Wanted: more women in technology leadership.

Women are moving into leadership in information technology but we have a long way to go.

That's what Dr. Cynthia McDaniels, professor of educational leadership at Southern Connecticut State University, concluded from reviewing an array of surveys and studies, she said at the University of Nebraska Women in Educational Leadership Conference in Lincoln in October.

Educational leadership, not computer science, is her training and core concern. Educators are in a new era where technology has a major role. Leading in technology is a way to influence higher education. "Leadership positions give one the opportunity to be actively engaged in educational reform that reaches a wider audience," she told WIHE.

Her interest arose as coordinator of a campus-based program in educational foundations since 1999. It was a rich opportunity to connect with mature educators who already had master's degrees. To reach more students, she had to use technology.

"I bravely became a maverick," she told WIHE. She learned to use the technology, secured a state grant and placed every course in the program online. Available applications didn't do quite what she needed, so she got help to adapt them. Word spread and enrollment tripled.

Soon she was in an influential leadership position in technology--but not without resistance. On one side, traditional classroom teachers were disdainful or afraid. One took the view that if he couldn't master this, no one should.

On the other side, computer science pros saw no place for leadership by someone without a CS degree. "I did encounter men who control that area not taking me seriously," she told WIHE.