Elizabeth Spiller joined the College of Arts and Science as dean in July. She brings more than 10 years of academic leadership to USF’s largest college, having served most recently as executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also has served as dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, which like USF, is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and held leadership positions at Virginia Tech and Florida State University.
Dean Spiller earned a bachelor’s in English literature from Amherst College, and master's and doctorate degrees in English and American language and literature, respectively, from Harvard University.
“I love the arts and sciences. It is the largest, most intellectually heterogeneous unit on campus. The difference between English, history, philosophy, Russian, physics, statistics, mathematics, biological sciences, chemistry is vast, and yet there is a strand that connects all of these. And that strand is a willingness to learn things you don't know and a willingness to ask why. We are ‘why?’ people in the College of Arts and Sciences.”
Get to know her in the video above or by tuning into the latest episode of “Inside USF: The Podcast.”