It is co-authored by Ron Nief, Public Affairs Director Emeritus, and Tom McBride, Professor of English and Keefer Professor of Humanities, both at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.
It originated in 1997 as an e-mail forward, without author credits, passed on by then College Statistician Richard Miller to Ron Nief, who passed it on to peers at other schools.
The Mindset List began as a cute way of reminding colleagues on the faculty to "watch their references" with freshmen.
This list was designed to help instructors avoid using cultural references that their students aren’t old enough to understand and hence is updated annually.
