Melissa Mercer-Tachick Memorial Fund

We are setting up this memorial fund (with permission from her husband John)  to honor our dear friend Dr. Melissa Mercer-Tachick who passed away on January 15, 2021, after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

About Melissa

Melissa was a fierce advocate for STEM education for young women and girls and received her doctorate in Science Education from the University of Michigan. She founded her own education consulting firm in 2011 to help increase the effectiveness of education institutions and organizations. Prior to that, she spent 7 years as a beloved professor teaching and preparing students at Albion College to be effective teachers in STEM fields.

She also had a life-long love affair with gaming (card games, board games, and role-playing games) and developed a 30-year bond with her gaming family which she affectionately called her "Scooby Gang." Even while she was battling cancer, she made sure to host a weekly virtual game night and her infectious laughter would delight us all.

About the Memorial Fund

We are setting up a memorial fund to honor two of Melissa's passions:  her life-long passion for promoting young women in STEM fields and her love of gaming.

1) The Melissa Mercer-Tachick Memorial Scholarship Fund will be set up in partnership with the University of Michigan's Girls in Science and Engineering (GISE) Summer Camp. Once we are able to reach our minimum target goal of $10K, U-M will be able to set up an annual scholarship fund to award one student each year, who would not otherwise be able to afford the summer camp, to attend this camp.

2) Additional funding will be used to set up an annual fund used to purchase educational games for schools and community organizations in communities that lack the funding to provide these resources. In this way, Melissa's love of games will spread to future generations and her tremendous laugh will live on in other kids as they discover the joy of playing games.