Board of Regents approve two UMSI faculty for promotions

Two University of Michigan School of Information faculty promotions were approved at the May 18, 2023 meeting of the University of Michigan Board of Regents and will go into effect on September 1.Christopher Brooks and David Jurgens will be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor with tenure. 

“I am thrilled to announce the promotions of Christopher Brooks and David Jurgens,” says Beth Yakel, interim dean at UMSI. “These promotions for tenure signify the remarkable contributions made by Brooks and Jurgens, who have consistently exhibited exceptional talent and commitment to advancing knowledge in the field of information.” 

Christopher Brooks began his career at UMSI in 2013. He is an applied computer scientist who researches the effects of educational technologies to better enhance student learning in the classroom. Professor Brooks has been a leader in the development of key UMSI Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) offerings. He played a critical role in the development of several new online MOOC specializations, such as Applied Data Science with Python; Sports Analytics ; and Data Analytics in the Public Sector . He is a recipient of UMSI’s Excellence in Instruction Award in 2017 and a co-recipient of Coursera’s Outstanding Educator Award for Innovation in 2018.

David Jurgens, who holds a joint appointment with the College of Engineering, joined The University of Michigan in 2017. His research interests include natural language processing, computational sociolinguistics and data mining. He brings a special combination of technical skills to solving social problems and addressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. His paper “Language from police body camera footage shows racial disparities in officer respect” used police body camera footage to evaluate the language that police officers used when speaking with community members. Jurgens earned a Best Paper award at the International Conference on Web and Social Media ; received three best paper nominations; and was co-recipient of the aforementioned Cialdini Prize from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Cozzarelli Prize in Behavioral and Social Sciences from the National Academy of Sciences.

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Learn more about the research interests, publications and classes of Christopher Brooks and David Jurgens.