Michelle received tenure at Kennesaw State University where she is Director of the Office of National and International Scholarships and Fellowships and Associate Professor of English. Prior to that she served as Associate Director of the University of Georgia at Oxford Study Abroad Program. Michelle received her Ph.D in English from Emory University

A 2002 Mitchell Scholar, Michelle received an M.Phil in Anglo Irish Literature from Trinity College Dublin. Her thesis examined Seamus Heaney's translation and adaptation of the classics. Her PhD dissertation expanded her research on Heaney to include the work of two other Irish poets, Michael Longley and Derek Mahon. Michelle was interested in how these poets turned to the classics to journey to the underworld and bring the voices of the dead to the world of the living. As a doctoral student at Emory University in Atlanta, Michelle had the opportunity to meet Heaney on numerous occasions and to work with his original papers and manuscripts.

Michelle obtained her undergraduate degree from Montana State University.