1. What do you do?
A better question is, what don't I do? Currently, I am running a data analytics team in the Department of Community Health (DCH) by day.
DCH manages the Medicaid and health benefit plans for state employees. Our 16-person team works to provide the data and analyses that allow decision-makers in the department, legislature, and governor's office to drive healthcare innovation for Georgians. It's crazy busy, but I have a great team of highly motivated professionals.
On the side, I teach classes in the political science department at Georgia Gwinnett College. Before Covid, I taught college in New York and internationally in Kosovo and Kazakstan.
I was supposed to be moving to Hong Kong in January 2020. I guess you know how that worked out. I have traveled and worked in over 35 countries.
I did not follow the traditional academic path post-Ph.D. It started out normal enough: a visiting professor line as I finished my Ph.D. had me teaching in Rochester, New York, for a couple of years. I got caught in a bad economy after graduation, but the Rochester Institute of Technology asked me to help them with programs in international relations, legal studies, and public policy at their campus in Kosovo. My academic advisors warned me against moving overseas, and my buddy at the UN said the conflict could heat back up, but I thought I would go on an adventure for a year and see if the job market improved. It ended up being ten of the best years possible.
I was working in previously war-torn or post-Soviet countries, but I got to travel all over Europe and Central Asia. I also spent time in India, China, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Egypt, and the list goes on. I was visiting family in the U.S.A. when Covid shut things down, so I shifted to part-time teaching and full-time government work in Atlanta.
2. What's the coolest part of your job?
I get to work with people who are making real decisions that affect the lives of all Georgians. Leaders spend billions of dollars on ideas that will affect millions of Georgians based on what I now write. I see the results of my team's work on the nightly news and in debates at the state legislature. That is pretty cool.
3. Why are you passionate about it?
I am passionate about people. As an academic, crazy world traveler and photographer, decent martial artist, mediocre musician, and true friend to people from around the globe, I have worked to understand humanity in all kinds of places and from very different cultures. My varied interests have served as entry points to meet people where they live and work. I have learned that people around the world have very different opinions about Americans than most in the U.S.A. would believe.
I have also learned that some of the safest and best places on earth are the places most people would be afraid to go. War zones and dictatorships are not as scary up close as they usually appear on the news. Poor rural villages in the mountains of Kosovo and on the plains of Central Asia are full of some of the kindest, most welcoming, and generous people you could hope to meet. They happily raise families, often without the basic amenities Americans expect (like electricity and indoor plumbing). People are amazing and resilient.
I also learned that negative 50 degrees on the Kazakh Steppe in January is way too cold, and 102 on the Great Wall of China in August is way too hot. The Egyptian pyramids and the Taj Mahal are just as cool as in the photos. And the beach, any beach from Florida to France and from Thailand to Azerbaijan, all are heaven. I love sand and stone surrounded by water.
4. Which skills from Georgia Tech and your IAC degree have helped you be successful in this career?
The biggest thing I learned in school was to be flexible. Things never work out quite like you expect. Study broadly and look for opportunities in everything you do.
I started out interested in working with one professor as my mentor but met another and then another along the way. Thanks to Bryan Norton and Gordon Kingsley for being awesome and teaching me to look for life's unexpected opportunities.
I thought I would find a particular kind of job, but a different opportunity presented itself. You never know what is going to be best but keep going forward. Try new things. Waiting for perfection will just leave you waiting. Jump in and see what happens. You can always change your mind.
5. What's your #1 tip for students and alumni interested in your field?
Enjoy the process. Education is not a destination; it's a ride. Hold on in the curves and keep going in the straights. If you are interested in an academic career, spend time getting published while still in school. It will make everything easier going forward.
Also, the best advice for any Ph.D. or Master's candidate is to remember the sage advice of Barry Bozeman, "The best dissertation is the finished dissertation." If your dissertation is not the worst piece of academic writing you have done in your career, then you are going backward. Graduate in the most efficient way possible and then do your best research while getting paid a salary.
However, keep in mind a traditional academic career is not the only way to go. Government service, private consulting, or working with international organizations can provide tremendous opportunities for fantastic adventures. I would not trade my crazy international life for a traditional tenured faculty position.
Michael graduated with a Ph.D. in Public Policy in 2009. Explore more Ivan Allen College alumni careers here!
