Susan Martin Studds, Ph.D.
Acting Provost National Defense University

Dr. Studds joined the National Defense University in January 1993 as Professor of Education and later as Professor of Systems Management at the Information Resources Management (IRM) College. She joined the Office of Academic Affairs as Deputy Director of Assessment, Accreditation, and Faculty Development in April 1995 and became the Assistant Vice President in 2001. In March 2007, she was asked to serve as Acting Provost.

Dr. Studds was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and spent most of her youth in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She received her baccalaureate degree in speech and theater from Hanover College, and master of science degree in counseling and student personnel from Miami University. She earned a Ph.D. in educational policy, planning, and administration from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Studds joined the National Defense University in January 1993 as Professor of Education and later as Professor of Systems Management at the Information Resources Management (IRM) College. She joined the Office of Academic Affairs as Deputy Director of Assessment, Accreditation, and Faculty Development in April 1995, and became the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2001. In March 2007, she was asked to serve as Acting Provost.

Dr. Studds serves as the educational advocate and advisor to the NDU leadership and collegiate deans on academic matters including accreditation, institutional assessment, and academic integrity. Dr. Studds is an executive committee member for the Program for Accreditation of Joint Education and serves on the substantive change committee for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. She has taught courses in strategic leadership and decision making and in education as a factor in national security at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and on leadership and change in the IRM College and at the School for National Security Executive Education. She currently teaches a course in American Studies for International Fellows. In AY 2004, she took a sabbatical to assist the School of National Security Executive Education in the development and certification of a master’s degree program in counterterrorism.

Before coming to the National Defense University, Dr. Studds served as the Director of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' National Retention Project and as Director of their Center for Educational Opportunity and Achievement. She also served as Special Assistant to the Provost and accreditation self-study director at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Dr. Studds has held positions in academic and student affairs at Miami University, The Washington Center for Internships and Experiential Education, and The University of Maryland, College Park. She is a trustee at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, where she serves as chair of the academic programs committee. She has written and presented papers on accreditation; state funding programs for minority student recruitment an retention; minority student doctoral achievement; community college articulation; recruiting and retaining minority students, faculty, and administrators; diversity in higher education; developing policies and statements on civility and diversity; and higher education quality enhancement and governance.