Gloria Bonilla-Santiago (born January 17, 1954) is a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership at Rutgers University–Camden.
She is also the founder of Leadership, Education, and Partnership (LEAP) Academy University Charter School located in Camden, New Jersey.
[1] As the founder of LEAP, Bonilla-Santiago created a merit pay/pay-for-performance program designed to reward excellence in teaching and improve student academic outcomes.
Bonilla-Santiago is an expert in the fields of community development, migration of women, diversity management, organizational leadership and public policy.
[4] In 1993, Bonilla-Santiago and the Rutgers-Camden Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership developed the concept of an independently governed, public charter school that could improve education and opportunities for the children and families of Camden, NJ.
Gloria Bonilla-Santiago is the author of three books: She has published numerous articles and monographs and contributed a chapter to Helping Battered Women, edited by A. Roberts (Oxford University Press, 1996).