Melissa Nelson, a farm girl from small-town Nebraska transplanted to Iowa, serves as Externship Coordinator for the Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department. She oversees students who are working in industry throughout their educational experience at Morningside College. She teaches the Workforce Preparation, Internship in Agriculture and Externship in Agriculture courses in the AAFS program.

Melissa found her passion for agriculture while growing up on her family’s purebred Angus cattle operation in Springfield, Nebraska. She honed that passion through her time in several agricultural youth organizations and while at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she received her B.S. in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication in 2013. Melissa assisted in the foundation of the non-profit, Siouxland Agriculture in the Classroom, an agricultural education service for educators and students in a seven-county region in Northwest Iowa, and served as Director of the organization from 2013-2018. Melissa is also has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Education from South Dakota State University. She now resides with her husband Mark and children Roy, Charlie and Jeannie on their family farm and cattle operation near Moville, Iowa.