Melissa Dickman

Melissa Dickman is a Manager for The Sidney Poitier New American Film School.

About the Position:

ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.

Arc of the Student Experience: Prospective to Alumni

The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts has centered its mission on increasing inclusion and equity in the fields of design and the arts and defining higher education as a place for life-long learning, mentorship and exchange between artists, professionals, researchers, and our communities.

The Manager leads a team of student-facing staff to examine, analyze and develop solutions to improve the arc of the student experience – with an emphasis on equity and justice - from the first interactions with our department as a prospective student through enrollment, graduation and becoming an alumnus of our programs.  

About the Person:

I am a certified yoga instructor, Dare to Lead™ Trained, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and have extensive experience in project management. I am a trained stage manager, creative and technical writer. This means I can color code, alphabetize, record, and label - with impressively catchy titles.

At Arizona State University my work has consistently been located with grants or units who are just beginning or in the middle of significant changes. This has allowed me to become practiced in examining higher education organizational structures and processes to build systems that support students, faculty and staff. During my eleven years with the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts I have recruited students, worked in student services, managed office policies and procedures, managed contracts, facilities, data collection and reporting.

I have a healthy obsession/hobby and love for plants, gardening, urban farming, permaculture – and all of the science, whimsy, mysticism and art that lives in the spaces where plants grow.



Over the last decade I have produced bi-lingual theatre [with a mono-lingual brain], helped create immersive theatrical gardens, and facilitated experiments between science and art. I have taught workshops on yoga/meditation, nonviolent communication, nonviolent direct action, and creating community.