About the Leadership Curriculum Coordinator

Melissa Grunow is responsible for developing, implementing, and assessing all curricular objectives that involve infusing leadership into the undergraduate curriculum at Lawrence Tech. She also teaches English at Lawrence Tech each semester.

Melissa’s interest and involvement in student leadership stem from her almost ten years of experience in working with student organizations and teaching undergraduates. Her history includes identifying needs and developing new initiatives and programs to benefit university students.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in English with a minor in journalism from Central Michigan University. During her time there, she worked on the editorial staff of the award-winning Central Michigan Life newspaper and founded and edited The Central Review, a literary magazine for CMU students.

After graduation, Melissa moved to Las Cruces, NM, to pursue her Master of Arts degree in English from New Mexico State University. During this time, she taught first-year composition where she implemented the Writing across the Curriculum model and used portfolio-based assessment. She also worked as a consultant and then administrator in the university Writing Center.

After earning her master’s degree, Melissa worked full-time in the private sector for two small businesses. Corridor, Inc., provided school improvement and educational evaluation services, and Horton Technical Associates, Inc., developed combat-simulation software for the U.S. Army.

Melissa taught English for a year at Miami University of Ohio, including a semester in the Leadership and Excellence living/learning community. Using portfolio-based assessment and activist pedagogies, Melissa incorporated a leadership-based service-learning project into the core curriculum.

Melissa grew up down the street from Lawrence Tech in Oak Park and attended Berkley High School. She received recognition from Lawrence Tech during her junior and senior years when she won the Lawrence Tech High School Writing Awards in the categories of fiction and technical writing. She has a vested interest in working with students to help them augment their leadership skills to achieve their personal, academic and professional goals.