Division of Campus Life

Susan Layden (she/her) serves as the Associate Vice President for Strategic Assessment and Student Experience in the Division of Campus Life, where she leads efforts to strengthen the student experience through data-informed decision-making, assessment, and collaboration. In this role, which she began in October 2025, Sue is responsible for initiatives that support student thriving, belonging, dialogue, leadership and community, and the development of centralized data systems, the integration of assessment practices across the division. A national leader with nearly three decades of experience in higher education, including two in senior leadership, Sue brings deep expertise in student success, impact assessment, access, curricular and co-curricular program development, dialogue across difference, and organizational strategy.

Most recently, Sue served as Chief of Staff and Senior Director for Student Success for the Division of Campus Life at Brown University from 2023 to 2025. Before joining Brown, Sue served as Senior Associate Dean for Student Success at Claremont McKenna College, where she advanced evidence-based programs for student wellbeing, access, academic success, leadership development, authored the Perceived Capacities Questionnaire, created the Romero Success Coach program, and contributed to the college’s Presidential Initiative on Antiracism and the Black Experience in America. She also held key leadership roles at Skidmore College, where she helped create the first dialogue minor in higher education, directed Student Academic Services and the Opportunity Program, securing more than $35 million in grants and donations to expand access and support for historically underserved students, and taught in the First Year Experience and the departments of Anthropology and Intergroup Dialogue. Sue holds a Ph.D. in Literacy Education and Anthropology from the University at Albany and a B.A. in Psychology from Siena University.