Nance Maiorino (Dr. N.E.D.) is an academic advisor serving approximately 300 undergraduate students in Psychology, bringing a multidisciplinary background in higher education, communication, the arts, and the humanities to her work with students. She has been a member of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, with service on the Transfer, Training, and Communications committees, and currently collaborates with OSAS colleagues as part of an Assessment Workgroup. From 2018 to 2020, she also served as a volunteer Crisis Counselor, an experience that strengthened her training in active listening, student support, and crisis-informed communication, all of which inform her advising practice.

At the core of Dr. N.E.D.'s professional life is her extensive experience as an educator. Over the course of her academic career, she served as faculty in a variety of capacities, including lecturer, adjunct professor, and instructor of record, teaching undergraduate courses across communication, literature, theatre, and performance studies. Her teaching portfolio includes Public Speaking, Human Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication, English Composition, Theatre Appreciation, Script Analysis, Acting, Acting for Camera, Film and Literature, Nineteenth-Century Literature, World Literature (Ancient and Modern), Western Literature (Ancient and Modern), Asian American Literature, and Multi-Ethnic Literature. Beyond the classroom, she advised undergraduate Communication student organizations, coached debate and forensics competitors, and served as a judge for debate tournaments, forensics competitions, theatre auditions, and film festivals.

Her professional path reflects a deep commitment to communication and creative practice. Before returning to academia, she worked in New York City in the Creative Practice at Burson-Marsteller, a leading global strategic communications firm, where she specialized in content development and professional training. Prior to that, she was a theatre artist and producer, and earlier in her career, a professional equestrian, experiences that continue to inform her holistic, student-centered, and empathetic approach to advising and mentorship.

Dr. N.E.D.'s academic background spans multiple disciplines and institutions. She studied journalism and English at Ohio Wesleyan University before completing an MFA in Theatre at Stony Brook University. Her theatrical training also included study in England and India, experiences that broadened her engagement with performance traditions across cultures. After working in radio and coaching the IHSA Equestrian Team at the University of Alabama, she joined the University of Georgia's Department of Drama as an instructor before pursuing doctoral study in Comparative Literature. A lifelong student of languages, she began studying French in childhood and acquired German prior to her doctoral work. At UGA, she added Italian and Attic Greek, extending her work across five languages and supporting her comparative study of literature, culture, and performance. In addition to her work in theatre and literature, she has performed as a percussionist in a world music ensemble, reflecting a longstanding interest in cross-cultural artistic traditions.

Her scholarly and teaching interests encompass communication, performance, dramaturgy, literature, film, and cultural studies, with particular specialization in Asian and European arts, culture, literature, and cinema. As an advisor, she draws on her experience as an educator, artist, and scholar to help students think critically, communicate effectively, and make informed decisions about their academic and professional lives.