Michael W. Zhang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art & Archaeology, specializing in African art history. He is also affiliated with the Department of African American Studies. His dissertation examines the connections between art, capital, race, and politics during the late apartheid period in South Africa. He is a contributor to the upcoming edition of the African American National Biography series from the Oxford University Press. He received his BA from McGill University in 2014, an MA from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2016, and an MA from Princeton University in 2019.

In addition to academics, Michael is involved with higher education administration and civic service. He was a University Administrative Fellow in the Center for Career Development during the 2020-2021 academic year; prior to this, he was a Fellow in the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School. In 2021, he was appointed a RISE Fellow for racial and social justice. He has previously sat on the University Student Life Committee and the Lake Campus Graduate Housing Development Committee, and served on the Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct and a Presidential Advisory Committee at UBC.