, Associate Dean of the College; Dean of Juniors, Seniors and Transfers; POSSE Coordinator, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Co-Coordinator
Marina Melendez

Associate Dean of the College; Dean of Juniors, Seniors and Transfers; POSSE Coordinator, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Co-Coordinator

As dean of juniors and seniors, Marina Melendez counsels and advises students on their educational goals while monitoring their progress toward graduation. She serves as a liaison between students and resources on campus and partners with faculty and staff across the college to ensure academic success. She also is the coordinator for the POSSE Scholars Program and oversees transfers to the College.

Education
B.A., Wesleyan University
M.A.L.S., Wesleyan University
Ph.D., University of Connecticut

Melendez holds a doctorate in social foundations of education from the NEAG School, University of Connecticut, a masters of liberal studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University.

, Assistant Professor of Government, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Faculty Coordinator
C. Mara Suttmann-Lea

Assistant Professor of Government, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Faculty Coordinator

Mara Suttmann-Lea hails from the Midwest, growing up in Leland, Michigan, and earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Chicago, Illinois. She studies American politics, and is primarily interested in the relationship between election laws, political parties and campaigns, and political participation. Her research aims to develop concrete ways to improve the electoral process and increase access to participation in politics, particularly for vulnerable populations.  More Bio information, click here.

, Associate Dean of the College; Dean of Juniors, Seniors and Transfers; POSSE Coordinator, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Co-Coordinator
Ann Schenk

Associate Dean of the College; Dean of Juniors, Seniors and Transfers; POSSE Coordinator, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Co-Coordinator

As Associate Dean of the College/Dean of Juniors and Seniors, Ann Schenk counsels and advises students on their educational goals while monitoring their progress toward graduation. She also serves as a liaison between students and resources on campus and partners with faculty and staff across the College to ensure academic success. She is the coordinator for our POSSE scholars program and Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, and oversees transfers to the College.

An experienced educator and long-time member of the Conn community, Ann has had many roles on campus. She served in the First Year Dean’s office as Assistant Director of Student Support and continues to work with first-year students as a First-Year Seminar Staff Adviser. Having been academic assistant to both the Roth Writing Center and the Joy Shechtman Mankoff Center for Teaching and Learning, she is familiar with the academic support services on campus, as well as with faculty perspectives on course design and classroom concerns. She also spent time as an RTC student at Conn to complete her education certification coursework and worked for seven years with at-risk learners in area public schools. She has received extensive training in Intergroup Dialogue and many other facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ann has taught in the dance departments at several colleges, including Connecticut College and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and she was Associate Director of the Creative Dance Continuum. She continues to be active in the classroom, teaching dance department classes and in the First-Year Seminar program intermittently.

Ann has presented scholarly work at conferences including the Higher Education Case Management Association, AAC&U and National Dance Education Association. She earned her BFA in dance from The Ohio State University and her Master of Arts in Teaching from Connecticut College.

Lynne McCue

Senior Assistant to the Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion

Lynne McCue joined the College in 1999. She began as a part-time administrative assistant in the Psychology department later worked in the English department for one year before joining the Dean of the College’s office full-time. The Dean of the College became the Dean of the College/Senior Diversity Officer with the hiring of Armando Bengochea, who then brought the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program to Connecticut College, and Lynne has been the assistant for this program ever since its arrival.