Ms. Bennett received her B.A. in Anthropology from Brown University in Providence, RI in 1973, MA in Historic Preservation Studies from Boston University (MA) in 1981 and MBA from the Simmons College School of Management, Boston, MA in 1990. She has worked for over twenty years on both project management teams on large public works civil engineering projects and on financial management of low-income housing development in the Boston, MA area. She spent 2005 in volunteer service in South Africa with orphans, HIV/AIDS and housing programs, after which she chose to work with engineering students at the university level as a way to make a global impact to improve living standards in developing communities. She joined the Engineering Team at Norfolk State University as Engineering Education Analyst in September 2006 to assist with project management of the ABET accreditation process and various research projects, and to provide support on grant acquisitions.