Melissa Graves
Melissa Graves, associate director and instructor at the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, has been selected as Staff Council’s Staff Member of the Month for March. To help us get to know her better, Graves answered a few questions for Inside Ole Miss.
IOM: How long have you worked at Ole Miss?
Graves: Since October 2008
IOM: What is your hometown?
Graves: Fort Worth, Texas
IOM: What is your favorite Ole Miss memory?
Graves: This past weekend, when my team carried out the Days of Intrigue. It’s a practical exercise that we run for students and it includes participation from the CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, NGA, State Department, and the White House. We had 85 students from eight different universities participating. It was the most complex exercise we’d ever run, as it was our seventh time to run one of these. We finally had the process of being “game creators” down. The weekend couldn’t have gone better, and I savored every single second of working with my colleagues. We had such a good time, and I loved working alongside some of my favorite people!
IOM: What do you enjoy most about your position or the department in which you work?
Graves: Working with students and seeing their success.
IOM: What do you like to do when you are not at work?
Graves: Read! I’m a big reader.
IOM: What is one thing on your bucket list?
Graves: Travel to Africa.
IOM: What is your favorite movie?
Graves: Too many to list. My husband is a filmmaker and so I’m constantly seeing new movies, which I love, but I’m terrible at picking favorites.
IOM: What is your favorite Ole Miss tradition?
Graves: The flowers that bloom each spring. I anxiously await the cycle of flowers that pop up like clockwork each year.
To nominate a colleague for the Staff Member of the Month, email staffcouncil@olemiss.edu with the name of the individual you’d like to nominate as well as why you feel he or she should be recognized.