Ashley Kistler
Provost and Chief Academic Officer, and Professor of Anthropology
Cabinet
Biography
Dr. Ashley Kistler joined the College of Wooster as Provost and Chief Academic Officer, and Professor of Anthropology, on July 1, 2026, bringing more than 18 years of experience as an educator, scholar in anthropology, and faculty leader. As Provost, Dr. Kistler works with the College of Wooster’s faculty and staff to bring innovation in the academic program and to elevate and celebrate the culture of mentored undergraduate research on our campus. Previously, she served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Rollins College, a top-ranked private institution in Winter Park. At Rollins, Dr. Kistler oversaw the academic programs in the College of Liberal Arts including 35 majors, 45 minors, and three general education programs for approximately 2,300 students, supervised tenure and promotion evaluation processes, managed key parts of the budget for academic affairs, collaborated with academic departments on faculty hiring and retention, and served as the chief academic planning officer for the College, managing course offerings for a growing student enrollment. Prior to serving as Rollins’ Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. Kistler served as president of the faculty for two years, during which she oversaw the college’s faculty governance committees, managed the governance budget, facilitated discussion on legislation at faculty meetings, helped to develop the College of Liberal Arts’ first Philosophy of Compensation, built consensus to ratify a new governance structure for the College of Liberal Arts, and advocated for faculty to senior leadership and the Board of Trustees. She also served in roles as Interim Dean, Associate Dean, and Chair of the Department of Anthropology.
By training, Dr. Kistler is an ethnographer and linguist who has done fieldwork in Maya communities in Mexico and Guatemala for nearly two decades. Throughout her career, Dr. Kistler has taught classes on Maya culture, linguistic anthropology, and anthropological theory. Dr. Kistler has authored numerous peer reviewed articles on her research in Guatemala. Her first book, Maya Market Women (2014) considers how indigenous women in highland Guatemala transform their gendered status and enact local ideas of what family is through their involvement in market sales. Her second book, Faces of Resistance: Maya, Heroes, Power, and Identity (2018), is an edited volume that explores how stories of heroic figures have served as narratives of resistance and markers of identity for indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala. Recently, Dr. Kistler has served as an expert witness on Guatemala in asylum cases in immigration courts across the country. Dr. Kistler earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American anthropology at Muhlenberg College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from Florida State University.
By training, Dr. Kistler is an ethnographer and linguist who has done fieldwork in Maya communities in Mexico and Guatemala for nearly two decades. Throughout her career, Dr. Kistler has taught classes on Maya culture, linguistic anthropology, and anthropological theory. Dr. Kistler has authored numerous peer reviewed articles on her research in Guatemala. Her first book, Maya Market Women (2014) considers how indigenous women in highland Guatemala transform their gendered status and enact local ideas of what family is through their involvement in market sales. Her second book, Faces of Resistance: Maya, Heroes, Power, and Identity (2018), is an edited volume that explores how stories of heroic figures have served as narratives of resistance and markers of identity for indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala. Recently, Dr. Kistler has served as an expert witness on Guatemala in asylum cases in immigration courts across the country. Dr. Kistler earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American anthropology at Muhlenberg College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from Florida State University.