Michelle Goncalves ’06G

Executive Director

Michelle Goncalves is founder and executive director of UMass Women into Leadership (UWiL). She also serves as deputy chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to this position, she served as Director of Administration and Research in the Department of Political Science, where she designed and directed professional development programming, including an undergraduate research engagement program and a course on “Life After UMass.” She also served as Program Manager for the National Center for Digital Government; for the Science, Technology and Society Initiative; and for Women in the Information Age Project, all at UMass Amherst.

Michelle is the recipient of the prestigious 2016 Roy J. Zuckerberg Leadership Prize from the UMass President’s Office and has been recognized with Chancellor Citation awards three times. She has been an AAUW Wage Project Start Smart facilitator since 2014, serves as a commissioner on the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and is a member of her local cultural council. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and women's studies from Providence College and a Master's of Public Policy and Administration from the Center for Public Policy and Administration (now School of Public Policy) at UMass Amherst, where she also received the Philip Hertz Award for dedication to public service.