Kristi Melancon Honored As Young Faculty Member of the Year

MC English professor Kristi Melancon and Alicia Pittman

Kristi Richard Melancon proves her effectiveness in the classroom and shows outstanding leadership skills as an English professor at Mississippi College.

Her hard work on the Clinton campus is getting rave reviews. At MC’s 2016 Homecoming in mid-October, Melancon was honored as the recipient of the Pittman Young Faculty Member of the Year at the Christian university.

Started 14 years ago, the tribute comes from Alicia Pittman, and her husband, the late George Pittman, former longtime MC English Department chairman. He also taught at the University of Mississippi, Middle Tennessee State and Howard Payne University in Texas.

“I absolutely love what I do and am grateful to the Pittmans for creating the award,” Melancon said. The award encourages young faculty to “challenge ourselves to be better teachers and scholars,” adds the Clinton resident.

A graduate of the University of New Orleans, Melancon is serving her 6^th year teaching in the MC English Department. She’s also receiving kudos as an enthusiastic mentor of English secondary education students and a strong advocate for service learning projects. The New Orleans native earned her doctorate at Louisiana State University.

Kristi is “a positive and professional colleague in the English Department,” says Jonathan Randle, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

“In that sense, Dr. Melancon very much reflects the legacy of Dr. Pittman, who himself was much-beloved both by students and colleagues,” says Randle, former English Department chairman at his alma mater. “This award couldn’t have been given to a more worthy recipient.”

A native of Belzoni, Alicia Pittman is a 1960 Mississippi College graduate who lives in Aledo, Texas near Fort Worth. George Pittman was a native of Decatur, Georgia. A member of the Class of 1959 at the Baptist-affiliated university, Pittman died in January 2014 at age 76.

George Pittman’s legacy lives on at English Department headquarters in Jennings Hall. Former students and faculty continue to swap interesting stories about the late professor, Melancon noted. George Pittman is never far from her thoughts. “A copy of his drawing of Shakespeare still hangs on my office bulletin board.”

George and Alicia Pittman created the Shakespeare Festival that’s always a wonderful literary event each spring at Mississippi College.