When Susanna Speirs Ali was recruited to teach in the College of the Arts' Metals and Jewelry Program in the late 1990s, she created a renewed sense of community, breathing new life into the discipline. She reinvented the facility and designed courses that offered rigorous and compelling content.

Susanna has taught and developed 12 classes in the metals program and two outside of her discipline in the foundation and sculpture programs, incorporating hands-on demonstrations, lectures and presentations, as well as class discussions and regular critiques that encourage peer exchange.

Susanna's dedication to students extends outside the classroom; she serves as faculty advisor for the Metal Arts Guild, and in the past five years, she has been the primary sponsor of 27 graduate and undergraduate solo exhibitions, 10 on-campus group exhibitions, and three off-campus exhibitions. Under Susanna's leadership, the metals and jewelry students' exhibitions are highly acclaimed—proof of the quality of her teaching and the vision Susanna holds for her students and the program.