Georgianna Melendez

In addition to her role as a visiting lecturer here at SSU, Dr. Georgianna Meléndez is Assistant Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She earned her PhD in Business Administration at the University of Massachusetts Boston where she received the Doctoral Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Organizations and Social Change track; earned her MPA at the University of Massachusetts Boston and was recognized for Distinguished Public Service by the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies; and earned her BA from Bentley University. Georgianna’s research interests include structural bias issues, discrimination within organizations, organizational behavior, meritocracy, and entrepreneurship. She has taught both at the MBA and undergraduate levels including courses on Cross-Cultural and Comparative Management, Managing Diversity in Organizations, and Employee Training and Development and has served as a reviewer for both Organizations and Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management.

In addition to her role at UMass Boston, Melendez’s other roles include: executive committee, Commission on Access Diversity and Excellence – Association of Public Land Trust Universities; advisory board member, Equity Advisory Board – MA Department of Higher Education; mentor, Marion Heard Scholars Program, United Way of Massachusetts Bay; past member of the City of Peabody Zoning Board of Appeals; past appointee to Governor Patrick’s anti-crime council; and has served on a number of non-profit boards. She has served as the assistant commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance; the executive director at Casa Myrna Vazquez, New England’s largest domestic violence services agency; and the executive director at RESPOND in Somerville, a domestic violence agency serving Metro-Boston.

Most recently she was appointed by Governor Baker to the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council in Massachusetts. She also served as executive director for Commonwealth Compact, a statewide diversity workforce initiative to increase access and visibility of underrepresented minority professional at the C-Suite level in Massachusetts. Georgianna has presented at multiple academic and professional conferences about diverse hiring practices, was recognized by El Planeta’s Powermeter twice as one of Boston’s 100 most influential people for the Latino community of Massachusetts, and was recently selected by Get Konnected and Eos Foundation as one of top 50 most influential people of color in Massachusetts' higher education.