripts in progress. Her professional areas of study include renaissance literature, the history of science, the history of reading and early modern race and ethnicity.
Spiller graduated with a B.A. in English Literature from Amherst College in 1987, which she followed with work in English and American Language and Literature at Harvard University, which resulted in her M.A. in 1990 and Ph.D. in 1995. She studied abroad at Oxford University in her junior year at Amherst, at the University of Paris while a graduate student and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a doctoral student.
Spiller began her career as assistant professor of English at the University of North Texas, where she served from 1995 until 2000. While there she served on the Executive Council of the university’s honors program. Spiller received three grants as a professor at UNT.
In 2000, Spiller was hired as associate professor of English at Texas Christian University, where she stayed for seven years. She served as Director of Graduate Studies from 2002 until 2004. She received her first National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and two additional grants during her time at TCU.
Spiller quickly rose up the ranks at Florida State University, where she served as associate professor of english for two years before her time as a professor of english from 2009 to 2014. She served as associate chair of the Department of English from 2011 to 2012 and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2012 to 2014. She earned her second National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship over her time there.
“It was clear that (Spiller) had skills that most professors do not,” Taylor said. “She is a good manager and a good administrator. She is respected for her own work and her organizational, people and political skills.”
After leaving Florida State University, Spiller served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and professor of English at Virginia Tech from 2014 to 2017.
According to her CV, her work there resulted in a 59 percent increase in undergraduate applications and a 42 percent increase in incoming first year students to the college.
Spiller has served as dean of the College of Letters and Science and professor of English at UC Davis since 2017. She is responsible for overseeing 35 academic departments, 918 full time faculty and 275,000 student credit hours annually, according to her CV.
While Spiller was on the University of Idaho campus for her visitations to students, staff, faculty and community members on March 5, she emphasized the importance of community and sharing the best of what UI has to offer with the world.
“A university is never a set of buildings or a place, but a community of people who share a vision about the humanly transformative nature of education and knowledge,” Spiller said in an article in The California Aggie, UC Davis’s student newspaper. “I am looking forward to meeting and working with students, faculty and staff, and the alumni of the college to learn more about that vision and how best to expand upon it.”
Taylor said that although he had “nothing but good things” to say about Spiller, she may make people averse to change uncomfortable. He is unaware if she still causes anxieties of this sort since it has been five years since he worked with her, but he mentioned it has not interfered with her promotions — referring to her current status as dean of CLS at UC Davis.
Spiller said at the open forum that she would not make any promises to the Vandal family that she could not keep, which meant she did not share information on how long she would plan to stay as president if chosen or what her hallmark initiatives would be. Spiller declined to comment.
In a news release, the Idaho State Board of Education said it would name UI’s 19th president by April.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]
Editor’s note: This is the last article in a series of profiles on finalists for the UI presidency.