Mike Austin has been involved in higher education for over thirty years. He was nominated at Southern Illinois University for an Excellence in Teaching Award and received the Excellence in Teaching Award several times at the College of St. Joseph in Vermont. His advanced degrees include a master's in English from Southern Illinois University and a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire. His area of specialty is nineteenth-century American history, the Gilded Age. Austin received the prestigious Charles Swain Thomas Award from the New England Association of Teachers of English. He is past president of the Vermont Council of Teachers of English, past president of the New England Association of Teachers of English and is current president of the Vermont Alliance for Social Studies. He has written extensively on the region and has directed many local, state and federal grants.

He is a member of the Dimensions of Marble executive board and is currently is project director of a Teaching American History grant at Castleton State College.