Associate Director of Teaching and Academic Development
The Office of Career & Life Design, The Graduate School
Michelle Gaston, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of Teaching and Academic Development at the University of Texas at Austin's Office of Career and Life Design, where she leads programming that bridges pedagogical expertise and professional competency development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. With more than 15 years of experience in educational development, she brings a distinctive perspective shaped by roles at UT Austin's Center for Teaching and Learning, UCLA's Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and international teaching experience on three continents. She is currently the chair-elect of the Graduate Student, Professional Student, and Postdoctoral Scholar (GPPD) SIG in the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education and an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Her areas of interest include evidence-based teaching, course design, program evaluation, competency-based teaching development frameworks and academic career preparation.