Melissa Pardue is the events coordinator for the Civitas Institute. She has a background in policymaking in Washington, D.C., having served as deputy assistant secretary for human service policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as associate director in the White House Domestic Policy Council. Melissa also served as a Capitol Hill staffer for several years and as a policy analyst for social welfare policy at The Heritage Foundation. In that capacity, she published numerous op-eds and appeared regularly on radio and TV interviews. Originally from Dallas, she has worked as an independent policy consultant for over a decade in Austin. Melissa completed her M.S. in policy from Columbia University and holds a B.A. in social work from the University of Oklahoma.