Lena Morreale Scott

Lena Morreale Scott has spent more than 35 years in civic education as a high school Social Studies teacher, university faculty member, author, curriculum designer, teacher professional development specialist, nonprofit leader, coalition builder, and advocate for meaningful and equitable civic education to strengthen our shared democracy.

As director of the Civic Education & Engagement Initiative for the University of Maryland College of Education, Lena leads several collaborative efforts to empower people to engage fully in their civic life. Lena serves as the Principal Investigator of the Maryland Democracy Initiative, (MDI) which leverages the expertise of students, faculty, and staff from university’s schools of public policy and colleges of journalism, behavior and social sciences, and education. Together, MDI empowers innovative, interdisciplinary, community-centered research, teaching, learning, and civic engagement to prepare students for informed, lifelong civic engagement. Lena also co-chairs the Maryland Civic Education Coalition, a state-wide, cross-partisan group of more than 60 civic organizations and 270 students, teachers, district-level coordinators, university scholars, and community members dedicated to ensuring equitable access to meaningful, comprehensive civic education and service-learning.

Lena is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.