Peace Corps

Melanie Dorado Wilson has worked in higher education administration serving indigenous populations for ten years. She is currently the Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Hawai`i Community College in Hilo on Hawai`i Island. Prior to moving back to her island home, she worked at Leech Lake Tribal College in northern Minnesota where she specialized in creating a culturally relevant online orientation course for Native students. This formed the research for her doctoral dissertation in instructional technology and distance education at NOVA Southeastern University. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in international public administration and French from Oklahoma State University and her master’s degree in educational technology from Bemidji State University.

From 1996 to 2011, Melanie and her husband lived and worked around the globe in Albania, Eritrea, Papua New Guinea, and Mongolia, raising their two daughters overseas. In Mongolia, where they lived for 11 years, Melanie taught technology, business management, and French at the International School of Ulaanbaatar in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma programs.

Melanie is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from the program in Albania. She taught English at the Shkolla e Mesme e Gjuhëve të Huaja, the foreign language high school in the capital city of Tirana, for two years. She remained in the country after her volunteer service and administered the ESL program for the World Organization for Rehabilitation and Training under USAID.