The Next President of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio

The board of trustees of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, has named Susan Edwards as the educational institution’s eighth president. Dr. Edwards will take office on January 1.

Wright State University enrolls nearly 11,000 undergraduate students and almost 3,500 graduate students, according to the latest statistics submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 52 percent of the undergraduate student body.

In accepting the appointment, Dr. Edwards said that “student success is the umbrella; retention, experiential learning, and high quality classroom education are the three things that fall underneath it.” She also noted that “we have made a concerted effort to recruit a more diverse student body. This year’s incoming freshman class is the most diverse in Wright State’s history. And I wish that to continue.”

Since 2018, Dr. Edwards has served as provost at Wright State University. Prior to coming to Wright State, Dr. Edwards served as vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of biology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. In 2007, Edwards left her native Australia to join the department of biology at Appalachian State. She then took on a leadership role as assistant chair for three years before being appointed chair of the department in 2012. Earlier in Australia, Dr. Edwards taught in the department of physiology and pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences at James Cook University.

Dr. Edwards holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in comparative physiology from Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. She also holds a master’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Melbourne.