Susan Aldridge

I'm Susan Aldridge. I provide Academic Leadership and Strategic Management For Higher Educational Institutions.

Susan Aldridge serves as Senior Fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) in Washington, DC where her research, writing, and speeches focus on higher education leadership, sustainable university growth strategies, technology mediated models of education, student enrollment and retention, and adult education including education of military students and veterans. As the former President of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), Dr. Susan Aldridge brings extensive leadership and management knowledge to AASCU and many of the 420 member universities. Susan Aldridge is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences and a consultant to University presidents, government officials, and business leaders regarding strategic initiatives in challenging university environments, international education initiatives, strategies associated with developing distance education models, and retention/degree completion opportunities. For 17 years, Dr. Aldridge has held university executive leadership positions in some of the largest Universities in the US. She has led entrepreneurial global campuses and provided the vision and strategic direction for increased access, sustainable growth strategies, developing student analytics and quality service metrics, while receiving the highest accreditation reviews. Dr. Susan Aldridge is an experienced higher education strategist and fundraiser, having successfully completed a $26 million capital campaign at UMUC and leading growth initiatives transitioning UMUC from $200 million in revenue to $400 million in annual revenue in 5 years. Dr. Susan Aldridge launched new academic programs in workforce shortage areas such as cybersecurity, cyber forensics, homeland security, and STEM fields for professionals returning for teaching degrees. In addition, she supported the redesign of all 1200 undergraduate courses in the curriculum to create learning outcomes mapped to industry requirements. In addition, under her leadership the university built a data warehouse and business intelligence system to track student success and performance among key university departments. Throughout the years, Dr. Susan Aldridge has provided effective thought leadership in technology mediated education, ensuring quality in distance education, creating pathways for community college transfer students, designing career services that support students from recruitment through graduation, launching virtual career fairs in cyber security and severe workforce shortage areas, creating academic and career pipelines and pathways, and educating adult students.

Senior Fellow at American Association of State Colleges and Universities

October 2012 - Present | Washington D.C., USA

As a Senior Fellow, Dr. Susan Aldridge is responsible for research and managing special projects in the area of: strategies for university presidents around technology mediated education or distance education; international education; fiscal sustainability strategies; and developing models for serving military students and veterans.

President at University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

January 2006 - March 2012 | College Park, Maryland, USA

President Susan Aldridge was responsible for delivering in-class and on-line academic programs to over 97,000 students in 28 countries, and 170 locations worldwide. UMUC is the largest U.S. state university, providing both on-line and in-class courses worldwide. UMUC is one of 11 separately accredited universities in the University System of Maryland and is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. As the President of UMUC, Dr. Susan Aldridge was responsible for the long term vision, growth strategy and financial viability of the university, for ensuring that academic programs are viable, quality and productive in respective marketplaces, and for identifying new degree programs required for workforce and economic development. She was also responsible for faculty and staff recruitment, termination and salaries within state policies and for overall welfare of the campuses. Dr. Aldridge provided oversight of campus instructional delivery, academic programs, a massive global IT infrastructure, all levels of university administration, generating and allocating resources, while being accountable for compliance with university system, state, federal and accreditation policy. Dr. Susan Aldridge was responsible for oversight of all academic and support systems for student admission, education, progression, career services, alumni support, articulation agreements, and evaluation/transfer of credit from other institutions.President Susan Aldridge launched cutting edge programs in cybersecurity, cyber forensics, STEM teaching and distance education. Growth targets averaged 8 percent annually. Over 120 degree programs and for-credit certificate programs were offered ranging from Associate’s to Doctoral programs. UMUC is the largest educator of active duty service members worldwide and was the U.S. pioneer in distance learning. Under Dr. Aldridge’s presidency, UMUC became the quintessential university serving working adults, with cutting-edge work force relevant academic programs and world-class student support systems.President Susan Aldridge maintained oversight of approximately 9700 PT/FT faculty and staff globally with a $430 million budget. Her oversight responsibility included financial management of UMUC; budget preparation and monitoring; maintenance of financial records and accounts; and preparation of legislative and state reports. During President Susan Aldridge’s tenure as President, UMUC received exceptional, unqualified audits without repeat financial findings. Dr. Aldridge was also responsible for oversight of fundraising and capital campaigns, alumni activities, physical plants, art programs and galleries, purchasing, equipment inventories, and auxiliary enterprises. New international locations and partnerships added annually. Extensive alliance partnerships with over 70 community colleges provided seamless opportunities for 2+2 programs nationally. Dr. Aldridge launched an award-winning automated transfer credit system with Oracle and Hershey Systems (now Hyland Corporation). Dr. Susan Aldridge competitively bid and acquired over $200 million in DOD education contracts. Under her leadership, UMUC received funding from Carnegie Foundation, Kresge Foundation and Gates Foundation for student learning outcomes and data mining projects. President Aldridge and her UMUC team successfully completed a $26 million capital campaign, the largest in the university’s history. Dr. Susan Aldridge is a national and international leader, author and spokesperson in adult and online education. She has extensive service on national education boards and state of Maryland boards and commissions.

Vice Chancellor, Global Campus at Troy State University

January 2004 - January 2006 | Troy, Alabama, United States

Dr. Susan Aldridge served as Troy University’s chief executive officer for all university graduate and undergraduate degree programs outside the state of Alabama in 17 states, 14 countries, and 13 time zones. Campuses include 62 locations internationally and domestically with a $70 million budget and over 18,000 students. Dr. Aldridge as responsible for Troy University’s eCampus serving 9,000 students. Dr. Susan Aldridge’s accomplishments included doubling revenue, increasing return by 400% and increasing the student population by 6,000 students in 3 years. Dr. Aldridge served as academic liaison to University Deans and Department Chairs and served as liaison to SACS regional accreditation agency for all international and domestic programs strategically located outside Alabama. Dr. Aldridge served as Acting Dean, Global Campus (June 2005 – February 2006). She served on Chancellor’s Cabinet, Academic Council and Strategic Planning Team. Dr. Aldridge Chaired the Chancellor’s Strategic Management Team for eCampus, she supervised over 400 employees, and 1200 full-time or adjunct faculty members. Dr. Susan Aldridge was responsible for faculty hiring and faculty development, academic quality, student outcomes, and institutional effectiveness. She conducted due diligence work for new international site expansion. Dr. Aldridge negotiated all contracts for business and military education programs, corporate cohort training and degree programs, and the award-winning eCampus. She negotiated joint license agreements for new product development. Dr. Aldridge supervised the second largest US on-line degree program, eArmyU, under contract with IBM for the US Army. She supervised all international campus operations and negotiations. Dr. Aldridge established standards for business ethics and international program management. She was responsible for all accreditation proposals, site visits and accreditation preparation for the 62 sites and locations. International locations included China, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Cuba. Dr. Susan Aldridge served as commencement speaker at over 30 commencements annually.

University of Colorado Denver

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Concentration: Public Administration

University of Colorado Denver

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Concentration: Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management

Academic leadership, Technology and higher education, Distance education, Future trends in higher education, Serving adult and military students, MOOC and strategically management of challenges in education environment.