Melissa Deller

Melissa Deller earned her degrees (BA & MS) from Western Illinois University. Before joining UW-W in 2001 she taught at the University of Maine (Orno), Madison College and Edgewood College. 

Deller currently teaches Introduction to Criminology (SOC 276), Women and Crime (SOC 379), Principles of Sociology (SOC 240), and Contemporary American Society (GEN ED 130).   All of the courses she teaches are offered in at least two different manners, typically either face to face or hybrid along with an online option. Previously, she has taught Introduction to Family Studies, Introduction to Sociology, Aging and Social Problems, and Marriage & Family.

Deller has published 5 articles, appearing in Sociological Imagination, Growth and Change, Western Criminology Review, Rural Sociology and the Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory.  Her areas of interest lately have been in the areas of crime and domestic violence. The latter involves working closely with Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS) in Madison where she has been recognized for her work on numerous occasions.

Learning Communities are a significant part of her focus on campus. Deller was part of the team that started the first Learning Community at UWW, Live and Learn, in 2004. She continues to be the Learning Community Coordinator for Honors Advantage in 2012. She also enjoys teaching courses for numerous different learning communities.

Deller spent the Spring 2013 semester as part of the teaching team for the Wisconsin in Scotland study abroad program. This involved living and teaching in Dalkeith Palace, located just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon returning to UWW she established the Honors International Travel Study. In 2015 and 2017, after spending the spring semester in the classroom, the group travels abroad to Ireland and the U.K. for 3 weeks. Locations include Dublin, London, and Edinburgh, with numerous side excursions along the way. Plans are in place for spring semesters of 2019 and 2021.

Deller expanded her faculty led Travel Study Abroad to include one with a criminology focus in 2018. The Comparative Criminology course studied in the following locations: The Netherlands (Amsterdam and The Hague), England (London), Northern Ireland (Belfast), and the Republic of Ireland (Dublin).