Susheela Shanta

Dr. Susheela Shanta in her new position as Chief Academic Officer at New College Institute, comes into this positionwith experience of over 34 years in community service, with numerous awards for community development projects and as a STEM educator. Susheela was previously engaged for 20 years in community planning and development in cities in Pennsylvania and later, in community development in Virginia towns through designing, financing and managing construction of adaptive re-use of historic and/or underutilized properties to create affordable housing for families and seniors. Over the next 13 years Susheela directed and taught in the engineering program at the Governor’s STEM Academy of Roanoke County. Also appointed by Governor Northam in 2021 to the VA Governor’s STEM Education Advisory Board, Susheela is committed to help provide access to high-quality STEM educational resources to students from diverse geographic, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Susheela earned her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from India (1984), a master’s degree in Urban Planning (1989) from the SUNY Buffalo, NY, and more recently, a doctoral degree (2017) in Integrative STEM Education from Virginia Tech. In her free time, Susheela enjoys her time with her family, travelling, cooking, and riding her motorcycle.