As a dedicated educator for more than 25 years, Melissa Stephanski has experience as a substitute teacher, teacher, guidance counselor, alternative school administrator, assistant principal, school principal, and chief academic officer/assistant superintendent in one of the largest K-12 public school districts in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She holds her Master's, Rank I, and additional certifications for K-12 administration, Director of Pupil Personnel, Instructional Supervision, and Superintendency. Melissa is currently a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership doctoral program at Western Kentucky University, with an expected Fall defense. Her research is “Closing the Preparedness- Readiness Gap in New School Administrators”. Melissa has been accepted into the Kentucky Women in Education Leadership and has previously been awarded the Today’s Leader Award and the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission Women of Achievement Award.

Melissa serves on state administrative committees, frequently presents at both state and national conferences, and is a member of the WISE- Agile Leaders of Learning Innovation Network (ALL-IN) global education group. Additionally, Melissa serves as a practitioner partner and collaborator with Western Kentucky University (WKU) in both the Teacher Education and Educational Leadership departments. Melissa joined WKU as a district partner for the University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) as part of the $47 million Wallace grant initiative provided for seven universities to address principal preparation programming.

Melissa has an energetic passion for developing leaders and growing school leadership capacity. Her drive is to ensure high-quality school leadership that is foundational to high-quality teaching and learning. Melissa maintains a laser focus on how each system, process, decision, purchase, training, and beyond has a direct line back to students. Her work helps to align all of the “stuff” we do in schools to the grand purpose we have–student success. Regardless of her role, Melissa maintains the goals of building the capacity of others and always doing what is best for the students we serve.