Elisabeth Zinser was named a Distinguished Fellow of AAC&U in 2016. Dr. Zinser is a public member of the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors and an active member of the International Women’s Forum. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, master’s degrees from the University of California–San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a PhD from the University of California–Berkeley. She has served as president of Southern Oregon University, the University of Idaho, and Gallaudet University; chancellor of the University of Kentucky–Lexington; academic vice chancellor of the University of North Carolina–Greensboro; and dean at the University of North Dakota. She has served on the boards of the American Council on Education and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, as well as the boards of the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Crater Lake National Trust.

She was the University of Idaho's first female president.

American Association of Colleges and Universities https://www.aacu.org/people/elisabeth-zinser