Crystal Bedley

Crystal Bedley, Ph.D. is the Senior Director of Education and Engagement, where she leads efforts to build the capacity of the Rutgers-NB community to engage respectfully across difference and foster opportunities for all to achieve. She provides consultation to departments and leaders on organizational change and addressing barriers to success in a compositionally diverse academic community. She is also responsible for strategic oversight for the Tyler Clementi Center, leading initiatives and programming to mitigate bias, promote cross-cultural education, and enhance belonging efforts.

With more than 15 years of experience in organizational and whole-system transformation, Dr. Bedley has dedicated her career to improving inclusion, retention, and success for faculty, students and staff. Much of her work has centered on faculty development, specifically advancing women faculty in STEM through roles on NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation projects, where she has led innovative and sustainable initiatives, adapted promising practices from industry, and built cross-institutional and interdepartmental partnerships. Her approach integrates design thinking, leadership development, capacity building, and rigorous assessment to drive meaningful and measurable change. 

Across her career, Dr. Bedley has built a strong record in organizational change management, strategic planning, and evidence-based capacity building. She is known for her facilitation expertise, mixed-methods evaluation experience, and her ability to adapt emerging best practices to diverse institutional contexts. Her leadership has been recognized with the Rutgers University Clement A. Price Human Dignity Award and the Excellence in Leadership and Teaching Award. A McNair alumna, Dr. Bedley earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University.