Dr. Melissa Frank-Alston has worked in the higher education sector for almost 30 years and has been employed with Augusta Technical College since 2005 serving in various vice-presidential roles. She currently serves as the College’s Provost and Institutional Accreditation Liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Since 2010, Dr. Frank-Alston has collaborated with faculty, staff, administrators, and local business and industry partners to secure over $8 million in federal and private grants to support student success efforts at Augusta Technical College.

Dr. Frank-Alston holds a Ph.D. in Workforce Education & Development with an emphasis in Training/Human Resources from Pennsylvania State University, a M.S. in College Student Personnel from Western Illinois University, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

She is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Augusta, a 2014 graduate of the Technical College System of Georgia Executive Leadership Academy, and a 2018 graduate of the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence (1 of 40 in the nation), a highly selective leadership program which seeks to develop a cadre of exceptional community college leaders for future presidential roles.

During her employment at Pennsylvania State University, she was recognized by Town & Gown magazine, “Fifteen for the Future” selection for professionals on the move in the Penn State and State College, Pennsylvania community. Almost twenty years later, she returned to Penn State as the recipient of the 2018 College of Education Alumni Society Award for Leadership and Service.

Dr. Frank-Alston currently serves on the Foundation Board of Directors of the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John de la Howe and is an Emeritus Trustee of the Augusta Technical College Foundation. She also serves on the Georgia Cancer Center Community Advisory Board at Augusta University.

In August 2022, Dr. Frank-Alston was selected as WJBF Chanel 6 “Women to Watch” highlighting local business women who are role models in Augusta, Georgia who have a positive impact on the local community.

She and her husband Dr. Sparticus Alston have two daughters, Cosette and Colette.