Rate My Professor Susan Locke

Susan Locke is Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychology at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. She holds a BA from Vassar College and a PhD from Adelphi University. During her 48-year career at the college, Locke held key leadership positions, including Director of the Baruch College Honors Program, Chair of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, and Interim Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She also served as chair or member of several other committees, contributing significantly to academic governance and program development.

Locke received two Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Teaching and the Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Service, recognizing her outstanding contributions to education and administration. In retirement, she has endowed several initiatives focused on environmental sustainability and climate change. The Susan Locke Interdisciplinary Capstone in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change brings together faculty and students from diverse disciplines to examine the science of climate change, its environmental, societal, health, and well-being impacts, and the necessary social, institutional, and behavioral changes to sustain the natural world. Through field trips, laboratory research, simulations, and creative advocacy, it cultivates environmental stewardship. Her endowment also supports the annual Susan Locke Prizes in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change, awarded for scholarly work across natural sciences, social sciences, business, public policy, psycho-social effects, ethics, and the arts, including poetry, photography, and dance depicting human-nature connections. The Locke Seminar further promotes student engagement with nature and leadership in sustainability. Inspired by her lifelong passion for photography, which began with a Kodak Duaflex II camera gifted by her father at age eight, and her love for exploring the natural world, Locke aims to pass these values to future generations of Baruch students.