The Mercy College Board of Trustees has elected Susan L. Parish, Ph.D., M.S.W. the 13th president of Mercy College. Currently Dean of the College of Health Professions and Sentara Professor of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Parish will join Mercy College as President on July 1, 2023.

According to a press release issued by the college, Parish expressed the selection as the new President for Mercy as “honored” and is delighted for the opportunity to lead Mercy College. She is committed to Mercy’s mission of delivering exceptional educational experiences that enable students to achieve their academic and career aspirations, working collaboratively with faculty and staff to achieve this important goal.

Chairman of the Board Joe Grant says, “Dr. Parish’s passion for equity, access and inclusion is a hallmark of her professional career, making her the right person to lead Mercy College.”

Her selection followed a comprehensive and confidential search process with a highly qualified applicant pool. The Presidential Search Committee, comprised of members of Mercy College’s board of trustees, faculty, and staff,  worked diligently throughout this process that began in May 2022 while remaining focused on Mercy’s mission and academic purpose.

As dean, her priorities are in diversifying the healthcare workforce and improving the affordability of health professional education. Parish’s scholarship examines the health and well-being of children and adults with disabilities and their families. Her work has yielded more than 140 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Her research has been funded by the NIH, U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Education, and a range of state and foundation sources. She has won numerous teaching and research awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public Health Association Disability Section, the Research Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the Distinguished Research Award from the Arc of the United States. She is a Fellow of both the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the Society of Social Work and Research.

Parish holds a BA in English literature and an MSW from Rutgers University and earned her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also completed an NIH-funded postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center.

Parish will succeed President Tim Hall, who has served Mercy College since 2014 and will retire on June 30, 2023. Under President Hall’s leadership, he was able to put all his efforts of service to the college through improving career success outcomes, ensuring financial stability, solidifying the agreement with the College of New Rochelle to teach-out 1,800 students, launching the Division of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact and leading Mercy through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.