Melissa Nicolas appointed director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

Professor Melissa Nicolas (Department of English) at Washington State University Pullman, has been appointed to serve as director of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program (WGSS) within the College of Arts and Sciences, effective May 16.

An interdisciplinary degree program, WGSS examines gender and sexuality as central aspects of human experience, offering students analytical tools to better understand social dynamics and cultural contexts. Students engage in both historical and contemporary perspectives, gaining knowledge and skills that apply across a wide range of careers and support efforts aimed at navigating and responding to evolving social and institutional change.

"The world is complicated. The greatest benefit of studying WGSS is that it encourages students to embrace the full complexity of the human experience," said Nicolas.

Nicolas joined the WSU faculty in July 2019. She is a College of Arts and Sciences Mental Health Initiative Faculty Fellow 2025-26 and a L.I.F.T. (Learn. Inspire. Foster. Transform.) Faculty Fellow 2025-26. She has also received the "Most Supportive Faculty" award from her English graduate students twice to date.

"Dr. Nicolas's breadth of research work will be a valuable asset to the WGSS program, providing meaningful support to faculty while also participating in the program's goal to equip students with the tools and critical frameworks to navigate real-world scenarios," said Interim Dean Courtney Meehan.

Nicolas's research areas focus on rhetoric of health and medicine, disability studies, composition studies, and feminist theory. She has co-edited two books: Institutional Ethnography as Writing Studies Practice (2023) and Our Body of Work: Embodied Writing Program Administration and Teaching (2022), for which the latter received an Honorable Mention for the CWPA Book of the Year, 2023, award.

Nicholas received her PhD in English from The Ohio State University in 2002. She succeeds Pamela Thoma, associate professor, WSU Vancouver.