Michael Brown
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brownm.bsky.social
Michael Brown
@brownm.bsky.social
I study classroom communities, pedagogy, curriculum and socio-technical systems in communities colleges and 4-year undergraduate education. Views mine.
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I have a new article in Resarch in Higher Education led by @stephaniesowl.bsky.social where we continue our work considering post-college migration behaviors. We examine what factors encourage enrollment, how communities change, and whether students return "home" or to places like home
rdcu.be/ebnS8
People and Places: Understanding the Longitudinal College-Going and Residential Pathways of U.S. Adults Who “Went Away” to College
rdcu.be
Reposted by Michael Brown
People who aspire to be academics: I wish to live a life of the mind

Actual academics:
I have a weird question for the #bird people on here. Do you think someone could tell that a book was pooped on specifically by a sparrowhawk (or perhaps hawks generally) just from the feces? I'm looking at a 16th c. case where witnesses claim books were pooped on specifically by sparrowhawks!
December 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Michiganders, both of our senators voted for the trans athlete ban this week. Please please please call them and tell them they have to vote against the ban on gender affirming care for minors that just passed the house. This bill will kill children.

Slotkin: (202) 224-4822
Peters: (202) 224-6221
December 18, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
My PhD advisor met with me weekly for years. I think of that whenever my cup feels empty.

Maybe famous people don't mentor anybody... but I began this journey as as fifth grade teacher. A quote from The Crown pilot applies: "SHE *is* the assignment."

For educators, our students ARE the assignment.
December 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
This entire thread is a word and a half!

(and even within these elite institutional streets, a cool 20% of us are doing 80% of the internal advising work)

(one of my mentors used to always say "these famous folk don't mentor anybody")
For civilians: an academic dept typically has to out maneuver other depts to get a tenure line! I tell grad students applying to red state jobs to indicate that they are familiar with & would be happy spending a decade or more there. A single sentence has moved them to the top of a pile. 1/
December 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
December 16, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I have three different survey projects that need me to do a little bit of data matching by hand, and so they will sit until the new year, while I work on much more time intensive network graphs because nothing is worse than hand coding.
a man and a woman are sitting at a table with the words it does n't have to make sense
Alt: A man and a woman are sitting at a table with the words "it doesn't have to make sense" printed on the bottom third of the screen.
media.tenor.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Alongside Dr. Jill Hermann-Wilmarth, I am co-editing a special issue of The Reading Teacher. Our topic, LGBTQ+ Literacies: Affirming Identities, Advancing Justice w/ Pre-K-6 Learners, is sure to be of interest to many & is SO NEEDED in these times! Manuscripts are due January 15, 2026! #literacies
November 17, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?

You know what platform never crashes?
October 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Seems like an opportune moment to re-up our paper about AWS seeking infrastructural dominance in education through a range of operations that include platforming the edtech industry on its cloud services codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/h...
How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?

You know what platform never crashes?
October 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
@drsaguilarsmith.bsky.social and I have a new pub out in AERA Open. We analyzed 400 abstracts of community colleges who received grants under the Title V Developing HSI program. This manuscript was so much fun to work on, and SAS is a dream thought partner. #HSIs #HigherEd #AcademicBluesky
March 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
And as I near the end of Year 15 post-PhD, looking back, I think the academic race is not given to the swift nor to the strong...

...but to those who have HELP enduring until the end.

Mentoring matters. A good academic mentor is worth the world. Makes such a difference in our careers & our lives.
March 18, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
New Pub at #RIHE: @stephaniesowl.bsky.social, @brownm.bsky.social, and #RachelSmith examine people and place factors related to college enrollment and post-college return migration. Social connectedness mattered for college going and high school engagement for returning home. doi.org/10.1007/s111...
People and Places: Understanding the Longitudinal College-Going and Residential Pathways of U.S. Adults Who “Went Away” to College - Research in Higher Education
While college access and choice processes are well documented, the post-college residential mobility of graduates has ramifications for the long-term benefits of state and local investments in educati...
doi.org
March 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I have a new article in Resarch in Higher Education led by @stephaniesowl.bsky.social where we continue our work considering post-college migration behaviors. We examine what factors encourage enrollment, how communities change, and whether students return "home" or to places like home
rdcu.be/ebnS8
People and Places: Understanding the Longitudinal College-Going and Residential Pathways of U.S. Adults Who “Went Away” to College
rdcu.be
February 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
🚨 NEW PUB ALERT 🚨

I believe in the power of grants to transform orgs & the field in powerful ways.

Yet, competitive grantmaking can also recreate harm, regardless of funders’ good intentions.

Cynthia Villarreal & I show this in our latest pub. Check it out. It’s open access👇🏽

lnkd.in/gE38UJn2
February 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
I am excited to share our new pub “Because I’m from a Rural Background”: An Examination of Rural Students in Higher Ed Through a Critical Non-Deficit Framework! Shoutout to my amazing co-authors @sonjaardoin.bsky.social, Nicole D. Cooper, and Vanessa A. Sansone! Thank you so much to The Journal of
January 27, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Got confimed for 2 major surgeries this week. I will need funds & soon, but I was fired when I was diagnosed with cancer & my only income now is writing.

I hate to ask because I know we're all struggling, but I'd appreciate any donation.

Thank you & please share.

www.gofundme.com/f/help-r-s-a...
Donate to Help R. S. A. Garcia Pay for Cancer Expenses, organized by Arula Ratnakar
Hi everyone, I'm Rhonda, also known as R. S. A. Garcia, a speculative … Arula Ratnakar needs your support for Help R. S. A. Garcia Pay for Cancer Expenses
www.gofundme.com
January 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Now, here's the error explanation. I'll note this does not align with how I would think of an imputation error as suggested by the interview with the outgoing CEO earlier this week. Reaaaal useful example for methods classes on researcher assumptions.

New article on left, CEO interview on right
January 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Someone asked me how I "got it right" that the "drop" in the NSC October report almost certainly did not happen. Most of it is because of the ED report they mention here which appears to align with the new NSC data. Low-income student enrollment is likely up!
January 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
So much here! To start, instead of a 5% decrease in first-year enrollment, it's actually a 5.5% increase! Lots of students enrolled in the northeast! Even an explanation on this "error" which is not from imputation but from researcher assumptions! Short 🧵

www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...
Enrollment passes pre-pandemic levels with first-year surge
Total enrollment surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time and first-year enrollment grew 5.5 percent. It’s a shocking finding after last year’s enrollment pessimism—and a complete reversal fro...
www.insidehighered.com
January 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
There's still time to register for the Broadening Research & Instructional Designs for Greater Equity in STEM (BRIDGES) Virtual Conference, which is happening on January 31 and February 1, 2025.

Register here: events.zoom.us/ev/AtnaLdDxl...
#AcademicSky #STEMeducation
January 21, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Always a classic. #birds #birdmemes #hummingbirds
January 14, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
January 14, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
16mm film footage of Buzz Aldrin on EVA in low-Earth orbit during the Gemini XII mission on November 11, 1966
January 14, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Reposted by Michael Brown
These days are not good at all for so many people around here, so I'll try to brighten the mood, even for a second, with a new Hubble image! 🔭

This is the NGC-5530 galaxy, as seen by Hubble earlier today. This galaxy is located some 40 million light years away.

HD: flic.kr/p/2qEpfnz
January 9, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Michael Brown
Burying beetle, Nicrophorus humator. An exciting family of the Silphidae. What can this beetle feel, smell, taste and hear with its sensors on its leg?
January 6, 2025 at 7:39 PM