Melissa Bator

Melissa Bator (Ph.D., Organizational Communication) serves as the Associate Director of Strategic Research Initiatives in the Office of Research at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), working with faculty from the Creative Arts, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education. In this role she supports individuals’ and teams’ proposal writing efforts (e.g., facilitating brainstorming sessions, convening collaborative meetings, providing feedback on proposal drafts) as they seek out funding for their research goals. She also creates professional development programming for faculty to develop their proposal writing skills and advises faculty on their research funding goals. Prior to joining the Office of Research, Melissa worked for two different interdisciplinary research centers at UCSB, the Center for Information Technology & Society (CITS) and the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies. Melissa practices at the boundary of theory and action, facilitating