She was awarded the Dufferin Medal for Art in 1873, while she was a student at Hellmuth Ladies' College, London, Ontario.

[7][8] She was head of the piano department at Vassar College from 1899 to 1930, and upon retirement was awarded professor emeritus status.

Newspapers also name her as the first woman lecturer employed by the Board of Education for New York City Schools, serving from 1892 to 1919.

[10] Annabel Wood Mansfield, a music teacher in Atlanta, was Chittenden's protegee and successor at the Hartley House Settlement.

[11] Chittenden published Tetrad arpeggios: Dominant and diminished seventh (1926), a piano exercise book.