Michelle Leao

As Associate Director of Academic Affairs for the First-Year Experience, Michelle supports the academic goals of the College through the First-Year Seminars and the College Foundations Kite and Key courses. Alongside the First-Year Experience team, she helps facilitate signature events for first-years including Welcome to The College and the First-Year Seminar Showcase. Michelle is teaching College Foundations: Kite and will be teaching the new Knowledge and Dialogue Across the Arts & Sciences course.

Michelle received her PhD from The Ohio State University in Higher Education and Student Affairs and her M.S.Ed. at Indiana University. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a specialization in counseling and clinical psychology at The College of New Jersey, alongside a minor in Public Health. Her areas of interest and research focus on several lines of inquiry, including student leadership development, graduate student preparation, and retention of student affairs professionals, with a special focus on the experiences and stories of individuals with marginalized identities. She has published a variety of book chapters and journal articles alongside presentations at multiple national and international conferences. 

When she as some free time, Michelle loves reading new books, baking sweet treats for friends and family, hosting a supper club with her friends, and crafting her stresses away. She loves sharing stories of the antics of her daughter and dog at home.