People in Your Neighborhood: Mike Brown

Mike Brown is a lifelong learner. "One of my biggest fears is getting too comfortable and not progressing and learning," he said.

Hailing from Largo, Florida, Mike received his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of South Florida. After college, Mike wasn't sure what career he wanted to pursue, he just knew he wanted to be in higher education.

"I love biology and science, but didn't like the lab work and research," he said. "I began tutoring math and science at St. Petersburg College."

Soon after, Mike got involved with the administrative and student services side of higher education and found his passion. He moved to Minnesota in May 2012 to start at Hamline University's registrar's office as a transfer coordinator.



But Mike wanted to be more involved in process improvement. So, about six months ago, he started working in the Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) office as a GSSP Coordinator.

With his job, he focuses primarily on the Graduate Degree Plan (GDP). He processes the GDP and advises graduate programs on policies and processes. He also troubleshoots student degree progress process problems. On top of these tasks, he is the day-to-day supervisor of the ASR front desk student workers in 160 Williamson Hall.

"I really enjoy working in GSSP. My position affords me more opportunities to be engaged in processes and make large-scale, systematic changes," he said. "The environment is very collaborative and student-centric. It's a great place to work."

Mike plans to apply to the master's program in classics and near-eastern studies in fall 2015. For now, Mike is taking prerequisite classes classical Hebrew language courses as a non-degree student. He hopes to add an advanced understanding of biblical Hebrew to his repertoire so he can conduct academic research on ancient texts.

When he's not at work or brushing up on his ancient texts, Mike lives in Richfield with his wife of three years, Domini, and his sister-in-law. He has an Australian Shepherd named Tonks and a cat named Ferdinand.



In his spare time, Mike likes to read, skate, snowboard, fish, and play video games. He also loves bad science fiction movies and books. Mike also enjoys surfing, but that's proven to be a bit difficult to do in Minnesota.

Mike's Materials
1. Mike can do a roundoff back handspring and juggle (not at the same time).
2. He says people would describe him as friendly, silly, and nerdy.
3. His favorite book is the The Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.
4. Wedding Crashers is his favorite movie.
5. Star Trek is Mike's favorite TV show.
6. If he could be any character for a day, he'd be Sonic the Hedgehog. "He's fast, and I'm slow."
7. His favorite food is cheese.
8. Mike loves punk rock music.
9. Sum 41 was his first concert, though he wants everyone to know that they don't count as punk music.
10. Mike grew up wanting to be a professional folk musician, but says he didn't have the discipline.