Michel served as Director of United States Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
[1] Sonya Michel earned her Ph.D. in American civilization from Brown University.
[2] Sonya Michel was a founding editor of the academic journal Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society.
Reflecting on the wide-ranging influence of Michel's career in 2015, the feminist scholar Eileen Boris writes that: Sonya Michel's appearances on C-SPAN have included topics such as "Women and Labor Rights" and "Retirement and Social Security".
Sonya Michel is married to Jeffrey Herf, who is also an American historian and professor at the University of Maryland.