Lori Delale-O’Connor Honored with YWCA Bridge Builder Award

She was recognized for championing equity and mentoring women of color

University of Pittsburgh Center for Urban Education Interim Director Lori Delale-O’Connor has received the 2025 Bridge Builder Award from YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. She will be honored during the organization’s 5th Annual Equity Awards on November 14.

The Bridge Builder Award recognizes an individual whose work remains true to their ethnic heritage and roots as they champion initiatives that engage women of color.

“I am deeply honored to be recognized by an organization so strongly committed to equity and justice and making sure that,as the award notes, ‘the Greater Pittsburgh of our future centers and engages women of color,'” said Delale-O’Connor. “What makes this recognition even more meaningful is that the nomination came from my former advisees, now colleagues, who continue to lead and inspire in this work.”

Delale-O’Connor is also the 2025 recipient of the Dr. Larry E. Davis Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award, a distinguished faculty award from the Office of the Provost at the University of Pittsburgh.

An Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy in the School of Education, Delale-O’Connor’s 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.

Delale-O’Connor has published widely on educational equity, including co-authoring the 2019 book, “These Kids Are Out of Control: Why We Must Reimagine ‘Classroom Management’ for Equity,” and co-editing the 2025 book, “Black Freedom Struggle in Urban Appalachia.”