Morrell began his teaching career as an English teacher at Oakland High School in
Oakland, California in 1994. While continuing to teach at Oakland High School, Morrell served as an instructor at the University of California Berkeley and supervised student teachers for the
University of San Francisco. Beginning 1999, he served as a research associate at Center X and an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at the
University of California, Los Angeles. Morrell was then an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education and an affiliated faculty member of the African-American and African Studies and Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures departments at
Michigan State University from 2001 to 2005. From 2002 to 2004, Morrell continued as a visiting assistant professor at UCLA. In 2005, Morrell became a tenure-track assistant professor. In 2007, Morrell earned tenure and became an associate professor at UCLA. In 2011, Morrell became the Macy Professor of English Education and Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at
Teachers College, Columbia University, succeeding
Edmund Gordon in that role. During this time, from 2013 to 2014, Morrell served as president of the
National Council of Teachers of English. Morrell then transitioned to the
University of Notre Dame in 2017, where he became the Associate Dean for the Humanities and Equity in the College of Arts and Letters. He was concurrently the Coyle Professor in Literacy Education, taught English and Africana Studies, and was director of the Notre Dame Center for Literacy Education. He was also an elected member of the
American Educational Research Association Council, elected Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, an appointed member of the
International Literacy Association's Research Panel, and convener of the African Diaspora International Research Network. == Personal life and death ==