Michelle Grohe

Michelle Grohe is pursuing a doctorate with the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, focusing on Organizational Culture and Leadership. She recently served as the Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, where she worked for seventeen years. In 2020, she was named Art Museum Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association.

At the Gardner, Michelle worked closely with other senior leaders and the director to advance the museum as a distinctive provider of innovative, inspiring cultural experiences that broaden and diversify the Museum’s audiences and expand its network of community partners, artists, and affinity groups. In addition to leading the Education and Public Programs team, Michelle co-led the Gardner's institution-wide work in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI), as well as visitor experience, which considers visitors’ needs and interests using a human-centered, data-driven approach.

Michelle has over 20 years of experience as a Visual Thinking Strategies practitioner and trainer across audiences in museums, schools, healthcare, and business. She has led and co-led some of the most robust and significant research on VTS impact to date.

Michelle has a B.F.A. in studio art from Millikin University and M.A. in art + design education for museums from RISD. She served as the Museum Education Division Director on the national board of the National Art Education Association in 2017-2019.