Dr Susan Smith had been teaching in higher education since 2013 when she joined academia from industry. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Susan teaches accounting subjects, bringing them to life using active learning methods incorporating case studies. She was appointed as Associate Dean for Education and Students at the University of Sussex Business School in 2018.
Her passion for continual improvement and innovation drives her practice. She has led a range of curriculum innovation and enhancement projects including remodelling academic advising at the Business School to create a central team of dedicated academics, the Student Academic Success Advisors, who are fully-focused on academic advising. This initiative has had a significant and positive impact on academic advising leading to consistency in delivery, and enabling an anticipatory approach to be adopted during the course of an academic year.
She has also facilitated several impactful staff-student partnerships to successfully co-create and enhance aspects of the student experience, winning awards in both 2019 and 2021. Past projects have included, co-creating assessment criteria and feedback norms, building community, and developing University policies for exemplars.
Susan has contributed to a number of working parties to further professional development including an ICAEW working party which led to the launch of its Essentials CPD programme, a Chartered Association of Business Schools working party leading to the launch of the Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE) designation in 2019 and was part of a UK Advising and Tutoring working party developing professional recognition in academic tutoring during 2020. Susan is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE and trustee of UK Advising and Tutoring. She is an editor of the Journal of Perspectives on Applied Academic Practice and Chair of the ICAEW Academia and Education Community Advisory Group. Internationally, Susan is a member of the International Society of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Recognition Committee and a member of the Future Talent Council Curriculum Innovation Advisory Board.