Melissa Durham

Melissa earned a B.A. with Distinction in Scholastic Achievement from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005, majoring in Political Science and Economics and receiving a Certificate in European Studies. She also completed a Certificate in French from the University of Paris-La Sorbonne in 2003, which she renewed in 2009. Melissa was one of a few elite students accepted into the Accelerated Master's Degree Program at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her Master's Degree in International Public Affairs in 2006, specializing in International Development, International Business and Government, and Public Management and Administration. The same year, she also served as a Graduate Fellow in the U.S. Embassy in Colombo-Sri Lanka covering post-tsunami reconstruction, child soldiers in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, prisoner rights issues, and women's and children's issues. Upon returning to the United States, she volunteered for with the US branch of a Sri Lankan NGO, Sarvodaya. Melissa then served as a Legislative Assistant to a Wisconsin State Senator, staffing the Senate Committee on Small Business, Emergency Preparedness, Workforce Development, Technical Colleges, and Consumer Protection. In 2007, she moved to Washington D.C. to join the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government and, in 2008, started her Ph.D. program. She participated in a George Mason University study abroad program entitled Environmental and Geopolitical Conflicts in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in 2010 and in 2011, attended the UN-mandated University for Peace's Environmental Security Assessments training program in Cuidad Colon, Costa Rica. She completed field work for her dissertation in Cairo, Egypt in 2014.