GRAND RAPIDS, MI, May 01, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Paulo Zagalo-Melo, PhD, a Lisbon, Portugal–born higher education leader, has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who, recognizing career achievement and professional impact, including work that has helped advance Portugal–U.S. academic and research collaboration.

Zagalo-Melo is senior internationalization strategist at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he helps shape institutional strategy for global engagement, international enrollment, and partnership development. His portfolio centers on building sustainable cross-border collaborations – such as university-to-university partnerships, research connections and mobility pathways.

Most recently, he has been helping develop Global Learning Hub Lisbon, an initiative designed to expand broader international collaboration through scalable, turnkey higher-education partnerships and program delivery.

From 2017 to 2024, he served as associate provost for Global Education at Western Michigan University, providing executive oversight for international initiatives and related operations, supervising WMU's comprehensive international office with a team of over fifty professionals and a budget of approximately ten million dollars – one of the largest international offices in the U.S.

Earlier, he was associate provost for Global Education at the University of Montana (2014–2017) and held additional leadership and faculty roles supporting global engagement and international education.

From 2006 to 2013, Zagalo-Melo served in Lisbon as director of science, technology and innovation at the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), a Portuguese foundation dedicated to strengthening ties between Portugal and the United States. He helped design and oversee programs that supported binational research cooperation, academic exchange and institutional partnerships, including initiatives that fostered collaborations among FLAD, Portuguese institutions and U.S. research organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

His professional journey began at Ernst & Young in Lisbon as a senior accountant from 1991 to 1993 after earning undergraduate degrees in accounting and administration. A pivotal moment occurred when a newspaper advertisement led him to apply for a financial officer position at the Fulbright Commission in Portugal. Hired for this role, he advanced rapidly within the organization, serving as an administrative officer from 1993 to 1997 before being appointed executive director from 1997 to 2006, the youngest person worldwide to hold such a position at Fulbright at the time at age twenty-seven. This experience reshaped his career trajectory, sparked frequent travel to the United States and ignited his passion for international education.

In his role of Fulbright executive director, he supported people-to-people diplomacy through educational exchange and helped deepen institutional ties between Portuguese and U.S. higher education communities.

His recognitions include being named a Presidential Fellow of the Association of International Education Administrators (2015–2016) and receiving a fellowship from the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence.

Zagalo-Melo serves in elected leadership with the Association of International Education Administrators, including as president (2025–present), following service as president-elect (2024–2025) and as a board member and chair of the member outreach and awards committee (2021–2024).

He has also delivered a TEDx talk on higher education and global engagement.

He earned a Ph.D. in political science and government from Universidade Católica Portuguesa (2012) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School (2004), with academic interests spanning political theory and European Union studies. He was an invited professor at the Catholic University of Portugal (2009–2012) and held visiting scholar appointments in political science at the University of Colorado Boulder (2008–2009 and 2011).

He also holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Universidade Europeia (Lisbon, 1996) and a bacharelato in accounting from ISCAL—Lisbon Accounting and Business School (1992).

A first-generation college graduate, Zagalo-Melo has spoken about the role education can play in expanding opportunity across families and communities.

He credits mentors and colleagues across Portugal and the United States for shaping his leadership approach in international education.

A U.S. citizen born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, Zagalo-Melo has focused his career on strengthening international cooperation through higher education. Across roles in Portugal and the United States, he has helped convene and support Portugal–U.S. relationships that enable research collaboration, academic exchange and long-term institutional partnership.

He resides in the U.S. with his wife, and shares his time between Michigan, Virginia, and Portugal.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. The suite of Marquis® publications, including Who's Who in America® and Who's Who in the World®, remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the globe. Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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