Dr. MHM

No amount of warning can adequately prepare you for your first encounter with daycare germs. Do I even have an immune system? My goodness

Safe travels and/or welcome to CO for anyone traveling to ASHE. I, unfortunately, will not be able to be there because our Commission meeting is also this week. But I will wave as I pass Denver on my way to the Springs

Pretty sure I will retire before people regularly and consistently use SARA and NC-SARA correctly. They are not interchangeable, friends. There is a difference.

Anytime I guest lecture with grad students, I start with the basics of the Triad because I recognize that most aren’t exposed to it.

And then I tell everybody to watch an episode of NegReg with the large caveat that only huge nerds will enjoy the experience 🤣

The longer I do this job, the more I realize that normal people really don’t understand the federal rulemaking process.

Also, pretty sure I learned it largely through osmosis when Academic Bird App was in its prime.

Coverage from the student paper at her latest institution

“An email…sent to students in Osefo’s class, explained that Associate Professor of Sociology Courtney Patterson-Faye would take over teaching the class for the remainder of the semester.

wesleyanargus.com/2025/10/14/w...

Did I open this app for the first time in months specifically to see your reaction when I saw the news? Yes. Yes I did.

“What did you do during your parental leave, Dr. MHM?”

You mean besides keeping the small human alive? I’m glad you asked.

I dove into the Below Deck universe, watching the entirety of the base franchise and nearly finishing Med.

And became overly invested in the McBee Dynasty.

Pro-tip: If you time the end of your parental leave for the week that your entire unit is on travel at various meetings and most of your program partners are at one of those meetings, you have uninterrupted time to dig out of emails and figure out how to “working adult” again

I picked an interesting moment to open this app for the first time in a month…

A lot of talk about using AI this week. Not only do I have what I feel is a healthy fear of the robot overlords, but I have a hard time justifying using it knowing the environmental impact. Especially since the spouse likes to tell me about the coming water wars on a regular basis

In case you were curious, “Not really a question more of a statement” during Q&A happens at regulator conferences too. It’s not just academia.

The best part about conferencing while pregnant is feeling zero guilt about eating every single round of snacks offered.

Why yes, I’d love a couple of pastries and some trail mix just an hour after breakfast.

Great seeing you too!

Robert Kelchen standing behind a podium and presenting at a conference

Haven’t gotten to hear from @robertkelchen.com live since The Before Times™️. A nice nerd treat at NASASPS this week

Thoughts on mics at conferences:
1) Yes. You need it. Just take it and use it. I don’t care how loud you think you are.
2) Soft-spoken pals, hold the mic closer to your mouth. Also, you’re still going to need to project. Mics aren’t magic
3) A lot of us talk with our hands. Chaos. Hold the mic still

Dusting off the diss for my unit this week, and I completely forgot how unserious I was with my PowerPoint at my defense 😂

My script was serious, but the slides? Unhinged. An accurate reflection of my mental state by the end of grad school.

Also, yes. I need to work on publication. I know.

I asked a question in a conference session. I have earned a treat.

The fact that Houston’s head coach is Lumbee makes the dook loss even sweeter.

It’s a good day to be Indigenous.

New brilliant conference badge idea. Offer attendees the opportunity to print a QR code that goes to their LinkedIn profile on their name badge.

Then I can stop saying, “Doh! I left my business cards back in my room again!”

Flipping through the alumni magazine and see an article about Carolina admissions since 2003.

There’s no way I’d get in these days.

I have decided to fully embrace being a Boulder County mom and bought what are essentially hiking pants with stretchy waste bands instead of maternity pants.

Can’t wait for Chaco season to fully set in so there’s no question about where I live 😂

Update: Mama is not getting fry bread because there’s only one fry bread vendor and the line is 2 hours long.

Urban powwow struggles.

Baby needs exposure to their culture, and mama needs some fry bread. Good thing it’s Denver March Powwow weekend.

Louder for the people in the back!

At this point, my role at non-SARA/state auth meetings is to remind people that tribal citizens, tribal colleges, tribal governments, and tribal agencies exist and should be part of the conversation.

If you’ve ever seen Upload (Amazon Prime), there is somebody at this meeting who looks just like the AI guy

I made it to lunch without dying. Work travel while pregnant is a different ball game, and I did not pack enough snacks.

One thing is for sure. If I were teaching a Critical Discourse Analysis course this semester, I’d scrap most of my plans and go with whatever new thing comes from the Feds each week.

The repetition of “final mission” is…something

Ugh. Good thing I have snacks in my backpack to tide me over until lunch