Melody Buckner

Melody Buckner is the Associate Vice Provost of Digital Learning and Online Initiatives for the University of Arizona since 2019. In this role, she collaborates with university leaders, faculty, and academic staff to articulate the implementation of online education and assist in defining the institutional values for digital learning to align with the University’s mission. In July 2022, the Office of Instruction and Assessment (OIA) merged with Digital Learning to form a new teaching and learning office called University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology. Melody will co-lead this with Lisa Elfring, the Associate Vice Provost for OIA.

She served as the Interim Dean of UA South (the branch campus and the College of Applied Science and Technology for the University of Arizona) from 2016 to 2019. She was chosen for this role for a few reasons, one she has been associated with UA South for the past eight years in both a support role and as a faculty, two she can assist in establishing connections to Main Campus through her many relationships with colleges, departments, and faculty, and finally, she understands the demands of a non-traditional student as she completed her graduate degrees both online and during evening and weekend programs.

From 2014 to 2019 she also served as the Senior Director of Digital Learning and Online Education at the University of Arizona. In this role she created an office of instructional design, visual design, video production and quality assurance for the Arizona Online. She came to UA ten years ago as an Instructional Designer to help faculty create online courses that reach out and engage students in an online UA experience. Before coming to the University, she served as an Instructional Designer in Professional Development and as an adjunct faculty for Pima Community College.

Her faculty affiliation is with the College of Education at the University of Arizona. She conducts research and teaching in the areas of educational technology, digital and creative literacies, and multicultural education.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology from Northern Arizona University. She earned her PhD in Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies from the University of Arizona in 2015. Her informal education consists of living in over 40 different places including several countries overseas.