Melinda McClimans, PhD
Team Builder, Community Builder, Educator, Researcher, Writer


Dr. McClimans, a PhD in Global and Multicultural Education, has been managing the Middle East Studies Center and leading its outreach programs since 2003. She specializes in cross-cultural teamwork and learning. She works with faculty and colleagues to build pathways across organizational silos and lead change. She teaches communication practices for community building and developing individual and group creativity. She specializes in teaching and curriculum development for multidisciplinary topics and global issues such as the global water crisis. She hosts and produces the podcast "Keys to Understanding the Middle East," and co-authored the book of the same name. She hosts and produces the podcast "Keys to Understanding the Middle East," and co-authored the book of the same name. Currently, she is focused on growing educational programs and collaborating on food sovereignty projects.

Dr. McClimans is an expert in cross-cultural teamwork, knowledge curation, and learning design. Her strategy for making knowledge impactful is grounded in community-building and the idea of activating knowledge through dialogue, effective group work, and action. Dr. McClimans is skilled across the domains of knowledge management and implements online and mobile platforms to for creating transformative learning experiences. She is especially experienced in teaching cross-cultural topics and global issues such as the water crisis.

Dr. McClimans maintains a network of subject matter experts with whom she produces programs, curricula and co-authored texts. She manages marketing and community outreach for the Middle East Studies Center. Successful in grant acquisition, Dr. McClimans has been awarded $4 million in grant funds and managed over $5 million, plus tens of thousands in donations and contributions. She conducts research on cross-cultural learning as a Principal Investigator at Ohio State University.

Her separate business consulting company, Archipelago Rising, delivers targeted learning packages and professional development programs via partners and associates who are top academics and professionals in related fields. That work is based in teamwork, community building and learning.
In her advisory role, Dr. McClimans works with colleagues and clients to build pathways across organizational silos and ways to lead change. In her academic role, Dr. McClimans teaches, designs, implements and evaluates workshops and experiential learning courses for educators and other professionals. Tapping into the potential of individuals and groups is her passion, especially untapped expertise.

Cross-cultural Experience:

Dr. McClimans has trained individuals and organizations, in multiple sectors (K-12, military, business, others) on how to successfully navigate cultural norms in diverse cultural contexts. She has research ability in Arabic and French and is fluent in Italian. She lived abroad for six years, including four years in Switzerland. Other countries she lived in for substantial periods of time included Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and Thailand. She studied Arabic in Cairo and Tunis. After spending time in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Tunisia, she enrolled in Franklin College in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland in 1994. After obtaining her Bachelor's degree in 1997, she worked as an intern at the United Nations in Bangkok. She moved back to the States in 1998 but continued her Arabic studies and eventually began leading study tours to Egypt and Turkey. She presented at the World Congress of Middle East Studies in Ankara in 2015. She hosts scholars from countries around the world for various projects (Turkey, India) and maintains contacts in Turkey with whom she collaborates online. She leads the Center's K-16 teacher training program and global education outreach to schools and organizations.

Academic Background:

Dr. McClimans holds a doctorate in Global Education. Melinda's dissertation is on the ways in which teachers push student conceptual boundaries of self/Other to enhance cultural learning. She also holds an MA in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, with a concentration in Arabic. She teaches about the Middle East in many of her public talks, interviews for the media, and as a guest lecturer in classes. She has 20 years teaching experience at the university level. She has co-taught both in-person and online courses for teachers about Multicultural and Global Education as well as the Middle East in World Affairs. Her mentors are Dr. Alam Payind, Director of the Middle East Studies Center, and Professor Emeritus of Global Education, Dr. Merry Merryfield.

Her websites, blogs, and podcasts:








What She Offers You and Your Organization
  • intercultural awareness training and development for senior leaders and staff
  • community building strategies and employee motivation
  • learning integration and targeted curriculum development
  • team-building and processes for forming teams across silos
  • workshops to cultivate creativity and a spirit of inquiry at your organization

In my own words:
I have been an educator in the field of international education and exchange for over 20 years. My ability to lead or work effectively as part of a diverse team will transfer well to a wide array of management roles and projects. I have supervised and mentored teams of staff, graduate interns, and students. I collaborate with colleagues on research, publication, education, artistic and interdisciplinary projects. I have written or co-written nine successful grant proposals for a total of $4,012,601, funding educational programs, student scholarships, research projects, and public engagement with theatre. These collaborations and programs have built pathways across organizational silos, created lasting impacts on the student experience at Ohio State University, and reached thousands of people through public engagement. Some examples of team projects I have led or played a key role in relate to leadership in higher education, intercultural learning assessment, racial justice in higher education, international theatre, and water scarcity. As a Ph.D. and researcher specializing in global and multicultural education, I conduct studies focused on intercultural pedagogy and learning. The courses I teach at Ohio State University focus on the Middle East, global issues, and intercultural pedagogy. Professors in multiple disciplines invite me to be a guest speaker in their classes or run workshops for their students on topics such as Gender in the Middle East, e-Portfolios for Cultural Learning, or Focusing on Creativity. My areas of expertise are teambuilding, facilitating cross-cultural conversation, pedagogy for raising cultural awareness, cross-cultural experiential learning, re-invigorating the liberal arts core of curriculum, and connecting classroom learning to life and workplace skills. My Intercultural Development Inventory score, 135 out of 145 (99th percentile), indicates I can supervise or effectively communicate with team members of any cultural background or level of cultural awareness.




Melinda's Middle East news sources: https://feedly.com/MelindaGlobalEd

Exploring New Territories . . . Connecting People. . . Co-creating New Realities