Shawna Young is a passionate educator who joined Duke TIP in July 2016 after serving as the executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Office of Engineering Outreach Programs (OEOP) for eight years. As TIP’s executive director, she leads a team of 85+ full-time employees and 1,200+ seasonal staff members, who provide over 13,000 gifted students with online and face-to-face educational programming at 20+ top universities and institutions across the country, including Duke University. Shawna also leads the charge to identify and support over 450,000 students a year with resources through Duke TIP’s talent searches and research efforts. 

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In her prior position at MIT, Shawna oversaw the OEOP’s strategic planning process, operational budget, program evaluation, advisory boards, and the stewardship of current funders. Before joining the OEOP, she managed the Diversity Initiative at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, worked at the Educational Development Center in online curriculum development, and taught science for several years at public high schools in North Carolina.

She received a BS in chemistry from Howard University and an MAT in science education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also completed a certificate in nonprofit management and leadership from Boston University and holds an MBA from MIT Sloan.

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In addition to her work at TIP, she serves on advisory boards for the William and Ida Friday Institute for Education Innovation and the National Girls Collaborative.