Lori Delale-O’Connor, Ph.D.

YWCA Greater Pittsburgh’s 2025 Bridge Builder Award goes to Lori Delale-O’Connor, Ph.D. Lori is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh, where she also serves as Interim Director of the Center for Urban Education. Her teaching and research focus on the connections between families, communities, and schools, with an emphasis on creating more equitable educational systems for marginalized young people. She loves mentoring students as they develop their own educational research and practice. Lori earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University and an M.Ed. in secondary education from Boston College, where she also taught in Boston Public Schools. She has published widely, including co-authoring the 2019 book, These Kids Are Out of Control: Why We Must Reimagine “Classroom Management” for Equity, and coediting the 2025 book Black Freedom Struggle in Urban Appalachia. Beyond academia, Lori is an avid runner, a Girls on the Run coach, and a proud mama.