Presidential Search

Susan Parish

Presidential Search

The Mercy University Board of Trustees has elected
Susan L. Parish, Ph.D., M.S.W. the 13th president of the College. Currently Dean of the College of Health Professions and Sentara Professor of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Parish will join Mercy University as President on July 1, 2023. The selection of Dr. Parish follows a comprehensive search for a leader to succeed President Timothy L. Hall, who announced he will retire on June 30, 2023.  The Mercy Community looks forward to welcoming Dr. Parish this summer.

Learn More

Meet Mercy's New President

On January 24, 2023, Mercy College announced the selection of Susan L. Parish, Ph.D., M.S.W. as the 13th president of Mercy College. Currently Dean of the College of Health Professions and Sentara Professor of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Dr. Parish will join Mercy College as President on July 1, 2023.

Under Dr. Parish’s leadership, the College of Health Professions at VCU has experienced significant increases in graduate and undergraduate enrollment, and research funding. Under her leadership, the College also launched an innovative liberal arts undergraduate degree in Health Services in 2020 and developed new certificate programs and graduate concentrations.

Prior to joining VCU, Dr. Parish served as dean of Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, where she developed a Physician Assistant leadership program – the first in country – jointly with the American Academy of Physician Assistants. She was also the inaugural Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Disability Policy and directed the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University. She began her academic career as an assistant professor of social work at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Parish has been a prolific researcher primarily investigating the health and well-being of children and adults with disabilities and their caregiving families. She has garnered more than $13 million in external research funding from a range of federal, state, and foundation sources. She has received distinctions for her teaching, mentoring and research, including: “Research Matters!” Distinguished Research Award, Arc of the United States (2009), Advocate Hero, Exceptional Parent Magazine (2021), Lifetime Achievement Award, American Public Health Association Disability Section (2021) and Research Award, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2019).

Dr. Parish earned her B.A. in English Literature and her M.S.W. from Rutgers University and earned her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed a National Institutes of Health-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

She enjoys travel, art, theater, and kayaking, and is an enthusiastic amateur potter.


Search Committee

The Presidential Search Committee will be responsible for identifying final candidates for the presidency to be presented to the Board of Trustees. This committee is comprised of members of Mercy University’s board of trustees, faculty, and staff. A panel of students will meet with and provide input about each of the final candidates. These individuals represent decades of commitment to the university and to creating a vision for the future.

Joe Gantz, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Senior Advisor
Pine Brook Road Partners LLC

Brian Amkraut
Vice President and General Manager, Division of Workforce Development and Community Outreach

Patricia Blackmar, Mercy University Trustee
Vice President, Internal Communications Manager
Morgan Stanley

Valerie Mason Cunningham, H.D. ‘20, Mercy University Trustee
Retired Vice President of Channel Marketing for North American Operations
Xerox Corporation

Amanda Gunning
Faculty Senate Vice-President and Associate Professor, School of Education, Co-Director, Center for STEM Education


Search Profile and Nominations

The attached search prospectus outlines the University’s top priorities and the qualities, skills and experiences we will be looking for in a new president.  Valuable feedback from Mercy’s faculty, students, staff and alumni contributed to its development.

We invite you to recommend individuals who you believe would be a good fit for the University’s current and aspirational needs. Please send an email directly to our search consultants MercyCollegePresident@storbecksearch.com.

group of students walking outside

About Mercy

Learn more about Mercy University.

Storbeck Search

About Storbeck Search

Learn more about the search process with Storbeck Search.