Susan C. Turell, Ph.D.

In higher education for 30 years, Susan brings a passion to her work for supporting people and designing and implementing effective processes, all striving toward an equity-minded perspective. Her goal is to synthesize best practices and approaches to help shift 21st-century higher education toward becoming equitable and inclusive.

Prior to serving in higher education administration, Susan taught with an equity-minded pedagogy for 16 years in women’s studies and psychology. She has been actively committed to anti-racism systemic change in the academy for over a decade. Decades of reflection, training, and application have all laid the foundation for her ongoing commitment to working with others to create institutional-level change toward equity and inclusion, via an anti-racism lens. In addition to coaching, she has worked closely with Academic Impressions and her colleague, Maria Thompson, to develop and provide equity and inclusion-focused programming for historically marginalized job candidates and leadership development for all who wish to grow their ability to be more equitable and inclusive.

She has served in leadership as a department chair, associate provost, dean, and provost. Her portfolios have included not only academic colleges and departments, but also key areas that overlap with student success. A seasoned administrator who is a teacher at heart, Susan welcomes the opportunity to share her learnings with new and aspiring leaders-particularly those who are historically marginalized, as well as all those who want to move into positions in which they can influence institutional-level change toward equity. She is committed to helping everyone to find a good fit-to attain positions that will allow them to thrive, encourage their optimism, and support their vision for new possibilities.