| Susan C. Aldridge | |||||||||||||
| Office: | 2nd President of Thomas Jefferson University | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor: | Mark Tykocinski | ||||||||||||
| Office1: | President of Drexel University Online | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor1: | Ken Hartman | ||||||||||||
| Successor1: | Position abolished | ||||||||||||
| Office2: | 5th President of University of Maryland University College | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor2: | Gerald Heeger | ||||||||||||
| Successor2: | Javier Miyares | ||||||||||||
| Residence: | Towson, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Colorado Women's College (BA) University of Colorado Denver (MPA, PhD) | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Academic administrator | ||||||||||||
| Module: |
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Susan C. Aldridge is an American academic administrator. She is currently serving as president of Thomas Jefferson University. She was previously president of Drexel University Online. She was the president of University of Maryland University College, vice chancellor of the global campus at Troy University, and a professor of management, organizational behavior, and policy analysis at the National University of Singapore.
Aldridge studied at the Colorado Women's College, completing a BA in sociology and psychology in 1977, and then at the University of Colorado Denver, where she obtained a master's degree and then a doctorate in public administration, graduating in 1991. During this period she worked for the Denver Regional Council of Governments, initially as a planner and then as a division director.[1]
From 1991 to 1994 she was a professor of management, organizational behavior, and policy analysis at the National University of Singapore where she researched health and aging policy.[2] In 1995, she was appointed director of the Western Region at Troy University and promoted to vice chancellor of the global campus in 2001. In this position, she served as the chief executive for the eCampus' degree programs 14 countries and 17 states.
She was appointed president of University of Maryland University College in 2006.[3] [4] After leaving UMUC in 2012, she took up a position of senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities,[5] where she co-authored a book, Wired for Success, with Kathleen Harvatt. In 2013 she joined Drexel University as senior vice president for online learning and president of Drexel University Online.
She is a trustee of Thomas Jefferson University. In the summer of 2023, she became its interim president.[6] In May 2024, she was named president.[7]
Over the years, Aldridge has advised university presidents and foreign ministries of education, while taking a leading role in numerous higher education panels and various academic conferences across the country and around the world, including a special delegation to Chile and Brazil led by former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.[8] She served as both chair and co-chair of the US-China Forum on Distance Education, as well as co-chair of the Department of Defense Task Force on Distance Learning Standards. Aldridge was an elected board member of the International Academy of Business Disciplines, and a member of the NASULGC-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning.[9] In 2008, she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Air University Board of Visitors,[10] and later in 2015, to the Marine Corps University Board of Visitors.[11] Aldridge was recognized by both the State of Colorado and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for “outstanding leadership” in the field of health care planning and management. Additionally, her contributions in the areas of program planning and evaluation and quality assurance earned her both a Distinguished Service Award from HHS and an Outstanding Public Service Award from the U.S. Social Security Administration.
In 2010, Aldridge received the Women in Technology Global Impact Award for her many achievements in distance education.[12] The Daily Record named her among Maryland's Top 100 Women in 2008. and the Most Influential Marylanders in 2009,[13] and The Washingtonian recognized her as one of Washington's 100 Most Powerful Women in both 2009[14] and 2011.[15] In 2013, she was honored by the US Distance Learning Association with its Hall of Fame Award for Leadership in Distance Learning.[16]