Dr. Melissa Mitchell joined the Word on Fire Institute in 2024 as the newly formed Catholic Education Community Leader. For over twenty years, she served as an education professor at the Catholic University of America (CUA) and George Washington University (GWU). She also served as a pedagogy specialist with the National Council for History Education (NCHE) while serving as a program director in collaboration with the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Educational Consortium. Melissa is originally from Yorktown, Virginia, where she started her vocation in education as a high school history teacher. She resides in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with her husband and beloved bulldog Rochambeau (yes, General Rochambeau fought with George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown).