Michael joined Syracuse University in 2001, and has worked in both academic and non-academic library and research environments since the early 1980s. He holds a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, a master of arts in broadcasting from San Francisco State University and an MLIS degree, with emphasis on academic librarianship, from the University of Texas at Austin. He has also served on the adjunct faculty at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, instructing both undergraduates and graduate students, and been a lead instructor in first year experience seminars for the university's incoming freshmen.  For nearly two decades he also played a research instructional mentoring role with advanced placement (i.e., "project advance") high school seniors studying public affairs. Prior to his arrival at Syracuse, Michael was a reference librarian at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Michael’s focus in academic librarianship has included an interest in media librarianship, librarian hiring processes and library instructional services.