Susan Ashley has a knack for being present when CC history is made.

The history professor started teaching at Colorado College in 1970, the year the Block Plan began. In 2000, she was named the first William R. Hochman Professor of History. And this fall, she was appointed the dean of the college and dean of the faculty, making her the first woman to hold this post in the college’s 130-year history.

“	I hope to identify ways of enhancing intellectual community at the college and of reinforcing an already very strong academic program.”

“I believe Susan Ashley has the right blend of vision and energy to lead the effort to fulfill our academic mission. She is an outstanding teacher and scholar. She is devoted to CC,” says President Richard F. Celeste. “Colorado College needs a strong chief academic officer who will keep us moving steadily and consistently, but boldly. Susan will do that. I am convinced that, at this moment in our history, Susan Ashley is especially well suited to lead the faculty and the college on our journey to become the finest liberal arts college in the nation.”

Photo by Tom Kimmell

Ashley chaired CC’s history department from 1988 to 1997. She will fulfill her teaching obligations through the current academic year and will assume her new role on June 1, 2005.

Ashley sees the position as both a challenge and a responsibility. “I’m looking forward to working with and for the faculty,” she says. “I hope to identify ways of enhancing intellectual community at the college and of reinforcing an already very strong academic program.”

“In the next several months, I want to talk with departments, programs, and individuals about their concerns, satisfactions, and hopes,” she adds. “From those conversations, I intend to identify faculty priorities and establish an agenda for the dean’s office.”

Ashley received her B.A. summa cum laude in 1965 from Carleton College; her M.A. in 1967 from Columbia University and a certificate in area studies from the European Institute the same year; and her Ph.D. in 1973 from Columbia University.

Richard Storey, dean of the college/dean of the faculty since 1999, left CC in July to become chancellor at the University of Montana-Western in Dillon. Associate Dean of the College Victor Nelson-Cisneros and Associate Dean of the Faculty Brenda Tooley have filled the dean’s role and will continue to do so until Ashley officially takes the position this summer.