By Gudrun Hutchins

The AAUW Board of Directors named Gloria Blackwell as AAUW’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2021 after Kim Churches left to become the President of the Washington Center. In my humble opinion, the AAUW Board of Directors should have skipped hiring Kim Churches altogether and promoted Blackwell to the top position three years earlier. So who is Gloria Blackwell, what is her background, and what has she accomplished for AAUW during her 18 years as an employee?

At the time of her appointment to the CEO position, Blackwell was AAUW’s Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer. This means that along with many other programs, she has managed the AAUW Fellowship Program, one of the largest funding programs for women that is not associated with a university or the U.S. government. For the 2022-2023 academic year, AAUW has awarded over $6 million dollars to 320 individual women and community projects. Since Gloria Blackwell took over the management of the fellowship program fifteen years ago, AAUW has awarded a total of nearly $70 million dollars to American and International women and to community projects dealing with women’s participation in STEM fields. (Since some of our branch members may not be familiar with AAUW’s Fellowship Program, I have written a separate article on this subject for this month’s newsletter.)

Blackwell has also been the driving force behind AAUW’s signature initiatives, including its salary negotiation program, which has reached nearly 190,000 women nationwide. She has initiated and built partnerships with major corporate and foundation funders, state and municipal governments, and institutes of higher education. Most notably, Blackwell has significantly expanded AAUW’s outreach to girls and women of color.

Prior to joining AAUW, Blackwell worked at the Institute of International Education in Washington D.C., leading and managing girl’s educational programs in Africa and mid-career fellowships for global professionals. Her lifelong desire to make a difference through international education and gender equity was inspired by her service as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon and as Country Desk Officer at the D.C. headquarters for five Sub-Saharan countries. In addition to her role as CEO, Gloria will also continue to be AAUW’s representative to the United Nations.

Gloria Blackwell holds a master’s degree in education and human development from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A fluent French speaker, she has also studied at the American University in Paris, France. Gloria is committed to supporting opportunities for women and girls globally.

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