Dr. Elizabeth M. Melton

Dr. Elizabeth M. Melton (she/her/hers) is a playwright and critical performance ethnographer whose work centers Texas culture and identity. After completing her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2020, she served as an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow with the Institute for Diversity and Civic Life (IDCL). A Texas-based nonprofit, IDCL’s mission is to advance more democratic public spaces through storytelling, research, and education. Dr. Melton continued working with IDCL as their Director of Public Engagement until August 2025, when she joined the faculty at the University of North Texas. 

Originally from Longview, Texas, Dr. Melton is thrilled to call Texas home once again. Her play, Unpacking Longview, utilizes oral history performance, the trope of the fool, and auto-ethnography to explore the complex history of public-school desegregation in her East Texas hometown. Dr. Melton’s work has been published in the Oral History Review and Text and Performance Quarterly. She holds B.A.s in English and Theatre Arts and an M.A. in Performance Studies from Texas A&M University.