Elvi W. Whittaker received her bachelor's and master's degrees in sociology from UBC in 1955 and 1957, respectively, and later earned a second M.A. (1971) and doctorate (1973) in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She returned to UBC as a visiting assistant professor of anthropology in 1973; she was appointed associate professor in 1975, and full professor in 1991. Dr. Whittaker has served as the President of the Canadian Anthropology Society / Société canadienne d’anthropologie (CASCA) and as President of the Social Science Federation of Canada (SSFC) (1993-94) and was a Member of the Board (1989-95). She also served as a Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee of Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, UNESCO (1994-97) and consultant to UNESCO. Dr. Whittaker also served in the following positions: Anthropological representative on Aid to Scholarly Publications (1991-93) and on SSFC Women's Issues (1991-93), on the Task force on the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, and chair of Scholarly Book Awards (1992). She retired in 1997 and received an honorary degree (LL.D.) from UBC in 2005. Dr. Whittaker has been awarded the Weaver-Tremblay Award for Distinguished Service (2004) and Women’s Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2011) by CASCA. She was awarded the UBC School of Nursing Centenary Medal of Distinction in 2019.