Susan Ray

Dr. Susan Ray is an experienced psychologist with 20 years of experience teaching and 30 years of professional experience as a leader, educator, therapist, and change agent. Dr. Ray has taught bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral courses for twenty years in psychology, testing & assessment, research, organizational effectiveness, business, strategic planning, project management, and marketing to working adults and military students. Dr. Ray has developed new academic programs, served as a course lead, and a student and faculty mentor. Dr. Ray serves Walden University’s College of Psychology & Community Services as a contributing faculty in Forensic Psychology supporting doctoral students.

Dr. Ray serves her community as a marriage and family therapist registered associate working with children, adolescents, and adults with PTSD, ADHD, neurodivergence, ODD, borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. Susan has worked in healthcare and mental health, establishing quality programs and improving healthcare systems, patient satisfaction, and organizational performance. She has served as clinical administrative director for several healthcare organizations supporting psychosocial services, palliative care, patient navigation, volunteer services, strategic planning, program development, and quality initiatives. She has also built and deployed market research and analytics teams and helped organizations establish and expand the use of data to make data-informed decisions.

Dr. Ray’s professional experience has crossed a variety of industries, including healthcare, higher education, continuing education, and manufacturing, where she has helped build teams and improve workforce culture, morale, skills, and efficiency. Dr. Zukowski has led diverse teams with members spanning multiple states and countries and has experience driving organizational change, healthcare administration, quality management, performance improvement, organizational development, research, data analytics, program development and evaluation, strategic planning, and leading philanthropic endeavors. With experience in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, Dr. Ray has led Community Health Needs Assessments and helped identify community needs, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. Not only has she led large-scale community research endeavors, but she also supports thesis and doctoral students in designing and conducting research with an eye on community impact.

Dr. Ray has subject matter expertise in trauma, neurodivergence (including ADHD and autism), personality development, personality psychology, developmental psychology, forensic psychology, depression, anxiety, assessment, organizational change, organizational behavior, and leadership development. She is interested in a wide range of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research that supports these areas.

Education

MBA, Lakeland University

PhD, Walden University

MA, National University

Publications

Dennis, M., Ray, S., Butler, R. (2025). Increasing student employability through strategic curricular innovations. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics

Ray, S., Heyman, E. (2024). How to build value-rich education that connects adult learners to industry. The Evollution

Ray, S. (2025). Microcredentials: Empowering modern learners & employers. The Evollution

Presentations

Ray, S., Brower, A., Amankwatia, T., Brand, B., Chiaramonte, S., Etter, B. (2024). UPCEA's Credential Innovation Consortium: Preliminary Outcomes, Building Capacity, Expanding Pathways.. UPCEA

Ray, S., Heyman, E. (2024). Building Pathways, Building Bridges. UPCEA

Ray, S., de los Santos, G., Borden, J. (2023). Creating Access and Workplace Alignment through Credential-Rich Pathways and Stackable Learning.. ASU GSV

Ray, S., Zimmerman, S., Patterso, J. (2021). Moving the Workforce Froward through Professional Development and Academic Pathways..

Ray, S., Elder, D., Ressel, R., Arnold, B. (2020). Preparing the Education Workforce with SEL. ASU GSV

Ray, S., Poole, J. (2018). Promoting Critical Thinking in the Online Classroom.