Melissa Langley Biegert

Melissa Langley Biegert is an award-winning writer, historian, and public speaker who lives in Austin, Texas. Raised in rural Arkansas, she has been a professional writer since the age of seventeen, when she was hired as a reporter for the “Mena Star” newspaper. Economic desperation and a burning desire to go to college led her to become an overachiever in high school, just hoping to earn a scholarship. She credits participation in the Girl Scouts and her mom (who was also her Girl Scout leader) with helping her believe in her own potential and the power of sisterhood. She was an active member of the Girl Scouts from fourth through twelfth grade, earning her Girl Scout Gold Award. Accepted into both Yale and Harvard with enough funding to actually attend, she chose Harvard, where she served on the “Crimson” editorial staff. After graduating with her Bachelors degree in Government, she went on to earn her Masters in Religion from Vanderbilt University, specializing in Ethics and History. It was during her time at Vanderbilt that she first began studying Juliette Gordon Low and the origins of the Girl Scouts of America. She spent over ten years as a social sciences writer and editor for Holt, Rinehart, and Winston publishers, during which she also earned her PhD in History from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation, “Woman Scout: The Empowerment of Juliette Low,” focused on Low’s background and how she came to pattern her organization on the British Boy Scouts. After leaving Holt, Dr. Biegert worked as a freelance writer and educator while raising two wonderful sons with her husband. She has taught at numerous colleges, including the University of Texas at Austin, Austin Community College, and San Jacinto College and presented papers and keynote speeches throughout the country. She is on the executive board of the World Social Science Association, where she serves as the History section co-coordinator and Women, Gender, and Queer Studies section coordinator. She is also an ordained chaplain, a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts, and the proud mom of two Eagle Scouts.