LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Susan Kelly, President and CEO of Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), was sworn in as a United States citizen during a large naturalization ceremony at the Los Angeles Convention Center on September 11, 2008. The native Australian, born in Hobart, Tasmania, joined an estimated 18,000 people taking the oath of citizenship in separate ceremonies throughout the day.
Proudly announcing her new status, Dr. Kelly stated, "The USA has been so good to me and my children. It has offered me many opportunities and I'm especially pleased now to be able to follow my life's passion -- working for social justice -- in a community with such obvious need. Being able to be a dual citizen of Australia and the United States of America is precious to me and a genuine source of pride. Furthermore, because voting is very important to me, I am particularly looking forward to casting my first vote in the U.S. in the historic election this November."
In May 2006, Dr. Kelly became the eighth president to lead Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science.. In the last two years, she has reaffirmed the University's mission and commitment to helping the medically underserved, particularly in the South Los Angeles community through several key initiatives. Dr. Kelly has overseen the opening of the first in a series of urgent and specialty care clinics, the launch of the nation's first nursing school focused on health inequities, commenced work on the Life Sciences Research and Nursing Education building (first new building on campus in 25 years), raised funds for buildings and programs, expanded educational partnerships and research opportunities, and advanced planning of an independently LCME-accredited four-year medical school for CDU.
She earned her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Melbourne after receiving a graduate degree in education from the University of Canberra, and her undergraduate degree in psychology and English literature from the University of Tasmania. In 1998, she was recruited to the United States to become Dean, Associate Provost and a tenured full professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). There she led the School of Continuing Education's successful financial and programmatic transformation, later becoming the Inaugural Provost of Argosy University, a national 13 campus, largely graduate, university. Before coming to Charles Drew University, Dr. Kelly served as Vice-President for Higher Education and Business Partnerships at the Chicago-based Council of Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), a national non-profit organization committed to the advancement of adult and working students.
In Australia, Dr. Kelly was elected President of the Australian Psychological Society and served from 1991-1992. There she led her first organizational turnaround. Prior to this, from 1987-1991 she oversaw the accreditation of all psychology programs in Australia. Her background also includes a 13-year career as a member of the research and teaching faculty at two large, urban universities in Australia, before serving as a Senior Management Consultant with an international consulting firm, and then General Manager at the Council of Adult Education in Melbourne. Dr. Kelly has also had a nearly 30 year parallel career as a radio and television psychologist and commentator. She has written three books and has had numerous chapters and articles published in the scientific and mainstream presses.
In 2007, Dr. Kelly married Dr. Drew Allbritten, a former Michigan legislator, U.S. Presidential appointee and CEO of several major non-profit organizations. She is the proud mother of twin daughters, Stephanie (pre-medicine) at Cornell University in New York and Petra (law and commerce) at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia; and six stepchildren in the United States, England and Germany.
ABOUT CHARLES DREW UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE (CDU)
CDU is a private nonprofit, nonsectarian, minority-serving medical and health sciences institution. Located in the Watts-Willowbrook area of South Los Angeles, CDU has graduated over 550 medical doctors, 2,500 post-graduate physicians, more than 2,000 physician assistants and hundreds of other health professionals. The only dually designated Historically Black Graduate Institution and Hispanic Serving Health Professions School in the U.S., CDU is recognized as a leader in health inequities and translational research, specifically with respect to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental health, and HIV/AIDS. The University is among the top 7% of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded institutions and rated one of the top 50 private universities in research in the U.S. Recently, the CDU/UCLA medical program was named the "best performer" in the University of California System with respect to producing outstanding underrepresented minority physicians. For more information, visit http://www.cdrewu.edu.