Program for Jewish Civilization

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B.A, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Michigan State University
M.A, Arts Administration, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
International Executive MBA, Georgetown University

Melissa began her work as the Assistant Director for the Program for Jewish Civilization in 2004. Previously, she served as director of the Holocaust Awareness Institute at the University of Denver’s Center for Judaic Studies. For three years, Melissa managed programs for the Institute, developed and coordinated teacher training programs for secondary teachers, and was responsible for the organization’s financial success. She developed two programs that became models for other Holocaust organizations, namely training for children of Holocaust survivors to learn to speak about their own and their parents’ experiences, and the expansion of the Holocaust Study Trunk program to include Spanish language materials for non-native English speakers. Melissa has also held several other positions, including Educator and Curatorial Assistant/Traveling Exhibitions Coordinator at the Mizel Museum of Judaica, and Community Development Director at Jefferson County Build A Generation, a grass-roots, youth violence prevention program. While attending graduate school she assisted in the creation of a docent training program for teens at Sculpture Chicago, and upon graduation, developed a pilot program for the City of Chicago’s nationally recognized Gallery 37. Her experiences as an intern with the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) became the foundation for her thesis on arts integrated curricula.

She has participated in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Conference for Educators, completed the 2002/2003 Community Resource Center’s Colorado Leadership and Nonprofit Management Program, and is a former member of the National Advisory Committee of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center.