Susan C. Aldridge

Susan C. Aldridge is an American academic administrator, 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.

Education Aldridge completed a B.A. in sociology and psychology at Colorado Women's College in 1977. She then attended the University of Colorado Denver where she obtained an M.P.A. in 1987 and then a Ph.D. 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.

Career From 1991 to 1994 Aldridge was a professor of management, organizational behavior, and policy analysis at the National University of Singapore where she conducted research on health and aging policy. In 1995, she was appointed director of the Western Region at Troy University in Alabama and promoted to vice chancellor of the global campus in 2001.

Aldridge later became a Senior Fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. 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. In May 2024, she was named president.

Professional affiliations and recognition In 2007, Aldridge travelled to Chile and Brazil as part of a special delegation to promote U.S. higher education, led by former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. She served as both chair of the 2006 US-China Forum on Distance Education, In 2008, she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Air University Board of Visitors, and later in 2015, to the Marine Corps University Board of Visitors.

In 2010, Aldridge was a recipient of the Women in Technology Global Impact Award. The Daily Record named her among Maryland's Top 100 Women in 2008, and the Most Influential Marylanders in 2009, and The Washingtonian recognized her as one of Washington's 100 Most Powerful Women in both 2009 and 2011. In 2013, she was elected to the United States Distance Learning Association Hall of Fame.

Books Wired for Success: Real-world Solutions for Transforming Higher Education. (2014, American Association of State Colleges and Universities)