As vice president for academic innovation, student success, and strategic initiatives, Diane Chase is taking a holistic approach that oversees the entire student life cycle, including recruiting, admissions, onboarding, student experience, retention, graduation, and related student outcomes to ensure transformative graduate education.
Chase holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a highly regarded archeologist and prolific scholar who is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She served as vice provost for academic program quality at the University of Central Florida before moving to UNLV, where as executive vice president and provost, she focused on elevating the university’s research, teaching, and community impact, as well as boosting student success.
Chase’s research focuses on the nexus of history and archaeology, complex societies, sustainability, and urbanism in reconstructing past lifeways of the ancient Maya. With her husband, Arlen Chase, a Professor at Pomona College, she directs the archaeological excavations at Caracol, Belize (http://www.caracol.org). Her recent work incorporates the use of lidar to penetrate the jungle canopy and reconstruct the ancient city.
Her research on the Maya has been supported by various entities, including the United States Agency for International Development; the National Science Foundation (SBR 93-11773, SBR 97-08637, DBI 01-15837); the Government of Belize; NASA NSPIRES (07-SAP07-0008); UCF-UF Space Research Initiative; the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation; the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Inc.; the Ahau Foundation; the Alphawood Foundation; the Dart Foundation; the Geraldine and Emory Ford Foundation; the Stans Foundation; and private donations.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase and Adrian S.Z. Chase. “Caracol’s Impact on the Landscape of the Classic Period Maya: Urbanism and Complex Interaction in a Tropical Environment.” In Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya, edited by B.A. Houk, et al, 109-30. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, Forthcoming.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase. “Caracol, Belize and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society.” Journal of Archaeological Research 25, no. 3 (2017): 185-249. (DOI: 10.1007/s10814-016-9101-z).
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase. “Urbanism and Anthropogenic Landscapes.” Annual Review of Anthropology 45 (2016): 361-76 (DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-102215-095852).
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase. “Ancient Maya Markets and the Economic Integration of Caracol, Belize.” Ancient Mesoamerica 25, no. 1 (2014): 239-50.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase. “Path Dependency in the Rise and Denouement of a Classic Maya City: The Case of Caracol, Belize.” In The Resilience and Vulnerability of Ancient Landscapes: Transforming Maya Archaeology through IHOPE, edited by A.F. Chase and V.L. Scarborough, 142-54. Arlington: American Anthropological Association, 2014.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase, et al. “Geospatial Revolution and Remote Sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican Archaeology.” PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 109, no. 32 (2012): 12916-21.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase, et al. “Airborne LiDAR, Archaeology, and the Ancient Maya Landscape at Caracol, Belize.” Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (2011): 387-98.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase. “Ghosts amid the Ruins: Analyzing Relationships Between the Living and the Dead Among the Ancient Maya at Caracol, Belize.” In Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, edited by J. Fitzsimmons and I. Shimada, 78-101. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase and John Weishampel. “Lasers in the Jungle: Airborne sensors reveal a vast Maya Landscape.” Archaeology 63, no. 4 (2010): 27-29.
Co-authored with Arlen F. Chase and Michael E. Smith. “States and Empires in Ancient Mesoamerica.” Ancient Mesoamerica 20, no. 2 (2009): 175-82.
“Diverse Voices: Toward an Understanding of Belize Valley Archaeology.” In The Archaeology of the Belize Valley: Half a Century Later, edited by J. Garber, 335-48. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
Co-edited with Arlen F. Chase. Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992, 1994, 2003.