Mellinee Lesley, Ph.D., serves as Associate Vice Provost for Community Engaged Learning in the Office of Outreach and Engagement. She joined the Outreach & Engagement office as a Faculty Fellow in 2024 where she led the Community Engaged Learning program for Texas Tech. The Community Engaged Learning program is a campus-wide initiative involving experiential learning, community partnerships, and professional development. Community Engaged Learning is aligned with the university’s strategic priorities for engagement and high impact practices for students. 

Lesley is a Professor in the Language, Diversity & Literacy Studies program in the College of Education. After earning a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, Lesley began a career in higher education where she has served as a faculty member in teacher preparation and graduate education programs, a department chair, and an associate dean. Prior to this, she worked as a high school English teacher and served as the director for a developmental reading program. Most recently, she has taught graduate classes on adolescent and disciplinary literacies, narrative inquiry and engaged scholarship. 

Lesley has earned several teaching awards at the secondary and university level, is a fellow of the National Writing Project and the Teaching Academy at Texas Tech University. She recently received the Community Engagement Scholarship Award for Exemplary Projects from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities in Association with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for her work with a long-term school university partnership.  

A significant part of her scholarship has focused on the role of literacy in expanding academic opportunities for students who have faced systemic barriers to education. Lesley has published several articles, book chapters and books focused on pedagogical practices that close student literacy gaps. Currently, Lesley is pursuing a line of inquiry that examines the role of engaged scholarship in cultivating literacy reform in K-12 settings.  

Outside of work, Lesley enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, traveling, and gardening.