A seasoned educator, Melissa Derr is currently the curriculum coordinator for Adult Learning Programs at Seminole State College. She has taught ESL/EFL/EAP in a church basement in Iowa, a boarding school in Slovakia, and various colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, and now Florida.

Melissa is from Pennsylvania, where she received her BA in English, MA in English, and MA in TESOL. She began her career a teaching assistant at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Here she discovered that teaching non-native English learners was more interesting and rewarding than teaching native English speakers. That led to her working for her MA in TESOL at Penn State.

Her experience in Central Florida has included teaching and being the Academic Director at ASPECT International Language Academy and then teaching ESOL and EAP at Seminole State and EAP at Valencia. In her new role, she is coordinating curriculum for the ESOL, EAP, Intensive English, and ABE/GED programs at Seminole State.

Melissa met her Colombian husband while dancing at a Latin night on International Drive when she came to Orlando for International TESOL over 25 years ago. A few months later, she moved here. Her daughters are native Floridians, one a graduate of UCF and the other of UCLA.