Dr. Mel Freitag is currently the Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the School of Nursing at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has her PhD from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the area of Literacy Studies. Her minor is Rhetoric and Composition, and her interests include safe spaces/places, LGBTQ identity politics, digital storytelling, social justice education, and health equity. She received her Master of Arts in English in 2005 at Illinois State University, and her Bachelor of Arts in English in 2002 at Augsburg College.
She lives with her Aries nurse midwife partner Dr. Denise Fryzelka, her adventurous daughter Bennett (Benny), her hound dog Fred and two crazy cats Luce and Pirata in their east Madison home. She loves running, riding her bike, watching indie films, and facebooking while she’s procrastinating.