Duke Leadership Academy Scholars Profile

Susan Gordon

Title: Sr Director, Career & Professional Dev
Location:
Senior Management Area: Alumni Engagement and Development
Class Year: 2022

Bio:
Susan Gordon, PhD is Senior Director, Career & Professional Development at Alumni Engagement and Development. In that role, she provides leadership for Duke's efforts to deliver lifelong career and professional development for alumni. She also partners with colleagues across campus to help students connect with alumni for professional development and mentoring. Susan currently serves as co-chair of the AED Engagement Leadership Team. Before coming to Duke, Susan served as political science faculty at Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, and De Anza Community College, teaching political thought, American politics, and immigration policy. Prior to her work in higher education, Susan was a product manager at a Silicon Valley software startup, working closely with marketing, design, and technical teams in the scope of her overall responsibility for launching consumer software products. Earlier in her career, she spent 10 years living and working overseas and was an editor at a bilingual academic press and a research analyst at a Taiwan-based business research firm, focusing on technology manufacturing in China. Susan holds a bachelor's degree from Barnard College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a master's degree and Ph.D. in political science from The University of Chicago.