Rate My Professor Susan McLennon

Susan M. McLennon, PhD, ANP-BC, CNE, is Professor and Director of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a position she has held since July 2023. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Florida, and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. McLennon completed a postdoctoral fellowship in medical ethics at Indiana University. Certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP-BC), Certified Nurse Educator (CNE), and hospice and palliative care nurse, she began her career as a critical care nurse before advancing into academic leadership and research.

Prior to UNC Charlotte, McLennon served as tenured professor and interim dean at Texas A&M University School of Nursing in Bryan, Texas, and as associate dean for faculty affairs and tenured professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Nursing. Her research focuses on caregivers and neurocognitive disorders in older adults, supported by multimillion-dollar grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration. She is widely published in the field, with key works including "Systematic review of health-related quality of life models" (2012), "Finding meaning as a mediator of burden on the health of caregivers of spouses with dementia" (2011), and "Telephone Assessment and Skill-Building Kit for stroke caregivers: A randomized controlled clinical trial" (2015). McLennon has received the Excellence in Nursing Research Award from Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for her work with older adults with neurocognitive disorders, the Dean’s Award for Innovation from Indiana University, and the Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing from the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing. In 2025, she was appointed Associate Editor of Geriatric Nursing and Secretary of the Steering Committee for the Organizational Leadership Network under the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and named a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, to be inducted in 2026. She serves as a peer reviewer for scientific journals and is actively involved in mentoring and professional organizations.