About Our President
Marisa Kelly is the 11th president of Suffolk University, where she is driving momentum through her focus on educational opportunity, career readiness, and community impact. She is a respected leader in higher education who is increasingly known for her efforts to ensure that people from all backgrounds have access to the transformative opportunities that a Suffolk education provides.
Kelly was named Suffolk’s permanent president in March 2018 after guiding the University as acting president for 20 months. Under her leadership, Suffolk has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 100 universities in the country for advancing the social mobility of its students. The University has been recognized as a First-Gen Forward institution for its efforts to support the success of its first-generation college students, who make up more than one-third of Suffolk’s undergraduate student body.
She has been resolute in affirming Suffolk’s longstanding commitment to inclusivity and believes the University’s strength is greater because of its diversity. For the past three years, Suffolk has received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award, for its outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Kelly has also championed career readiness at Suffolk, ensuring the launch of the reimagined Center for Career Equity, Development, & Success, which actively promotes greater equity and access in the workforce and whose integrated career education curriculum begins when Suffolk students first enroll.
An advocate for global awareness, Kelly has prioritized accessible opportunities for international study and travel, whether students take part in Suffolk’s Global Gateway or academic travel seminar programs, or study with dozens of University partners around the world.
Kelly’s leadership has inspired record levels of giving and a strengthening University reputation. She initiated and led a strategic planning process that culminated in the Suffolk 2025 plan, which has guided the University’s work, and she is leading Suffolk in the development of its next strategic plan.
She serves or has served on a number of higher education and nonprofit boards, including the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts; the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, including its Executive Committee and its Higher Education Leadership Council, which she currently co-chairs; and the Boston Debate League.
Kelly began her academic career as a faculty member and administrator at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She later served as dean and McQuinn Distinguished Chair of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. From there she became provost at Ithaca College before joining Suffolk as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost in 2014. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Kansas, an MA in political theory from San Francisco State University, and a BA in government from California State University at Sacramento.