Susan Paddack received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Colorado and a Master of Education Degree in Secondary Education from East Central University.  She earned a Certificate of Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Susan was elected in November 2004 as the State Senator for District 13, which includes Pontotoc, Hughes, portions of Garvin and Coal Counties.  She serves as a Democratic Whip.  On many occasions, she has also presided over the work on the Senate floor, being the only freshman legislator to serve in that capacity.  She will represent Oklahoma as a member on the Southern Region Education Board, an organization that studies trends and issues in education, and is a member of the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Legislative Conference.

Prior to her election, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence employed Susan for nine years as their Director of Local Education Foundation Outreach.  She traveled the state working with LEF boards and tailored presentations and workshops based on each foundation’s specific need.  During this tenure, the number of local education foundations grew by 31% and over $22 million was awarded to schools by their LEFs since their formation in the early 1980s.  She also consulted with LEFs in states such as Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.  She was employed as a secondary science teacher in middle and junior high schools in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.  She also served as an adjunct faculty member for East Central University’s Education Department.

Susan serves in various capacities in local, state, and national volunteer organizations.  She served as the 2000-2001 president of the American Medical Association Alliance, and traveled to 32 states as a part of their Speakers’ Bureau.  Susan served as a representative from the AMAA to the Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence, which was a call to action from medicine, nursing, and public health to address the epidemic of youth violence in the nation.  On the state level, she is a board member for the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum, an executive committee and board member for the Oklahoma Academy, a board member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute and is on the advisory board of governors for the Communities Foundation of Oklahoma.  Susan was a member of the Leadership Oklahoma Class XVI. She was named among the 2004 honorees for The Journal Record’s 50 Making a Difference.  She also was a board member of the Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy, having served as Vice-president of Development and Vice-president of Trustees, and was a board member of the Center for Nonprofit Management.  Susan served as a board member for the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence for many years prior to her employment.  She co-chaired the Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations in 1993 and 1994.  She was also on the board of trustees, the executive committee, and chaired the Local Education Foundation Outreach Committee.  Susan served as the 1991-92 president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association Alliance. 

On the local level, Susan served on the board of the Ada City Schools Foundation where she was previously president, vice-president, and was grant review chair for ten years.  She has also served as: president for the Pontotoc County Medical Alliance, board member for the City of Ada’s Board of Adjustments, board member of the Kiwanis Club of Ada and chairman of Young Children - Priority One, parent representative on the Ada City Schools Professional Staff Development Committee, vice-president for the Ada Arts and Humanities Council, the 1992 United Way fund drive chair and board president in 1993, a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Task Force and steering committee on Economic Development, and a member of the 1991 Leadership Ada class.  She was named the Ada Education Association’s 1992 Friend of Education.  Susan is an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Ada.  She is married to her high school sweetheart, Gary, and they are the parents of two children, Geoffrey, 24, and Elizabeth, 21.

Committee Membership

• Appropriations
• Appropriation Subcommittee on Education
• Education
• Judiciary - Vice-Chair
• Tourism and Wildlife

Office Information

District Information: District 13

• Map
• Population and Household

Counties Represented

• Coal
• Garvin
• Hughes
• Pontotoc

Press Releases
Archives: 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

• Legislators Vow to Fight Closure of SORC in Pauls Valley
  05.24.10

Podcasts
Archives: 2009 | 2008 | 2007

• Senate Honors Miss Oklahoma 2009
  02.23.10

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