Dr. Melanie Gray has distinguished herself in the Milwaukee community as a premiere educator and champion for excellence in nursing. Born and raised in Milwaukee’s 53206 zip code, Gray was a first-generation college student who has earned a master’s degree in nursing education and a Ph.D. in e-learning.
Gray has served as part of the nursing faculty in the associate degree program at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 14 years. She often rises at 4 a.m. to prepare to instruct prospective nurses at MATC to begin their day at 7 a.m. Nursing instruction is an intense experience. Each student must be guided, observed, and monitored to provide safe, quality care. Nursing students must maintain the quality standards of practicing nurses.
According to Gray, “I care for 16 patients a day, my eight students and their eight patients.”
Gray has been an active member of the MATC community serving on institutional, departmental and program committees focused on counseling, advising, curriculum and student support.
She has worked to mentor young nurses as a faculty advisor for nursing student organizations. She also supports the professional development of new graduates as a nursing professional development specialist at Aurora Sinai Medical Center.
She is passionate about assuring that the nursing profession remains diverse and has been a member of the Milwaukee chapter of the National Black Nurses Association for more than 20 years.
A community advocate for underserved and underrepresented populations, she is a member of multiple service organizations, such as Junior League of Milwaukee and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She is also a community member with the Center for Translational Science at the Medical College of Wisconsin, focusing on community research initiatives.
An expert in the nursing curriculum area, Gray is a content reviewer for the largest publishers of nursing textbooks in the country (Elsevier, Pearson, and Davis publishing companies.) She also serves as a curriculum developer and consultant for nursing schools and is often sought to speak at conferences worldwide.
