Susan Katzman

Susan Katzman retired from the St. Louis Public Schools as divisional director for Career & Technical Education in 2005. During her 36 years with the school district, she had management responsibilities for such areas as career education, summer school, curriculum writing and revision, technical education, career academies and high school reform.  She also provided oversight for a variety of special projects including magnet and alternative school development, college, dual credit and articulation agreements, corporate relations, opening of school events, district reports to the community, development of grants from federal, state and local entities (federal magnet and smaller learning community, National Science Foundation, etc.) and the design, construction and programmatic development of a new $30M state-of-the-art academic and technical high school.

Over the years, while serving as the Director for Career Education, she and her staff developed a comprehensive preschool-grade 12 program that included classroom curricula and over 15 experiential programs for students with the corporate community. The classroom curricula is still sold nationally and the staff has helped over 26 cities, including Paris, France, replicate the yearly Career Awareness Fair held for over 11,000 area eighth graders and 900 businesspersons. The Career Education program received national recognition over the years, including designation as a model youth employment/training program through the Council of the Great City Schools and the national Planning for Life Award through the U.S. Army and USA Today. Susan and her staff introduced the implementation of 14 Career Academies into the district high schools.

Nationally, Susan is the recent past-president of the National Career Academy Coalition (an umbrella organization for career academies). She has keynoted or presented at over 75 national conferences, written curriculum guides, developed college and career programs that are now used as national models, designed and conducted training on national standards, project-based learning, long range/strategic planning and corporate involvement. She has written articles including The Role of Career Education in School-to-Work Transition through the ERIC Clearinghouse and, most recently, wrote a major chapter for the new book, The History of Career Education. Susan currently serves as a consultant to school districts and corporations.  

Outside of the academic setting, Susan serves as a private training consultant in such areas as communications, diversity, racism, strategic planning, conflict resolution and business-education relationships. She serves on the board of the St. Louis Community Credit Union, chair of the Credit Union Foundation, and as vice-president of leadership for the National Council of Jewish Women. Susan earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin/Madison.