Becky Wai-Ling Packard

Becky Wai-Ling Packard is the Mary E. Woolley Professor of Psychology and Education. She previously served as the Associate Dean of Faculty, the founding director of the Teaching and Learning Initiative, and the Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership. In those roles she oversaw faculty mentoring, an array of curricular/co-curricular programs, and a number of new initiatives.

Packard's research focuses on mentoring, with an emphasis on how individuals such as first-generation college students, women, and persons of color construct mentoring networks as they navigate complex pathways toward higher education and work. She frequently speaks on these topics at the local, state, and national level. She also offers expert advice on ways to design mentoring initiatives for students and faculty.

Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation's CAREER, Gender in Science and Engineering, and Division of Undergraduate Education programs. She served as a co-principal investigator on a Google-funded initiative where she is contributing to the peer mentoring design within computer science and a Microsoft-funded initiative that focused on industry-university mentoring partnerships. In June 2005, she went to the White House to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government upon early career scientists. Packard is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Community-based partnerships have been an important part of Packard's work, based on years of collaborations with schools and organizations in Holyoke and Springfield. She received volunteer recognitions from Girls Inc., Baystate Health, and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.

A first-generation college graduate, Packard earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from the Michigan State University.