Dr. Gina Coleman

Gina Coleman, PhD. was the Director of Workforce Engagement and Impact for the Brien Center; a behavioral health agency serving children and adults throughout Berkshire County, MA. Prior to the Brien Center Dr. Coleman served as the Director of Education for the Children’s Study Home in Springfield, MA; a non profit agency serving primary and secondary students with behavioral disabilities. Before her tenure at the Children’s Study Home, Dr. Coleman was Principal at Herberg Middle School, in Pittsfield, MA. Dr. Coleman also served as Associate Dean of Students and Associate Director of Admission/Director of Diversity Recruitment at Williams College in Williamstown, MA, where she worked for nearly fifteen years. She continues to work at Williams as the Head Women’s Rugby Coach since 1996. Originally from the South Bronx, Dr. Coleman earned her B.A. in English from Williams College in 1990, her M.Ed. from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) in 2000, and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2007.

In her time at Williams, Dr. Coleman developed a comprehensive recruitment program for the College that increased the enrollment of domestic students of color and first-generation students to a percentage that rivaled most selective colleges in the country. Dr. Coleman also demonstrated a commitment to early college awareness initiatives. As an alumna of A Better Chance, a nationally recognized program that gives gifted minority students the opportunity to attend some of the country’s finest secondary schools, Dr. Coleman was personally invested in the efforts of such educational outreach programs. She created Quest for College, an early college awareness board game that aimed to educate students on the college search, application and financial processes, empowering them to make sound academic and extracurricular choices.

Dr. Coleman is a former trustee of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts. She has also served as a faculty member in the Leadership Academy at MCLA, where she taught graduate level Education courses to public school educators as part of requirements to become administrators in their school districts. In 2007, Dr. Coleman received the Governor’s citation as an Unsung Heroine of Williamstown, selected by the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 2025 she received the Berkshire County, MA Peacemaker Award, which recognizes persons who have a history of working with people and/or neighborhoods and communities to provide greater tolerance, understanding, and caring. 

Lastly, since 1999 Dr. Coleman has been the lead singer of Misty Blues; an internationally recognized musical group that performs original and traditional blues infused with hints of jazz, soul, funk and tent revival gospel.