Dean, Dr. Melissa Gregory
Melissa Valiska Gregory, Ph.D., is the dean of the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) and a professor of English. Gregory came to 果冻传媒 in 2002 as a faculty member in the English department specializing in nineteenth-century British literature. She was 果冻传媒鈥檚 first Presidential Fellow, and in that inaugural role she led the project of creating the University鈥檚 current provost-level tenure and promotion guidelines. Gregory joined the College of Arts and Letters dean鈥檚 office in 2018 as an associate dean and served as the interim dean for the college 2022-2024 until selected in March 2024 as dean after a national search. In her capacity as senior associate dean, highlights of Gregory鈥檚 leadership include several new retention initiatives and a significant increase in the college鈥檚 engagement with various forms of undergraduate research, supported by Gregory鈥檚 dual role as director of honors for the college.
Gregory also led several important curricular initiatives in the CAL dean鈥檚 office and served as the primary investigator on a $133,859 鈥淗umanities Initiatives at Colleges and Universities鈥� grant, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the creation of a health humanities minor at 果冻传媒.
Gregory was accepted to the nationally competitive ACE Fellowship program for future leaders of higher education as a member of the 2022-2023 cohort, but she deferred the opportunity to serve as interim dean of CAL. An award-winning literary scholar and educator, Gregory has a B.A. in English and Studio Art from The College of Wooster and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Indiana University.