Project Description

Michelle Cook is Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and Strategic University Initiatives at the University of Georgia. Prior to this appointment, she was Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Georgia; leading the University’s diversity efforts since 2011. For 12 years, Cook served as an Associate Dean in the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences. She was the inaugural Residential Dean of the Franklin Residential College and is a member of the Foot Soldier Project faculty. Michelle has taught in both the History Department and the Institute for African-American Studies, and was the Faculty-in-Residence for the UGA Oxford program in 2008. She is the principal investigator on two National Science Foundation grants, the Peach State LSAMP and the Bridge to the Doctorate, as well as a First in Public Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant and a grant awarded by the University System of Georgia to support the state’s African American Male Initiative.

Michelle earned her undergraduate degree in History from Princeton University, her Master’s Degree in African-American Studies from Yale University and her Ph.D. in History from Duke University.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Michelle is member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the Stone Mountain Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and sits on the boards of the Jeannette Rankin Scholarship Fund and the Skyview Charter High School in Fulton County.