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Howard County Commission for Women 2010
Women's Hall of Fame Inductees

The 2010 WHOF Inductees from left to right are: Ethel B. Hill, Becky Lessey, Carol Filipczak, Lynne Battaglia, and Alice P. Clark.

Lynne A. Battaglia

Former Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran states “How fortunate we are that Judge Battaglia while at Georgetown to seek a doctoral study in American Government decided to instead seek a law career. What a career it has been.” Judge Lynne A. Battaglia went on to receive her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Maryland Law School. She was an editor on the Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif.

Judge Battaglia has had a very rich and accomplished legal career. Upon admittance to the Maryland Bar, Judge Battaglia joined a private law practice in Baltimore. She was soon recruited to serve the public as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. As an Assistant United States Attorney, Judge Battaglia prosecuted numerous cases involving bank robbery, mail fraud, drug violations, and tax evasion.

In addition to serving as a law professor at the University of Maryland Law School and serving as the Senior Trial Attorney within the Office of Special Litigation in the U.S. Department of Justice, Judge Battaglia was selected by Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran to become the Chief of the State’s Criminal Investigations Division. Within a few years of taking on this position, Judge Battaglia was recruited to become the Chief-of-Staff to United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski. In addition to being the legal advisor to the office, Judge Battaglia also supervised the work of the Washington office, two subcommittees, and six state offices.

In 1993, Judge Battaglia received a Presidential appointment to the position of United States Attorney for the State of Maryland and led a highly regarded office. In 2001, she was appointed by Governor Parris Glendening to Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

Judge Battaglia is a model leader and mentor. She has been inducted into the “Circle of Excellence” having been selected three times as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by Warfield’s Business Record. She has been presented with the University of Maryland School of Law 1998 Distinguished Graduate Award and was awarded an honorary Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Judge Battaglia was presented with the Dorothy Beatty Memorial Award by the Women’s Law Center in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the advancement of women’s rights in Maryland.

Alice P. Clark

Before entering the field of law, Judge Alice Gail Pollard Clark was an educator. She taught science in the District of Columbia Public School System from 1962 to 1970. Upon completing law school and passing the Maryland Bar, she was a principal in the law firm of Clark & Clark, P.A. until 1990 when she became the first African-American to be employed as an attorney in the Howard County Office of the Public Defender. She remained dedicated to public defense until 1997, at which time she became the first African-American appointed as an associate judge of the District Court of Maryland, District Ten, Howard County.

Judge Clark is approaching her fortieth year of residency in Howard County. During that time she has been very active in the community. A member of the Foster Care Review Board under the Howard County Department of Social Services, she served as its chair for five years. She also served on the Charter Revision Commission for Howard County.

She has taken many leadership positions in many community organizations, having sat on the executive boards of the following organizations: the Columbia, Maryland Chapters of the Links, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and the National Epicureans. When Judge Clark was president of the Delta Chapter, the Debutante Cotillion was initiated. This event has now become an institution in the community and has provided college scholarships for over a generation of local students. Today, Judge Clark chairs a committee within the Links which also provides a range of scholarship for local students. In addition, her desire to help the young people of Howard County is further exemplified by her service as an at-large member of the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland and her active participation in the Howard County Public Schools’ Mentor Program.

Judge Clark has been recognized for her continued hard work on behalf of the community through several honors. She has been named the Outstanding Assistant Public Defender for Howard and Carroll Counties. She has received awards of appreciation from the Howard County Council, the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, and the National Black State Troopers’ Coalition. The Women’s Bar Association of Maryland awarded her its most prestigious award, the Conwell Sapp Award, for her work on behalf of the bar association. Most recently, the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys recognized Judge Clark for her dedicated years of service on the bench.

Carol Filipczak

Carol Filipczak has given over four decades of service to organizations in Howard County, focusing on the areas of planning and zoning, affordable housing, transportation, the environment, and services for the aging. Her years of service began as a room mother at Waterloo Elementary School, where she subsequently agreed to serve on the PTA board of the newly opened Thunder Hill Elementary School.

In addition to her active involvement in the Howard County Public School System, Ms. Filipczak became involved in the League of Women’s Voters. She has concentrated her efforts on housing policy and serving for over ten years on the board of the Howard County chapter, where she is currently the secretary. She also served as program coordinator for the League of Women Voters – Maryland for several years with a special focus on statewide transportation. Ms. Filipczak’s work in this area led to an appointment to the Howard County Public Transportation Board and she is currently in her second five-year term, serving as chair since 2006. She has also provided representation for Howard County to the Baltimore region Rail System Advisory Committee. Ms. Filipczak’s interest in transportation can been seen in her active participation in NeighborRide, which provides reasonably priced, supplemental transportation service to seniors through the use of volunteers. Ms. Filipczak has been a volunteer driver for five years.

As a master gardener, Ms. Filipczak’s passion for nature and its preservation is clear. She has been an active member of the Howard County Citizens Association (HCCA), taking the leadership in a variety of initiatives including the Adequate Public Facilities and Scenic Road legislation. She was instrumental in the development of the Howard County Conservancy and the facility located on Mt. Pleasant Farm in Woodstock, Maryland, which was donated for preservation by Ruth and Frances Brown. Since 2002, Ms. Filipczak has served as a member of the board of trustees and pursued educational opportunities at the Irvine Nature Center in order to enhance naturalist training offered by the conservancy. She also uses her knowledge as a master gardener to support the Extension Advisory Council, of which she is the current chair, and the Master Gardener Conservation Stewardship project, soliciting and coordinating volunteers.

Ethel B. Hill

Ethel B. Hill’s rich and diverse employment history includes teaching elementary school and heading adoption services at the Delaware County (PA) Child Care Services. In the latter position she achieved one of her more significant and lasting professional achievements: planning and implementing the agency’s first aggressive recruitment effort to find adoptive families for interracial children. She went on to head the Medical Social Work Services for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Over the course of her career, she moved on to serve in several leadership positions in the Social Security Administration (SSA). As SSA’s Federal Women’s Program Manager, Ms. Hill was responsible for the overall monitoring of the agency’s sexual harassment prevention plan.

At the age of 50, Ms. Hill enrolled in the University of Maryland Law School. For the next four years she worked full time and enrolled in night classes. This accomplishment was even more remarkable when considering the personal challenges that presented themselves. In addition to battling breast cancer, Ms. Hill lost her husband to a heart attack in her final academic year. Despite these major challenges, Ms. Hill perservered and graduated with her class. Ms. Hill concluded her rich employment history by maintaining a solo law practice specializing in child abuse and neglect.

Ms. Hill’s civic engagement in Howard County spans four continuous decades, and has affected the social, cultural, and political well-being of the whole community. She is the founding or charter member of six Howard County chapters of service, civic, and professional organizations, which 17-37 years after their respective foundings, continue to serve the County’s residents. These organizations include Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Continental Societies, National Political Congress of Black Women, Negro Business & Professional Women, National Council of Negro Women, and the Waring-Mitchell Law Society. A willing volunteer, Ms. Hill has been appointed to a County Board or Commission by seven Howard County Executives including: Board of Election Supervisors, Charter Review Commission, County Board of Appeals, Alcohol Beverage Hearing Board, County Executive Ken Ulman’s Transition Team, and the MLK, Jr. Holiday Commission.

Ms. Hill has received several awards and honors, including: The Maryland Daily Record’s Top 100 Women and Circle of Excellence for Sustained Achievement, and the James W. Rouse Community Builder Award.

Becky Lessey

Becky Lessey has dedicated both her personal and professional life to improving the lives of Howard Countians through education. When she moved to Howard County in 1978, her generous spirit was evidenced by bringing with her a young man who could not stay with his family and providing him with a place to live until he was able to earn his high school diploma. That experience led to Ms. Lessey and her husband formally becoming foster parents to five additional children. Ms. Lessey was on the emergency list for Jewish Family Services, accepting children into her family with little advance notice and helping children with both physical and mental challenges. The Lesseys also served as foster parent trainers and willingly shared their experiences and insight with others that were interested in the program.

Professionally, Ms. Lessey has worked at Howard Community College since 1983 in the adult basic education (ABE) program for individuals with learning disabilities or very low literacy skills. Today, Ms. Lessey oversees programs serving approximately 2,000 students per year. Her innovative approach to serving her clients has resulted in the integration of adult education offerings into many local agencies and the development of partnerships with the Howard County Public School System and the County’s Employment Training Center. The Lifeskills Education Employment Program offered at the Howard County Detention Center is indicative of the impact of her work: the recidivism rate for participants completing Ms. Lessey’s program is about 20 percent, compared to the national average of 50-70 percent. Ms. Lessey also designed two programs through the Department of Social Services, Employment Success Training and Lifeskills for the Workplace, which help women of all ages and backgrounds qualify for full employment in professional work environments.

Ms. Lessey led her team in the development of special classes and programs for adults with disabilities. One of these programs, the Community Opportunities for Recreation and Enrichment, brings adults with developmental disabilities to the college’s campus. The program offers individualized learning plans for marginalized adults and provides career pathways. She has also developed classes in the areas of child care and personal care giving to provide employment potential for other individuals with disabilities.

She has received the Tom Barley Award for Outstanding Coach from the Special Olympics, as well as the statewide Light the Fire award from the Arc, and the Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Award.

PAST HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES