SU Foundation Board Member Honored Among State's Top 100 Women

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University Foundation, Inc. board member Susan Purnell is well known in Wicomico County as a successful business owner, and a supporter of the campus and community.

Now, she’s been named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women for 2014. Bestowed by The Daily Record, a Baltimore-based business newspaper, the honor recognizes the outstanding achievements of professional women who reside or work in Maryland.

Purnell is the third-generation owner of Kuhn’s Jewelers in Salisbury, the sixth-oldest independent jewelry store in the United States.

Since 2012, she has served as volunteer host of SU on the Air, a monthly PAC 14 program that provides information about campus achievements, programs and events. She is a co-founder of the Jack Purnell-Chris Thomas Memorial Tennis Tournament, held annually at SU and named, in part, in memory of her father.

A supporter of Coastal Hospice for nearly two decades, she also has been involved with organizations including Urban Salisbury, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore and the Alzheimer’s Association. Currently, she is serving as honorary chairperson for the St. Paddy’s Day Walk/Run for Alzheimer’s, sponsored by MAC Inc., Area Agency on Aging, to raise funds for programs and services for those impacted by the disease.

In 2011, the Girl Scouts of America’s Bay Area Council named Purnell its Woman of Distinction.

Other members of the SU campus community also have earned the Top 100 Women honor including marketing professor Paula Morris. In 2010, SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach was inducted into The Daily Record’s Circle of Excellence after being recognized for the third time.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.