Lori Delale-O’Connor, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Education at the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She served as the Center’s associate director for research and development from 2014 to 2017. Her teaching, research, and policy interests focus on urban education, sociology of education, positive child and youth development, and family and community engagement.

Dr. Delale-O’Connor received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University where she was also a certificate fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences—a predoctoral training program funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Delale-O’Connor also holds an M.Ed. in secondary education from Boston College where she was a Donovan Urban Scholar and taught secondary social studies in the Boston Public Schools.

Prior to joining the School of Education, Dr. Delale-O’Connor was a research scientist at Child Trends, a non-profit research center focused on improving the wellbeing of children across the lifespan. There she designed and conducted evaluations of programs serving children and youth.