PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University (WSU) has a new president.
On February 6, 2025, WSU Board of Regents announced that Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell has been selected as the university’s 12th president. She will make history as the first woman to lead the institution in its 135-year existence.
Cantwell, who most recently served as president of Utah State University, brings extensive experience in higher education leadership.
At Utah State, she managed a $1.3 billion annual operating budget across 30 campuses throughout Utah.
Under her leadership, the university achieved several milestones, including a record $495 million in sponsored research expenditures, a 10% increase in student scholarship funding, and a significant expansion of its infrastructure, with new educational buildings and facilities.
Cantwell also strengthened academic partnerships with industry leaders and reorganized the institution’s academic structure.
In addition to her academic achievements, Cantwell has demonstrated leadership in intercollegiate athletics, playing a key role in the revitalization of the Pac-12 Conference and navigating the complexities of modern college sports.
Before her tenure at Utah State, Cantwell held senior leadership roles in research and innovation at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.
At the University of Arizona, she oversaw an annual research portfolio worth more than $825 million. During her time at Arizona State, she led the university’s research enterprise to remarkable growth, increasing annual research expenditures from $435 million to $680 million in just three years.
Cantwell’s career also includes service in national security, having held leadership positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories. There, she worked on energy, defense, and space exploration missions, collaborating with federal agencies like the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, NASA, and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
She holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in human behavior from the University of Chicago.
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