Dr. Connors currently serves as an Associate Director and Senior Evaluator at The Evaluation Center. In this role, she leads education-focused evaluations for projects including NxtGEN Colorado (a U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant to the CU-Denver School of Education and Human Development ), two National Science Foundation grants, the Kempe Center, and two National Institutes of Health grants. .  

Prior to joining The Evaluation Center, Dr. Connors spent 30 years as a Teacher and Counselor in Adams 12 School District. Additionally, she served as test coordinator for national and state assessments, data analyst, and an evaluator for North Central Association. She served as a college coach for the Daniels Fund College Scholarship Program and as a mentor/trainer for other grant awardees for the National Education Association. 

Dr. Connors’ goals in evaluation work are to involve participants in all steps of the evaluation process and to advance the understanding of evaluation for both program leaders and future evaluation practitioners. She is especially interested in providing credible and actionable evaluation data to leaders of programs who are working to increase the access of under-served populations to quality education and healthcare. 

Dr. Connors holds degrees from Creighton University (B.A. in English and History) and the University of Colorado Denver (M.A. in Guidance & Counseling and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership). 

When Susan is away from The Evaluation Center, she loves spending time with her grandchildren, planning and cooking for family celebrations, and traveling.