Melissa Chessher
| Phone |
214.768.6149 |
Melissa Chessher serves as the Dean of Honors and Scholars and is a professor in the Division of Journalism. She possesses more than 20 years of experience in the magazine field as both a writer and an editor. She worked on the launch of聽Real Simple,聽the largest magazine launch in Time Inc. history, and听骋耻蝉迟辞, a healthy living magazine for Latin American women. She has written for more than a dozen national consumer publications, including听厂别濒蹿,听贬别补濒迟丑,听Glamour,听Allure,听Marie Claire,听Fitness,听Men's Health听补苍诲听笔补谤别苍迟蝉听magazines. Her writing covers a wide range of topics聽鈥� from travel narratives to deeply reported health features, personal essays and culture articles on food, wine, art and architecture. A special report for聽厂别濒蹿听magazine on the workplace challenges faced by women undergoing breast cancer treatment was part of a package that earned a National Magazine Award for personal service from the American Society of Magazine Editors.聽In 2016,听贵辞濒颈辞听magazine named Chessher one of its Top Women in Media.
Before joining SMU, Chessher served as a chair, professor and associate dean at Syracuse University鈥檚 S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. At SU, she earned several teaching awards, including the Newhouse School鈥檚 Senior Class Award for Teaching Excellence, the Empire State Scholastic Press Association鈥檚 Advisor of the Year and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence, the university鈥檚 highest teaching honor. She teaches courses devoted to writing, editing, and the creation of multimedia projects. Articles, websites and podcasts created by students in these classes have earned national awards from Hearst, the Broadcast Educators Association, the Online News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.