iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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American Statistical Association History of Statistics @hos-asa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#WomenInStatistics Hilda Geiringer-von Mises b #OTD 1893 (d 22 March 1973) IMS Fellow. A first-rate mathematical statistics scholar, she is also a ‘missed genius’. A refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe she was denied a permanent faculty position at US research universities because of her gender.

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Chad P. Bown @chadpbown.com · 27/09/2026

Nothing came out of the Trump-Xi summit. It also sucked all the oxygen out of the room. Yet, other really important TRADE STUFF did happen this week. ICYMI, here is some of it (1/N): (photo credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Does the @nytimes.com use the phrase "bring journalists to heel" - or is that just for universities?

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Most people have no idea how much international students are the lifeblood of higher education. But they’re about to learn. Sigh.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Me on my last day as a professor.

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John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Me on my first day of grad school. www.thefarside.com/2026/09/23/0

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Chad P. Bown @chadpbown.com · 23/09/2026

Wow.

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American Statistical Association History of Statistics @hos-asa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

If you are visiting Canterbury, forget about Thomas a Becket and the Cathedral! Here is the blue plaque marking the birthplace of William Seeley Gosset (aka Student) in 1876

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Chad P. Bown @chadpbown.com · 23/09/2026

SO SO great to join the amazing @kairyssdal.bsky.social on Marketplace! This time, we previewed the upcoming US-China summit between Presidents Trump and Xi. Have a listen 🎙️: www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 22/09/2026

We have a three-faculty cluster hire in research methods, two in my department (qualitative and quantitative methods) and one in a sister department (education data science methods). apply.interfolio.com/192264

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 22/09/2026

And we're searching for an assistant professor in educational leadership, with a preference for someone with training and expertise in special education. apply.interfolio.com/192339

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I do wonder if these kinds of relative well-being measures are part of what explains the disconnect between consumer confidence and measures like inflation.

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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Know anyone in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Please forward them this. We need their feedback on difficult choices facing the transit system. www.ridemcts.com/programs/mct...

ridemcts.com

MCTS Forward

MCTS Forward is a collaborative effort to think about the future of public transit in Milwaukee County.

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 21/09/2026

When students and families are contacting financial aid offices as frequently as during the FAFSA fiasco a few years ago, it's clear that implementing new federal loan limits on an extremely tight timeline has been a challenge. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

At Saint Louis University, students and families have inundated the financial aid office with calls and emails, asking about the loan changes.

Alex DeLonis, assistant vice president of student financial services, said his office received 5,000 calls—the same call volume SLU experienced during the bungled launch of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid in 2024. Emails, he said, followed a similar pattern.

“We thought FAFSA simplification might have been an anomaly … but to have two pieces of legislation that have completely flipped things upside down and we’ve had to implement so closely together—it’s just a lot,” DeLonis said. “It’s hard to predict and plan when the rules change along the way.”

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The plan requires all NIH awards to be directly approved by Vought. No NIH award could be made without his approval.

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Institute for Research on Poverty @irpwisc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Are you a researcher at a WI-based institution? Is your work focused on studying policies and programs that impact Wisconsinites? Join the WPRN to connect, collaborate, and share opportunities with fellow scholars. Join today: www.irp.wisc.edu/wisconsin-pr... #PovertyResearch #HigherEd #WPRN

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PROFS @profsuwmadison.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Cap Times takes a detailed look at the policy that guarantees admission to UW-Madison to the top 5% of Wisconsin high school seniors. The policy–in its second year–was the part of a 2023 legislative compromise that provided funding for the Engineering Building but eliminated many DEI positions.

captimes.com

Wisconsin’s college admissions law has unintended consequences

Policymakers touted the law's goal of keeping top students in-state and demystifying UW-Madison's admissions. Early results raise doubts about its impact.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hassett probably gave him the national income identity formula, and he has no idea where the C, I, G, X and M actually come from.

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Michelle S. Phelps @michellesphelps.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Do you know a student thinking about a PhD in Soc? @umnsociology.bsky.social is running a how to apply workshop in October and encourage all to join! More info at: cla.umn.edu/sociology/gr...

Event flyer for event on Oct. 21, 1-2:30pm featuring professors Mike Esposito and Michelle Phelps. Learn more about the Ph.D program at the University of Minnesota.

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Catie Hausman @catiehausman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

universities are fucking amazing. you mean i get to be surrounded by brilliant people with interesting ideas and a collaborative spirit, and we can hang out and talk about how to help each other learn more? how the fuck did i win this jackpot, i love my job ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Your 40s are spent trying to be "that guy" (gender neutral), then your 50s are for realizing that it actually is structural after all.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Nothing makes you realize the kids are alright more than sitting & talking with a couple dozen of them for a couple hours at office hours. It would be great if the Ranting Pundits convinced that they know What Is Wrong With Higher Education could meet these students full of great questions & ideas.

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Adam Lippert @lippertam.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Demographer friends: I know y'all got some tea to spill

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 15/09/2026

↑ This is a keen insight by @djvanness.bsky.social. The very act of recklessly throwing the entire student visa/OPT system into chaos and unpredictability, regardless of the outcomes of the rulemaking and litigation processes, constitutes in itself a large tax on the system.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Apparently, my last pair of Ray Bans was my LAST PAIR of Ray Bans.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 14/09/2026

A federal judge just enjoined one of the US Administration’s sharpest attacks on international students. The ruling references research by me & my stellar co-authors six times. Facts matter. Facts are necessary for democracy, accountability, and the rule of law. Research delivers them.

storage.courtlistener.com

Memorandum & Order – #50 in Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration v. United States Department of Homeland Security (D. Mass., 1:26-cv-13799) – CourtListener.com

District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION. Plaintiffs' motion for APA § 705 relief, a preliminary injunction, or, in the alternative, summary judgm...

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Hero. Absolute hero. Thanks to Michael and colleagues for their incredibly important work documenting the harms - not only of the rule itself, but of the impact that uncertainty is already having on higher education.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

An underdiscussed problem with the Final Rule was the prohibition on graduate students making academic program changes. Many important degree pathways (including interdisciplinary dual degrees) would be effectively banned. Glad to see the ruling address this.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Very strong ruling from Judge Saylor signals that plaintiffs are very likely to succeed on the merits. I suspect that the rumored proposed rule on the $100,000 OPT fee is being timed to squelch any optimism and keep the uncertainty over student visas dialed to 11. The uncertainty itself is damaging.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

One way to look at this is that regents/boards that make the final decisions about universities are effectively political appointees or private moneyed interests determined to impose their ideological views on higher education. Attacking faculty governance is one way to do it.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 13/09/2026

Thank you. Congress could stop this immediately, by codifying OPT in law and specifying that it is tax-free. Bills with traction are circulating now—> www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c... Americans can demand action from their rep. The other major opportunity will lie in federal court.

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

When Trump campaigned in 24, in the midst of overwhelming rhetoric about mass deportation, he also echoed Romney about giving a Green Card to STEM graduates. That was BS, clearly, and he’s taken a maximalist position against international academic exchange

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Jon Fasman @jonfasman.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This will make us poorer and worse off for generations. Even if it doesn’t pass or a Dem repeals it in 2028, why would any clever, ambitious student risk it being reinstated?

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A recurrent theme in this excellent story about China’s progress is that people there regard Trump as essential to their success, including his ability to drive scientific talent from the US www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

In Beijing, a think tank at Renmin University recently published an assessment titled
"Thank Trump," which wryly hailed his efforts to hasten the "twilight of an empire," by undermining America's alliances, civil service, scientific institutions, and democratic credibility. In the past two years, the international approval rating of the U.S. has dropped nearly forty points, according to a worldwide survey by the Alliance of Democracies; in multiple polls, China now rates higher than the U.S.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The irony is that many revenue-generating master's programs will not be able to survive without international students, meaning that they also won't be available for domestic students. This will hit STEM fields the hardest - the programs will just be too costly to maintain.

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Frank Harrell @f2harrell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Yep! Posterior draws make the delta method, and to some extent the bootstrap, obsolete. Think of how often users of the delta method have falsely assumed that the sampling distribution of the transformed parameter is symmetric, i.e., based confidence intervals on delta-derived standard errors.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"Run universities like businesses," they tell us. Well, maybe that's why people are starting to think of higher ed like this... www.insidehighered.com/news/governm... Data source: news.gallup.com/poll/1597/co... (years in which both big business and higher ed were assessed)

Year Higher Ed Big Business
2026 38% 17%
2025 42% 15%
2024 36% 16%
2023 36% 14%
2018 48% 25%
2015 57% 21%

Data source: https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx (years in which both big business and higher ed were assessed)

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 10/09/2026

As a higher ed finance person, I keep emphasizing that more students are enrolling in high cost of educating fields like health and engineering and fewer in lower-cost fields like the humanities. This squeezes institutional budgets as cross-subsidies disappear.

insidehighered.com

Report: Humanities Majors Disappearing

Anxiety about job prospects and heavy reading loads have led to dramatic declines in humanities majors since 2012, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Pawpaw season is one of the joys of living in Pennsylvania.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Quite literally, Vanderbilt’s president just became chair of the board of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

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Soumaya Keynes @soumayakeynes.ft.com · 07/09/2026

Blown away by this amazing (and brilliantly written) review of How to Win a Trade War, from Emily Blanchard of the Tuck School of Business. Excerpts below, and they've made the whole thing open-access: doi.org/10.1017/S147...

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Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I am the audience for this.

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Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It was such an honor to accept the APSA Health Politics and Policy section’s Outstanding Public Engagement and Emerging Scholar awards. I feel so lucky to be part of such a wonderful and supportive community of scholars and humans working to build health politics scholarship and improve policy.

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N.S. Dolkart sans nap @nsdolkart.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

This is why firing for cause and being public with the reasons is the only ethical way to go about disciplining misconduct. Giving someone the option to “resign with dignity” instead of making their misconduct public just gives them the chance to get the same kind of job elsewhere.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Google News: I see you like stories about the weather. Me: scrolls Google News: So, here’s another story about the weather in a random part of the country from 4 days ago.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Google News: I see you like stories about the weather. Me: scrolls Google News: So, here’s another story about the weather in a random part of the country from 4 days ago.

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Dave Vanness @djvanness.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Not that I'm complaining, but when did I get so old?

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