Biography
Lisa Schneider-Bentley has served as Senior Director of the Office of Inclusive Excellence since January 2025. She works with faculty, staff, and students to develop, administer, and evaluate programs for inclusive practice and community, and for active and collaborative learning, undergraduate research, teaching assistant preparation, and peer tutoring. She previously served as director of Engineering Learning Initiatives in Cornell Engineering for more than two decades.
Schneider-Bentley received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Cornell (1997), taught Sociology as an assistant professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (1997-1999), and was Senior Director of Research and Evaluation at PowerUP (1999-2002), a national nonprofit expanding technology access and youth development resources in underserved communities across the U.S. Her research interests include race, class, and gender inequality in educational access; climate, inclusion, and quality of student learning in engineering education; and the effects of active, collaborative, and applied pedagogical approaches on student learning outcomes, attitudes, and persistence.