Local teacher earns Master's and honors at Fresno State

Melody Downie-Dack
Melody Downie-Dack
Photo Contributed by Fresno State

A former history teacher at Lemoore High School, Melody Downie-Dack, recently completed her Master of Arts in history with a 4.0 GPA while a graduate student at Fresno State University. The talented teacher also was selected as a Dean's Graduate Medalist for 2016.

While pursuing her master’s, Downie-Dack taught social studies and AP history full-time at Lemoore High School while also coaching forensics before giving birth to her first child in spring 2015. She also has a master’s degree in teaching.

“While working on my thesis, I resigned from my teaching position to devote more time to my family and to the master’s program,” she said.

Downie-Dack has since worked part-time from home as an administrative assistant for a non-profit organization in Visalia.

In an effort to complete her master’s, Downie-Dack and her husband, Dave, a Presbyterian pastor, traveled to Madrid and Seville, Spain to research her thesis on the Cursillos movement and its relevance to Catholic laity in southern Spain during the 1960s.

Her thesis was nominated as the top thesis in the Department of History. After graduation, she plans to apply for adjunct college faculty positions in the Valley.

Downie-Dack earned a degree in history and a master’s in teaching at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. 

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