{{short description|American politician (born 1955)}} {{BLP sources|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Susan Parker | office = Member of the Alabama Public Service Commission<br>Seat 2 | governor = Bob Riley | term_start = January 15, 2007 | term_end = January 17, 2011 | predecessor = George Wallace | successor = Terry Dunn | office1 = 37th Auditor of Alabama | governor1 = Don Siegelman | term_start1 = January 18, 1999 | term_end1 = January 20, 2003 | predecessor1 = Pat Duncan | successor1 = Beth Chapman | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|9|30}} | birth_place = Eva, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | education = Calhoun Community College (attended)<br>Athens State University (BS)<br>University of Alabama (MA, PhD) }} '''Susan D. Parker''' (born September 30, 1955) is an American Democratic politician from Alabama. A resident of Rogersville, Parker was elected Alabama State Auditor in 1998 and served until 2002.<ref name=APSC>[http://www.psc.state.al.us/Parker/Parker.htm Alabama Public Service Commission] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208211744/http://www.psc.state.al.us/Parker/Parker.htm |date=2007-02-08 }}</ref>

==Birth== Susan Parker was born on September 30, 1955, in Eva, Alabama.<ref name="susan">{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/15|title=Susan D. Parker's Biography|publisher=Vote Smart|access-date=16 September 2012}}</ref>

==Education== Parker received an AS from Calhoun Community College in 1975<ref name="susan" />(a977), a BS from Athens State College and an MA from the University of Alabama in 1977, and a Ph.D., in Higher Education Administration of Higher Education from the University of Alabama in 1985. She completed a program of alternate studies at Memphis Theological Seminary in 2014.

==Professional experience== Parker was an Administrator, Calhoun Community College, 1972–1988,<ref name="susan" /> Chief Development Officer/Assistant to the President, Athens State College, 1988–1996, and President, Parker Plus Consulting, 1996–1998, Ordained as a minister by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, April, 2014, Interim President, Memphis Theological Seminary 2018-2019

==Politics== Parker was elected as Alabama State Auditor in 1998.<ref name="Tullos">{{cite book |author=Allen Tullos |title=Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie |year=2011 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |pages=168 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3rI7mdw8LZ4C&pg=PA168 |isbn= 9780820339610 }}</ref> She did not seek reelection in 2002, and was succeeded in office by Republican Beth Chapman.

In 2002 Parker was the first woman in Alabama to be nominated for a Senate seat when she defeated Julian L. McPhillips in the Democratic primary.<ref name=APSC/> Commentators drew attention to the perceived sexism of McPhillips who questioned whether Parker was fit to consider family issues because she had no children of her own.<ref>{{cite book |author=James C. Cobb |title=The South and America Since World War II |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=231 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsVMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA231 |isbn=9780195166514 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Eleanor Clift |author2=Tom Brazaitis |title=Madam President, Revised Edition: Women Blazing the Leadership Trail |year=2016 |publisher=Routledge |pages=248–249 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ghwfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT248 |isbn=9781136705243 }}</ref> She lost the general election to incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, winning 40% of votes against Sessions' 59%. In 2003, Parker campaigned for Amendment 1 to the Alabama Constitution, a referendum which proposed, ''inter alia'', new sources of funding for public education, a measure that was defeated at the polls. .<ref name="Tullos"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Alabama_Excellence_Initiative_Fund,_Amendment_1_(September_2003) |title=Alabama Excellence Initiative Fund, Amendment 1 |date=September 2003 |access-date=2018-03-21 |publisher=Ballotpedia }}</ref>

In 2006, Parker defeated former state Representative Perry Hooper Jr., of Montgomery for the Place 2 position on the Alabama Public Service Commission. Though Hooper had defeated former state Senator John Amari of Trussville in the Republican primary, he lost to Parker in the general election.<ref name=APSC/>

She had been mentioned as a possible candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama in the 2010 election, but declined and instead lost her reelection bid for the Public Service Commission to Republican Terry L. Dunn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://debmurphreealabamapolitics.blogspot.com/2009/02/susan-parker-to-run-for-state-psc-again.html |title=SUSAN PARKER TO RUN FOR STATE PSC AGAIN |work=Deb Murphree/Alabama Politics |date=February 24, 2009}}</ref>

==See also== * United States Senate elections, 2002

==References== {{reflist}} www.commercialappeal.com/story/opinion/2018/8/11/14 www.dailymemphian.com/article/925/Memphis-Theological-Seminary-battling-budgeet-problems-with-new-president-Susan-Parker-guiding-the-way

==External links== * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/parker8.html#0GU0LHPMQ Brief Political Graveyard profile] *[http://www.votesmart.org/summary.php?can_id=15 Commissioner Susan D. Parker] at Project Vote Smart * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/D/2000/AL.html Alabama's 2000 DNC delegates] * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/D/2004/AL.html Alabama's 2004 DNC delegates] * (http://www.memphistheologicalseminary.edu

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Charley Baker}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Auditor of Alabama|years=1998}} {{s-aft|after=Carolyn Gibson}} |- {{s-bef|before=Roger Bedford}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Alabama<br>(Class 3)|years=2002}} {{s-aft|after=Vivian Figures}} |- {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Pat Duncan}} {{s-ttl|title=Auditor of Alabama|years=1999–2003}} {{s-aft|after=Beth Chapman}} |- {{s-bef|before=George Wallace}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the Alabama Public Service Commission<br>Seat 2|years=2007–2011}} {{s-aft|after=Terry Dunn}} {{s-end}}

{{ALStateAuditors}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Susan}} Category:1955 births Category:Alabama Democrats Category:Living people Category:People from Morgan County, Alabama Category:People from Rogersville, Alabama Category:State auditors of Alabama Category:Women state constitutional officers of Alabama Category:University of Alabama alumni Category:Athens State University alumni Category:21st-century Alabama politicians Category:Members of the Alabama Public Service Commission