Susan Flowers Benton, PhD, CRC

Assistant Professor

Susan Flowers Benton is a former RSA Scholar with a BS in Sociology from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, an MS in Vocational Rehabilitation from Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, LA, and a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After receiving her doctorate in 2017, she accepted a postdoctoral fellowship to continue her research training as part of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, also at UW Madison. She has two separate, but related research interests. The first strand focuses on increasing health equity in aging, chronic illness, and memory disorders. The second strand focuses on increasing the diversity and inclusivity of biomedical research. She has received two NIH grants from the National Institutes on Aging – the first, an R36 dissertation award to analyze the data from an intervention study focused on improving the physical, emotional and social health of aging African Americans with Chronic Illness, an intervention she led. She was the first graduate student in the history of her program to be awarded NIH funding. The second, an R03, was awarded to her as a post-doctoral scholar to further her work in improving the inclusivity of research programs. Dr. Flowers Benton returned home to Baton Rouge, LA to accept an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology at Southern University in June of 2019. At that time, she also became the PI of Project E3, an RSA-funded Technical Assistance Center focused on improving rehabilitation service delivery to underserved populations as identified by State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies.

That project ended in August of 2021. As much as she loves research, she also loves teaching and working with students. She is committed to her students and their development into competent, effective, and caring rehabilitation professionals. In the fall of 2021, she accepted the position of Undergraduate Program Leader for the Rehabilitation Services program, with the goal of building on the Department of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies' legacy of excellence in preparing future rehabilitation professionals.