Suzanne Elise Walsh, president of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, has announced she will step down from her role on June 30, 2025.
On August 1, 2019, Walsh was named the nineteenth president of Bennett College, a historically Black liberal arts college for women. During her tenure, she guided the college through several transitions, including a change in accreditors from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to Transnational Association of Christian Colleges & Schools, (TRACS), as well as a restructured “minimester” academic schedule and an updated curriculum. Over the past four years, Bennett’s student retention rate has increased to over 85 percent, a significant improvement from a rate of roughly 50 percent during the preceding five years.
Prior to assuming the Bennett College presidency, Walsh served as deputy director of postsecondary success for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier, she held leadership roles with the Lumina Foundation for Education and The Heinz Endowments.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to have led Bennett College through a period of significant transformation,” said President Walsh. “Working with an incredible community of trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumnae, we have improved the overall position of the college. Bennett College is well-situated for its next chapter of growth and impact.”
President Walsh is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in social work. She holds a master’s degree in social work and a juris doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.