As Coordinator of the Student Community Engagement Center, Melia Hadidian Tichenor (she/her) oversees the center’s many service programs, provides support and guidance to the center’s staff and student leaders, co-facilitates regular service leadership classes, and maintains partnerships with diverse community organizations and campus partners. She served as interim Coordinator in 2017 and joined the permanent staff in 2018. Some of Melia’s favorite parts the job include the year-long relationships she is able to develop with committed staff and Student Leaders for Service, the opportunity to learn about and support a wide variety of issues and causes through the service work the center helps facilitate, and supporting students in getting outside the classroom and connecting their passions to actionable solutions in the community.
Melia has spent over 15 years in the field of volunteer management and service-learning. Prior to her role at Portland State, she worked as a Program Manager at volunteer center Hands On Greater Portland for many years, consulted on international volunteering with Birthright Armenia, and served as a volunteer management trainer and board member with the Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association. Melia has been a Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) since 2014 and completed her Masters degree in Postsecondary Adult and Continuing Education (PACE) and a Service-Learning Graduate Certificate through PSU’s Graduate School of Education in Winter 2017.
In addition to supporting students in their community engagement journeys, Melia enjoys regular bike commuting and occasional bike tours, meandering bird walks, nerdy board games, and spending the evening cozied up with a good book and a couple of cats.