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Melissa Whatley

Blurred image of the arch used as background for stylistic purposes.
Ph.D. 2019; Part-time Instructor, McBee Institute
Assistant professor of international and global education at the School for International Training's Graduate Institute

In addition to her temporary appointment at the Institute, Melissa Whatley continues to serve as an assistant professor of international and global education at the School for International Training's Graduate Institute where her instructional portfolio will focus on using quantitative research methods to improve accessibility and inclusivity with diverse students.

Before joining SIT, Whatley was at North Carolina State University’s Belk Center, conducting research as a postdoctoral scholar on the community college campus outcomes and culture. Her quantitative research provided ways for community college policies to diversify enrollment and improve access to international education, and her research retained a focus on study abroad opportunities and the larger social and policy restraints that affect student involvement.

Whatley's recent work has appeared in journals such as Research in Higher Education, American Educational Research Journal, and Journal of Studies in International Education.

In 2023, Whatley received the NAFSA Innovative Research in International Higher Education Award. She was the 2018 recipient of the Association of International Education Administrators' Harold Josephson Award for Professional Promise in International Education and was also recipient of the Institute of Higher Education's Thomas G. Dyer Outstanding Dissertation Research Award (2017-18) and Zell and Shirley Miller Fellowship (2018-19).

She earned Bachelors of Arts in Romance Languages, Spanish, and Linguistics and a Master's of Arts in Romance Languages from the University of Georgia.

Email:
melwhat@uga.edu
News Featuring Melissa Whatley

by Jewel Caruso

Melissa Whatley (PhD 2019) is the recipient of the 2023 TLS Innovative Research in International Education Award from NAFSA:…

Graduates of the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education excel in many different areas of our field. Below are the alumnae that we are aware of who are currently teaching in higher education classrooms across the United States.

Karley Riffe, PhD 2018…

by Jewel Caruso

A research paper co-authored by Amy Stich and Melissa Whatley in 2020 recently appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

by Jewel Caruso

by Jewel Caruso

Melissa Whatley (PhD 2019) received the 2022 Best Article Award from the CIES Study Abroad and International Students (SAIS) Special Interest Group.

by Jewel Caruso

Melissa Whatley's quip on Twitter is representative of the humor and approachability that she brings to quantitative analysis. She writes, "when I was in the first grade all I wanted to do was be an author. I’m not sure a quant methods textbook is what 5-year-…

Melissa Whatley (PhD 2019) and Amy Stich collaborated on a recent article published in Journal of Mixed Methods Research, "Pushing the Integration Envelope: A Network Analysis of Study Abroad Website Content."

Dr. Melissa Whatley (PhD 2019) started a new position as an assistant professor of international and global education at the School for International Training's Graduate Institute.

On November 6, the Institute welcomed back Angela Bell (PhD 2009) and Melissa Whatley (PhD 2019) for virtual presentations on the state of study abroad research and how these programs can survive the pandemic and emerge as agents for more equitable…

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