Melissa Van De Wege has an MA in TESOL and MEd in Educational Leadership, and a graduate certificate in the teaching of writing. Melissa has taught academic writing courses to U.S. and international undergraduate students in Washington state in the U.S. and then to undergraduate students in Doha, Qatar from 2013-2017. Melissa also served as an English Language Fellow in Ankara, Turkey from 2017-2019 through the English Language Fellow Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. As a fellow, Melissa envisioned, created, and implemented several multi-course professional development programs for pre-service and in-service English language teaching professionals in Turkey, recruiting and leading local ELT professionals to deliver program courses and workshops and delivering workshops herself. Her professional development programs focused on leadership in ELT, teaching with technology, and teaching strategies and methodologies. During her fellowship, Melissa also orchestrated the first ELT student conference for Hacettepe University Department of English Language Teaching, a conference that saw more than 200 participants. Melissa has also served as an English Language Specialist through the English Language Specialist program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. As a Specialist for Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Melissa created and delivered a 2-month virtual training program for English language teachers, focusing on online teaching. Currently, Melissa is the Accreditation Review Manager for Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) in Alexandria, VA, the only specialized accreditor of English language programs and institutions in the U.S. and overseas. At CEA, she oversees the site visit process for sites seeking
accreditation.