Dr. Susan Elkins was named Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Palmetto College in February 2013. The Chancellor serves as the chief administrative officer of Palmetto College, which includes USC’s four associate degree-granting regional campuses – USC Lancaster, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter, and USC Union, along with Palmetto College Columbia and online bachelor’s degree completion programs offered by the four senior institutions of the University of South Carolina System – USC Aiken, USC Beaufort, USC Columbia, and USC Upstate. Dr. Elkins holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Education from Tennessee Technological University (TTU) and completed her doctoral work in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Elkins previously served as Vice President of Extended Programs and Regional Development and Dean of the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Tennessee Technological University. She led outreach and service efforts in the 42-county service area, first as Director of Continuing Education in 1991, Director of Extended Education beginning in 1992, then as founding Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Extended Education in 2002 before being named Vice President in 2006. As a result of numerous internal and external partnerships with campus colleges and schools, along with partners such as community colleges, Tennessee Technology Centers, K-12 school systems, and business/industry partners such as Volkswagen, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority, enrollment in the off-campus programs increased substantially during her tenure. Dr. Elkins is also a tenured Professor of Education in Palmetto College and was a professor in the department of Curriculum and Instruction in the TTU College of Education. Her publications and numerous presentations have focused on leadership, continuing higher education, and student access and success issues such as retention and dropout prevention. Elkins has spent her career of over four decades focusing on student access and success in K-12 and higher education, coupled with internal and external partnerships involving P-16 education, business/industry, and government. Prior to Dr. Elkins’ tenure at TTU, she worked with Career Development programs for high school students in various Upper Cumberland Tennessee counties and taught middle school math in her hometown school system in Gainesboro (Jackson County), Tennessee. Dr. Elkins is also very active in professional and civic organizations. She served as President of the Society for the Advancement of Management (SAM) from 2021-2023 and serves on the Editorial Review Board for the SAM Advanced Management Journal. Additionally, she served as President for the Association of Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) in 2022-2023 and serves as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Continuing Higher Education. She was the recipient of the 2015 ACHE Leadership Award and the 2024 ACHE South Leadership Award. She is also a Past President of the Tennessee Alliance of Continuing Higher Education (TACHE) and is a recipient of the TACHE Barbara Beeler Outstanding Service Award and the Milton J. Phillips, Jr. Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service in Continuing Higher Education in Tennessee. She has served as a team member on numerous accreditation visits for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), as well as an examiner for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence. She is a 2005 protégé of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Institute, a 2014 participant in the AASCU New Presidents Academy, and has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the AASCU Millennium Leadership Institute. Finally, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of the George Rogers Foundation that provides scholarships for first-generation college students, a member of the Rotary Club of Columbia, South Carolina, a past president of the Rotary Club of Cookeville, Tennessee, and has served on boards of numerous other organizations. Susan and her husband Tommy have one adult son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Andy Elkins and Kelly Elkins, along with two grandchildren, Maddox and Caroline, who reside in Naples, Florida.