Susan Cheng
Dr. Susan Cheng is the Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She was formerly part of the founding team of Beyond Z, an early stage college to career start-up focused on accelerating diverse talent, where she directed college curriculum and program design for low-income, first-generation college students. Before joining this venture, Susan was an Associate Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund where she focused on human capital investment and management assistance for the firm’s teacher preparation portfolio ventures in the Learning to Teach Fund. While at NewSchools, Susan co-launched design teams focused on collaborating on solutions to address cross-sector challenges impacting teacher preparation. Prior to NewSchools, she joined Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s transition team for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). While with DCPS, she focused on human capital recruitment and talent development, organizational culture building, and designing and implementing a performance-management system for the central office. Susan also created and ran the Urban Education Leaders Internship Program (UELIP) and launched the Teachers Central to Leadership central office fellowship for DCPS teachers. Prior to DCPS, she volunteered with Partners in Health in Rwanda, worked in the DC Mayor’s office, and managed a portfolio of education diversity and environmental justice programs for the Greenlining Institute in California.
Susan graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in communications and minor in education. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Doctor in Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While at the Kennedy School, Susan co-designed the Community Building workshop to promote campus diversity and helped to form the ALANA (African, Latino(a), Asian and Native American) Group Chapter on campus. During her doctoral studies, Susan was a Freshman Proctor for Massachusetts Hall at Harvard College, supporting the academic and social development of 28 first year students.
