Claudia Morrell
Executive Director
Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT)
President's Commission for Women Achievement Award, 2008-09

Claudia Morrell is regarded as one of the foremost experts on gender issues in technology in the world and a role model and advocate for young women at UMBC and beyond.

As executive director of CWIT, Morrell developed the CWIT Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and programmatic support to young women and men pursuing their undergraduate degrees in information technology and engineering. The CWIT Scholars Program currently retains 94 percent of its students, a rate that exceeds the normal rate of retention for students in these majors.

During Morrell's tenure at CWIT, the Center has grown from two employees to 41 staff, including students and faculty who work to support girls' and women's participation and advancement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Under her leadership, CWIT has developed successful initiatives at every level—from K-16 and workforce issues to technology entrepreneurship—including Computer Mania Day, a program which educates middle school girls about careers in technology; an after-school tech program and summer camp for girls at six Baltimore middle schools; and the ACTiVATE program, which helps women start their own technology businesses.

Morrell also was successful in drafting legislation that was signed into law on May 26, 2004 that established the first statewide Governor's Task Force on the Status of Women and Information Technology. The Task Force recently released the highly endorsed report, In the Center of the Storm: Addressing the Challenge of Maryland's Tightening IT Labor Market.

She speaks at state, national and international events on issues of gender and IT, including recent presentations at the United Nations and the World Bank. She developed the first International Symposium on Women and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in 1995 and established the International Taskforce on Women and ICTs. In addition, she helped organize the Global Trends in Technology: Propelling Women into Leadership forums in 2006 and 2008.

Morrell received a B.S. in Industrial Relations with Honors in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Loyola College of Maryland and a M.S. in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.