Susan Powell is currently professor and director of percussion studies at The Ohio State University School of Music. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and both the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees from Northwestern University. Powell specializes in the areas of multiple and keyboard percussion, and is considered one of the foremost ragtime xylophone soloists of her generation. She has appeared at both the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar and the Northwestern Summer Keyboard Seminar as performer and clinician, and has presented sessions at the Percussive Arts Society Conventions, Ohio Music Educator Association conferences, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago and at numerous universities and festivals across the United States and Europe. She has performed as a solo and chamber musician in Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Germany, England, Sweden, Mexico and Japan.

Powell has been awarded both The Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, as well as the School of Music Distinguished Teacher Award. Under her direction, the Ohio State Percussion Ensemble has twice presented showcase concerts at PASIC (2005, 2008), in addition to tours of Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming, and a performance at the Midwest Clinic. She is an active composer of works for percussion, having pieces published with both Innovative Percussion Publications and Keyboard Percussion Publications. Powell is a performing artist for Malletech keyboard instruments and mallets and an educational endorser for Zildjian, Grover Pro Percussion and Remo drumheads. She performs regularly with the Pendulum Duo (Joseph Krygier) and Sympatico Percussion Group.