Associate Professor of Musicology, Joseph Negler Endowed Chair, and Director of the American Music Research Center
University of Colorado, Boulder
BA University of California, Berkeley
MPhil Oxford University (Merton College)
PhD Harvard University
I write and teach about U.S. history, particularly from the lenses of music and the arts, but where I’ve ended up now is as much a product of intellectual curiosities and diligent work as it has been luck and circumstance. If you asked little Michael what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have told you a restaurant owner. If you asked high school Michael what he was probably going to be, he would have told you a medical doctor. But certain teachers, certain classes, and even certain open and closed doors along the way meant that an innate desire to explore my Chinese-Filipino-American identity, eventually led me to write books and articles about people’s diverse experiences living and dreaming in the United States. Above all, trying to make sense of who am I and who we are collectively motivates my work and what impact I want to have in this life.
Faculty Affiliate Center for Asian Studies
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Faculty Affiliate Department of Ethnic Studies
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Interdisciplinary Arts and Community-Engaged Fellow
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Center for Humanities and the Arts Faculty Steering Committee
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Faculty Affiliate Center for Asian Studies 〰️ Faculty Affiliate Department of Ethnic Studies 〰️ Interdisciplinary Arts and Community-Engaged Fellow 〰️ Center for Humanities and the Arts Faculty Steering Committee 〰️
Background
I’m the gay son of Chinese-Filipino immigrants who came to the United States in the 1980s, and I see these identities as important aspects of how I navigate the world. I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and spent parts of my early childhood in Manila and Guam before my family settled in Southern California. I was blessed to grow up in a household that spoke Tagalog and Hokkien (later I became proficient in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese). In high school, I played the viola and was an orchestra dork. I was the first person in my family to attend college in the United States (my mom completed an accounting degree in the Philippines). I came out in college, and also came to more strongly see myself as a person of color, while still acknowledging differential racial experiences in this country. After graduating, I lived and worked in China, Venezuela, and England, before coming back to the United States to complete my PhD. Through all these experiences, I find it more and more important that I fight to live in a socially just world.
Prior Experience
Before coming to the University of Colorado, Boulder, I was the Allston Burr Resident Dean of Dunster House and Assistant Dean of Harvard College.
As a faculty member, I received several teaching awards including the Harvard Foundation’s Distinguished Faculty Award (2018), Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship’s Curricular Innovation Award (2018), Special Commendation Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times (2020), and Derek Bok Center Excellence in Teaching Award (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022).
Harvard Music Department
Lecturer and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
I taught the largest and most popular course, "Intro to Western Music History: From Bach to Beyonce”
Dunster House
I oversaw the academic progress and well-being of 450+ students each year and supervised 20 resident tutors and an Academic Coordinator; I was also a member of the College’s Administrative Board
My Working Group participation included Faculty of Arts and Sciences Development, University Health Services, Executive Committee BGLTQ Office
Mike on a Bike
In 2022, I biked across the country, from California to Massachusetts. The journey took me 42 days, covering 3,235 miles and 111,326 feet of ascent. Halfway through, my dad joined me in Kansas City for fear of my safety. I write about this harrowing adventure and the transformed relationship with my father in a memoir-travelogue. I’m on the search for an agent and publisher - please be in touch if interested or have any leads!
