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.