Melissa Siegel ’03 doesn’t mess around. She jumps at opportunity, scoffs at distraction and charges at conflict. She’s got plans. She’s got goals. She doesn’t waste any time. Frankly, she doesn’t have any to waste.
Here’s why: She teaches graduate courses in migration studies and leads the migration and development research group in the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development at Maastricht University and the migration studies group at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) in The Netherlands; she coordinates and oversees the Migration Management Diploma Program and the migration specialization at the School of Governance and UNU-MERIT; she is a research associate at the Center on Migration, Policy and Society and the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford; she trains international organizations (e.g., UNICEF, UNHCR) and governments (e.g., Dutch, German, Swiss, Iranian) in migration
issues; and she’s always jetting off to places like Moldova, Ethiopia, Burundi, Afghanistan, Georgia, Morocco and Suriname for field research.
“I am really good at being busy,” Siegel shrugs, adding: “I always say that my best quality is my ability to suffer. I’m really good at being uncomfortable – mentally and physically.”
Siegel, however, has never had time to do anything but roll with the punches. She’s been on the fast track to success ever since graduating from the Honors College with a degree in economics. In addition to being inspired (and terrified) by her economics professors Calvin Blackwell and Jane Clary, Siegel credits the College for preparing her for what has been a whirlwind career.
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