Michelle M. Allen, Ed.D., joins the University of Alabama at Birmingham as the Diversity Education Director in the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI). She is a native of Atlanta, Ga., and completed her Bachelor of Business Administration from Savannah State University and earned her M.Ed. in Higher Education and Doctorate of Education in Cultural Curriculum Studies from Georgia Southern University. 

Before arriving at UAB, Dr. Allen's career in Higher Education spanned across functional areas such as Institutional Research and Assessment, Instructional Technology, Multicultural Student Programming and Diversity Education at Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Southern University and George Mason University, respectively. She has also worked with ExxonMobil, 7-Eleven and Nike in business marketing and management.

Dr. Allen’s research cognate is in Critical Theory, Queer Studies, Cultural Studies and Narrative Inquiry and Story Telling. She is passionate about the educative process, diversity, equity and social justice and looks forward to serving the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Birmingham community.