About

Melisande McCrae, PhD, is Director of Curriculum at The American College of Financial Services. McCrae teaches research methodology, and her research interests include financial literacy and the role of choice architecture in financial decision-making, development and assessment of academic and professional competencies, outcomes-based curriculum design and development, Human Performance Technology (HPT) in the financial services profession, and epistemological perspectives on the generation of professional knowledge within financial planning.

Prior to joining The College, McCrae’s 25 years of experience in higher education include her work within Eastern University’s Campolo College for Graduate and Professional Studies, where her efforts resulted in a new major in organizational leadership that examined strategic change in organizations from the perspective of systems theory. While at Eastern, McCrae worked to establish educational policy, particularly in the area of outcomes-based course and program design. Her contributions led to the adoption of university-wide assessment policies and practices that received commendation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

Before joining Eastern University, McCrae led the video communication efforts of Penn State University’s central administration and Commonwealth campuses. In this capacity, she worked primarily with the Office of the President and faculty on multimedia projects that informed national and regional audiences about the University’s research and outreach initiatives. McCrae received her bachelor’s degree from Temple University and her MEd and PhD in instructional systems from Penn State University, with a concentration in interactive learning technologies and educational psychology respectively.