Susan D. Phillips

Dr. Phillips holds a joint appointment as Professor of Counseling Psychology and Professor of Educational Policy & Leadership.  In the past, she served as director of doctoral training, department chair, dean of the School of Education, University at Albany Provost, vice president for strategic partnerships, and senior vice president for academic affairs at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences Center.  A Fellow in the American Psychological Association and a licensed psychologist, her work has appeared in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the Journal of Vocational Behavior, and The Counseling Psychologist. Dr. Phillips’s recent work is in the area of quality assurance and accreditation in higher education, where she recently published a volume on accreditation reform.  She also has a long record of scholarship on decision making and career development, where her research has examined other-than-rational decision-making strategies as well as the role of relationships in career decision making. In addition, she has been instrumental in creating cross-disciplinary initiatives, including developing research capacity for university-community partnerships through the NIH-sponsored Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities.

Dr. Phillips is the recipient of the Holland Award for outstanding research in career and personality psychology, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Distinguished Psychologist Award from the Psychological Association of Northeastern New York, and the Cooperative Leadership Award from the National School Development Council.  

She has been active in promoting excellence in academic programs and professional practice, chairing the National Advisory Council for Institutional Quality and Integrity, and leading the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation.  She has also worked with certification, accreditation, and licensing issues in her leadership of the Joint Designation Committee of the National Register/American Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, and was appointed by the New York State Board of Regents to their policy advisory group, the Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching. Her work in the education and training of psychologists was recognized by the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs in the 2009 Lifetime Contribution to Education and Training in Counseling Psychology.

Teaching: Career development; leadership; higher education

Research: Career development, exploration, and decision making
                Quality assurance and accreditation in higher education

Selected Publications:

Phillips, S. D. & Kinser, K. (2018). Accreditation on the edge: Challenging quality assurance in higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Ceschi, A., Costantini, A., Phillips, S. D., & Sartori, R. (2017). The Career Decision-Making Competence: A new construct for the career realm. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(1), 8-27.

Phillips, S. D. (2017).  Accreditation: realities, challenges, and opportunities. In National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Exploring the role of accreditation in enhancing quality and innovation in health professions education: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23636. (pp. 8-19).

Phillips, S. D.  (2015). Lifespan career development. In P. Hartung, M. Savickas, & B. Walsh (Eds.). Handbook of Career Intervention. (pp.99-113). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Jome, L. M., & Phillips, S. D. (2013). Interventions to aid job finding and choice implementation. In S. Brown & R. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed.) (pp. 595-620). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Phillips, S. D.  (2010). Implementing self-concept:  Fit, development, and agency.  In P. J. Hartung & L. M. Subich (Eds.). Developing Self in Work and Career: Concepts, Cases, and Contexts. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books.

Phillips, S. D., & Jome, L. M.  (2005).  Vocational choices: What do we know?  What do we need to know?  In W. B. Walsh and M. L. Savickas (Eds.)  Handbook of vocational psychology (3rd ed.) ( pp. 127-153)  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Jome, L. M. & Phillips, S. D. (2004). Counseling for choice implementation. Invited chapter in S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.) Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp 466-482).  New York: Wiley.

Beidel, D., Phillips, S. D., & Zlotlow, S (2003).  The future of accreditation.  Invited chapter in E. Altmeier (Ed.). Setting standards in graduate education: Psychology’s commitment to excellence in accreditation (pp.  113-134). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Phillips, S. D., Blustein, D. L., Jobin-Davis, K., & Finkelberg White, S. L. (2002). Preparation for the school-to-work transition: The views of high school students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61, 1-15.

Phillips, S. D., Christopher-Sisk, E. K., & Gravino, K. L.  (2001). Making career decisions in a relational context. The Counseling Psychologist, 29, 193-213.