She spent her junior year of high school as an exchange student in Southern France, the foundation of her interest in French culture and literature.
She was named the ninth president of Brooklyn College (a campus of the City University of New York) in June 2009.
[2] Gould has written or co-edited six books and over 50 articles on contemporary Quebec literature, francophone women writers, and the modern French novel.
Beginning her scholarly work with a book on French novelist Claude Simon, she shifted her attention to Québec women writers in the 1980s.
In journal articles and book chapters Gould has discussed such writers as Louky Bersianik, Marie-Claire Blais, Nicole Brossard, Madeleine Gagnon, Anne Hébert, Suzanne Lamy, Monique LaRue, Madeleine Monette, France Théoret, Élise Turcotte, and Ying Chen.