Gwendolyn O'Neal

Gwendolyn Sneed O'Neal (born 1946) is an American academic administrator and home economist who served as the interim president of Bennett College in 2019. She was a professor and head of the department of consumer, apparel, and retail studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro until 2014. O'Neal is a former president of the International Textiles and Apparel Association and of the National Coalition for Black Development in Home Economics.

Life
O'Neal was born in 1946. She earned a B.S. from Bennett College in 1970. She completed a M.Ed. at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 1971. From 1971 to 1975, she served as an instructor of clothing and related arts at Bennett College. She completed a Ph.D. in home economics from Ohio State University in 1977. She majored in textile and clothing. Her dissertation was titled, Clothing Effects as Nonverbal Communication on Credibility of the Message Source in Advertising. Mary Lapitsky was her doctoral advisor.

O'Neal joined Bennett College as an assistant professor of home economics in 1977. In 1986, she returned to Ohio State University to teach in the department of textiles and clothing for several years and received tenure while there. She then moved to Kansas and for six years, she was a professor and head of the department of apparel, textiles, and interior design at Kansas State University. She later became a professor and head of the department of consumer, apparel, and retail studies at UNCG. In November 2003, she was designated a fellow of the International Textile and Apparel Association. O'Neal was president of the International Textiles and Apparel Association (2004) and of the National Coalition for Black Development in Home Economics. She retired from UNCG in 2014. O’Neal succeeded Phyllis Worthy Dawkins as the interim president of Bennett College on June 21, 2019. She was succeeded by Suzanne Elise Walsh on August 1. She continued on as the chief operating officer.

O’Neal is a member of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Greensboro.