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Lori Bennear

Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment

Lori Snyder Bennear is the Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, a role she previously held in an interim capacity. She is also a professor of energy economics and policy in the Nicholas School’s Division of Environmental Social Systems and holds secondary faculty appointments within Duke’s Economics Department and the Sanford School of Public Policy. 

Bennear’s research uses quantitative methods to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental policies and regulations related to topics such as energy development, drinking water quality and fisheries management. Her work and insights have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Environmental Science & Technology; Nature Ecology & Evolution; the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management; and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, to name a few. She also co-edited the book , published in 2017 by Cambridge University Press.

A two-time Nicholas School Teacher of the Year award winner, Bennear joined the faculty in 2004 as an assistant professor of environmental economics and policy. She became an associate professor in 2013 and was later named the school’s inaugural Juli Plant Grainger Associate Professor of Energy Economics and Policy.

From 2020 to 2022, Bennear managed master’s and undergraduate degree programs across the Nicholas School as senior associate dean for academic initiatives. She was promoted to executive vice dean in 2022 and oversaw the school’s academic and internal operations. Additionally, she served as the associate director of educational programs for the ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ Energy Initiative from 2017 to 2019.

Bennear also served as a faculty leader for Rethinking Regulation, a university-wide working group of faculty and Ph.D. students, the Kenan Institute for Ethics, that examined regulatory policy in domains including energy, environment, international trade, finance and technology, among others. 

Bennear has served on multiple university committees, including the Athletic Council and the Board of Trustees’ Climate Change and Sustainability Task Force. As chair of the ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ Priorities Committee from 2017 to 2019, she led a comprehensive financial review of seven university institutes and three university initiatives, as directed by the provost. She has also been a Nicholas School faculty representative on Duke’s Academic Council and the Duke Alumni Board of Directors.

Bennear has served on committees convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to examine and issue guidance on protocols for and .

With Duke colleagues, she has collaborated on projects to improve retrospective reviews of regulatory policies for several government agencies. She has also informally consulted with offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the potential for information disclosure programs to enhance the enforcement of environmental regulations.

Bennear has a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (2004), a master’s degree in economics from Yale University (1996), and dual bachelor’s degrees in economics and environmental studies from Occidental College (1995).

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