Claudia Morrell, CWIT's Executive Director, has been appointed as a representative to the United Nations Global Alliance Champion's Network. She also attended the Network's inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur on June 19-20, 2006. Her first initiative, together with eight other international organizations, was to draft and submit a call to action for the Global Alliance for ICT and Development in support of the full participation of women and ICTs. More information is available in the June 2006 issue of the IFIP News and in this U.N. Press Release (a Microsoft Word document).

Also, in May 2006, Ms. Morrell was named one of the Top 100 Women in Maryland. The award, given by the Daily Record, a business-focused newspaper for Maryland, was created 11 years ago to draw attention to the contributions being made by women throughout the state. According to the newspaper, "The annual program is designed to recognize women who not only have achieved professional success but also have contributed to bettering the communities in which they work and live. Additionally, they play an active role in mentoring the younger generation of businesspeople." Each year the Daily Record receives over 400 nominations from which it selects the awardees.

UMBC also recognized Ms. Morrell's contributions in the evening program book, highlighting her role as a contributor to both UMBC and the region in increasing the number of women and minorities in science and technology fields.

More information about the award and the awardees is available here.