Michelle L. Dion

Unfortunately, it is only a contract position, but we are a great place to work with great colleagues! I am happy to answer any questions people might have about this job or our campus.

Bright announcement for ICPSR Summer Program scholarships with a March 1 application deadline and over $400K available.

Scholarship applications the 2026 ICPSR Summer Program close Sunday! Over $400k in scholarships available! Apply by March 1. For more details: myumi.ch/ICPSRscholarships

#SumProg26 #ICPSR #QuantitativeMethods #ScholarshipOpportunities #GraduateStudies #DataScienceEducation #ResearchTraining

A Founding Father of NPR Worries About Its Fate

Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.

As someone with an R&R for some null findings that went to (I think) 4 journals before the current one: I feel seen.

Also, noting the acknowledgement of LLMs on front page. Bookmarking FFR. Look forward to reading the paper.

Also, if you can pack/get hard boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, etc for a cold breakfast and get up early to walk a bit away from crowds to have breakfast on the rim as the sun rises and nature wakes up, it will be glorious.

I wasn’t prepared for the grandeur and cried like a silly person. It was overwhelming, in a very good way. YMMV

In yet another rigorous analysis, findings show that the economics discipline is rough on women. It's not just about getting questioned or cut off--it's also about adversarial behavior.

Karim Bardeesy: "Please see my full statement on X (formerly Twitter): STATEMENT ON X (FORMERLY TWITTER) I've been on X (formerly Twitter) since 2008, when I started my work as a business journalist in New York City at the beginning of the Great Recession. It was an invaluable tool in those days; and when I moved to The Globe and Mail, we used it to engage with readers through the paper's editorial board Twitter account, which I set up and ran. Twitter - in all of its chaos with all of its problems - was for many years a vibrant space of debate and discovery, and an invaluable source of information about the world, often in real time. But it's no longer that place. It's now a place where anger, hyper-divisive content, shock - and most, recently Al-generated sexualized deepfakes - is the content that gets elevated or rewarded by its algorithm. Al is now part of our reality and will continue to be. There's no denying that. But we are not passive in this journey. Our values matter; and when the technology and the platform are at such 100% complete misalignment with those values, it's time to go. In the absence of meaningful change, I am pausing my posting here. You can still find me and my office's work through the channels listed below. MP Karim Bardeesy Taiaiako'n-Parkdale-High Park"

Another Canadian Member of Parliament is quitting the 3-in-1 online harassment, extremist propaganda and computer-generated sex image app, X dot com

“Less than 60” UW employees laid off since early 2025 Senior administration at UW shared that since early 2025, less than 60 employees have been laid off as part of the university’s multi-year plan to return to a balanced budget.  This figure was shared...

1. UWaterloo has lost over 200 full-time employees thanks to Doug Ford's university budget crisis. That's 5% of the workforce.
2. Who cares whether most are via layoffs or attrition? Programs and student experience are suffering.
3. It's "fewer than," not "less than".
uwimprint.ca/less-than-60...

In Praise of Bessie Coleman, Trailblazing Black Texan Pilot Coleman’s extraordinary life and career deserves to be celebrated in the canon of U.S. history.

On this day in 1892, Bessie Coleman was born.

Her extraordinary life and career deserves to be celebrated in the canon of U.S. history. https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/bessie-coleman-trailblazing-black-texan-pilot/

Here's a time-lapse from yesterday as thousands of people marched through downtown Minneapolis to protest ICE.

📷️: Sydney Lewis/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.

BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

Warning: Reports indicate immigration checkpoints along major interstates in Oklahoma, with Interstate 40 most impacted.

A family member reacts after a federal immigration officer used a battering ram to break down a door before making an arrest on January 11, 2026, in Minneapolis.

Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

From an email to one of our faculty members....

Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!

We're excited to release version 1.0 of the Dynamic Democracy website. It includes updated data on state policy, public opinion, mass ideology, and representation. The website enables you to see how these measures are changing overtime across states and within states.

www.dynamicdemocracy.us

Pew Research Center is seeking a Data Archivist to support our commitment to open science and data transparency. This newly created role will play a key part in enhancing the accessibility, usability, and reproducibility of our research data while continuing to protect the privacy and identity of our survey participants. As Data Archivist, you will lead efforts to create and implement best practices for preparing, documenting, and disseminating datasets. These best practices should maximize FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles while minimizing disclosure risk. You will work across teams to ensure our data is well-organized and thoroughly documented. You will serve as an internal advocate for data users, helping to ensure that our datasets are not only accurate and comprehensive but also easy to discover and reuse by researchers, journalists, and the public. This is a full-time, Pew Research Center position. The position is funded by an external grant and limited to a two-year term.

Primary Responsibilities Develop optimization procedures to improve discoverability of our datasets on internal and external platforms Develop and maintain standards to improve accessibility of our microdata and tab plans by changing/adding formats and/or adding documentation Identify metadata documentation best practices and a process to implement those best practices at the Center Work with Legal to evaluate most appropriate license to publicly share the Center's survey data, including Creative Common options Identify and correct processing inefficiencies in our data publication process Sit on the internal Disclosure Risk Taskforce Document analytical decisions and code to support transparency and replicability, including the development of a RACI chart for publishing code to recreate derived variables that are used in reports but are not included in the microdata Manage/create merged time series datasets for select Center datasets Identify a process for internally archiving data and projects that are no longer in active use Identify and implement a process to assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) to microdata Prepare and upload public-facing datasets and restricted-use datasets for external sharing. Train staff on FAIR principles and best practices in data archiving.

Education/Training/Experience Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in library sciences, organizational management, or a related field. 5-7 years of experience with data archiving, database management, or survey research. This may include graduate training at the MA/PhD level or equivalent experience in an applied setting. At least 3-5 years of experience applying FAIR and open science principles. Background in social science research or data curation. Experience in data management, archiving, or research support. Familiarity with FAIR principles, Creative Common licensing, data privacy principles, and exposure risk. Proficiency in metadata standards and documentation tools. Experience managing research projects, including working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team. Experience with statistical software (e.g., R, Python, Stata) and reproducible research workflows. Knowledge, Skill and Workplace Requirements Strong organizational and communication skills. Detail oriented with exacting standards to maintain accuracy and impartiality in all work products. Ability to work independently to carry out special projects from start to finish. Ability to balance numerous tasks simultaneously. Ability to work collaboratively and collegially with other team members, as well as with staff from other Pew Research Center teams. Ability to balance competing priorities and identify optimal solutions FLSA Status: Exempt Compensation: Starting salary is commensurate with experience within the range of $100,000 - $120,000. Hybrid Work Schedule: Pew Research Center staff are required to be present in the Center’s Washington, D.C., office three core days weekly (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Staff may work virtually from remote locations on other days in a typical work week.

Please share - @pewresearch.org wants to hire a data archivist who will be an advocate for data users, helping to ensure that our datasets are easy to discover and reuse by researchers, journalists, and the public.
pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/CenterExtern...

2 police officers relive Jan. 6 through their own bodycam footage D.C. police officers experienced some of the most intense violence during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. We sat down with two of them to rewatch their body camera footage from that day.

D.C. police officers experienced some of the most intense violence during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. We sat down with two of them to rewatch their body camera footage from that day. n.pr/4pjPwtV

Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Nominees - Research & Innovation [...]Read More...

Come work with me! McMaster has posted its call for applications for Canada Impact+ positions! Candidates must currently be working/residing outside Canada. Deadline is Jan 22!

research.mcmaster.ca/home/support...

Hey folks! I built a Canadian trade database to practice what I'm learning about DuckDB. The database includes all Canadian imports and exports from 1988 to present as per Statistics Canada. Here's a blog post I wrote with more details:

joshpersi.github.io/blog/posts/0...

#rstats #duckdb

This is awful news…. These centres were so important in my training as a comparativist. Funding for summer travel and guest speakers…

This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him.

I don’t know how else to say it…

And some political scientists would say the problem with political science is that we’re not sciencey enough!

Nova Scotia to sell off remaining $14M worth of American booze | CBC News Nova Scotians who have been missing their favourite California Cabernet or Tennessee whisky will soon have a chance to stock up. The provincial government has announced it will sell off its remaining...

"Nova Scotia to sell off remaining $14M worth of American booze.
Net profit of $4M will go to Feed Nova Scotia, other community food groups. Premier Tim Houston said the province will not be ordering any more from the U.S. once the inventory is sold off." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

* please share*

The PoliSci dept at MUN in St. John's NL, Canada is inviting appl. for Canada Excellence Research Chair/Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South. Senior folks (incl. int'l appl!) w expertise on Africa & LA encouraged to apply.

Deadline: December 14

shorturl.at/I74RL

Also looking up historical markers… if you’re on back roads…

The River Sings
Jeff Dillon
2015

State Resources for Shutdown-Impacted Federal Employees and Contractors | AFL-CIO As the federal budget impasse continues, thousands of workers are missing their paychecks through no fault of their own. The following resources can help workers navigate unemployment benefits, insura...

👉 #FurloughedFederalWorkers

AFL-CIO, the country's largest federation of unions, has compiled a complete state-by-state list of benefits for federal workers.

State Resources for Shutdown-Impacted Federal Employees and Contractors | AFL-CIO share.google/ohEa5d6NYVdY...

This is really valuable information that media companies should be sharing as well.

What an amazing woman and political leader!