Biography
Susan Resneck Pierce Atrium – Chihuly window- Puget Sound.
Susan Resneck Pierce Atrium – Chihuly window- Puget Sound.
Susan Resneck Pierce Atrium – Chihuly window- Puget Sound.
Susan Resneck Pierce Atrium – Chihuly window- Puget Sound.
Susan Resneck Pierce is President of SRP CONSULTING, LLC and President Emerita of the University of Puget Sound where she served from 1992-2003. Under her leadership, Puget Sound entered the ranks of the national liberal arts colleges. The endowment grew from $68 million to $213 million; the college completed $85 million of new construction and major renovations; SAT scores increased from 1067 to 1253; applications for 650 freshmen places grew to 4400 annually. To honor her work at Puget Sound, donors endowed both a chair in humanities and honors and a lecture series in public affairs and the arts in her name. In addition, thanks also to a major donor, the atrium of Puget Sound’s new humanities building now carries her name.
Susan Pierce also served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Lewis & Clark College, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tulsa, Assistant Director of Education Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Chair of the Ithaca College English Department, Visiting Associate Professor at Princeton and President of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation and Vice President for the hospital.
Today, as President of SRP CONSULTING, Susan Pierce advises public and private colleges, universities and other non-profit organizations on such matters as an effective board and presidential performance, governance, board development, and strategic planning. She coaches presidents, advises board chairs and facilitates focused retreats for boards, president’s cabinets and faculty.
Dr. Pierce writes and speaks extensively about higher education. Jossey-Bass published and Inside Higher Ed sponsored her two recent books: Governance Reconsidered: How Boards, Presidents, Administrators, and Faculty Can Help Their Colleges Thrive (2014) and On Being Presidential: A Guide for College and University Leaders, (2012). She is also the author of The Moral of the Story: Literature, Values and American Higher Education (Columbia University’s Teacher’s College Press, 1982) and numerous essays about American literature, and she is co-editor of a
book on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (The Modern Language Association, 1989). Boards of Trustees often use her books and essays.
Susan Pierce served in leadership roles in many higher education organizations (e.g. the Association of Governing Boards Council of Presidents and the Annapolis Group Executive Committee). She has been active in many civic, cultural and professional organizations.
She now lives in Boca Raton, FL where she served as a founding board member of the Festival of the Arts Boca and creator of its Authors and Ideas program. She currently serves on the Board of the Boca Museum of Art where she is a member of the Executive Committee and chairs the Education/Art School committee.
Dr. Pierce received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, her M.A. degree in English from the University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
This site lists many of her recent clients, posts testimonials from a number of them and provides a more detailed list of her publications and presentations.