Dr. Susan Poser became the 9th president of Hofstra University on August 1, 2021. She is the first woman to lead the institution. Hofstra enrolls approximately 6,000 undergraduates and 4,000 graduate
and professional students, offering programs in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, business, communications, performing and visual arts, health sciences, nursing, law, and medicine.
At Hofstra, Dr. Poser has prioritized strategies for growing and strengthening academic programs, increasing interdisciplinary teaching and research, enhancing student success and belonging, and diversifying the faculty. She has increased community and local outreach, strengthening ties between the University and the surrounding areas by collaborating on events and providing pathways to college credit for local high school students.
Prior to joining Hofstra, Dr. Poser was the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). She oversaw the process that resulted in UIC’s acquisition of the John
Marshall Law School in 2019, thus creating the first public law school in Chicago. Before UIC, she served in several positions at the University of Nebraska. She was Dean of the College of Law from 2010-2016, Associate to the Chancellor from 2007-2010, Director of the Robert J. Kutak Center for the Teaching &
Study of Applied Ethics, and a law professor for over 15 years. Her teaching and research focused primarily on Professional Responsibility and Tort Law. Dr. Poser’s major accomplishments as dean included revising the first-year curriculum, starting an Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic and a Guardian ad Litem clinic, and raising $23 million. During her tenure, the law school moved up 35 points in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Dr. Poser grew up in New York City and earned a BA in Ancient Greek at Swarthmore College and a JD and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Before beginning her academic career, she clerked for the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, practiced law in Philadelphia, and served as the Zicklin Fellow in Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Poser has a history of institutional service and national and regional leadership throughout her career. Currently, she is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Nebraska Bar Foundation, and the Association of American Law Schools. Dr. Poser serves as a member of the board of directors of the Long Island Association, Accelerate Long Island, and the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council. She is a member of the New York Women’s Forum, and the Chicago Network.
