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April
17, 2007
English
second language book receives 2007 Eric Hoffer Book Award
Daniel S.
Janik and Joel Weaver have been awarded a 2007 Eric Hoffer Book
Award for their book, "How to Choose the BEST English Language
School in the USA." The work is published by AuthorHouse.
Erick Hoffer
Book Awards honor noted philosopher and educator Eric Hoffer (July
25, 1902 - May 21, 1983), an American social writer whose "cogent
insights to the nature of mass movements and the essence of humankind"
eventually received him 1983 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
According
to Best New Writing 2007, "English is the most powerful language
in the world, and there is no place better to learn it than the
United States. In clear and accessible language, Janik and Weaver
provide a comprehensive approach to selecting an English language
school and location, based on a number of practical and a few
overlooked factors. The latter portions include approaches in
several languages [English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish
and German all in one book]..."
The book
consists of six sections in each of six languages; each section
also includes English so that readers can copy questions directly
into an e-mail or letter, or read them over the telephone. Each
section begins with an introductory chapter about studying English
in the United States and another about selecting the right set
of questions to ask prospective schools.
Subsequent
chapters cover questions to ask schools about academic quality;
regional characteristics; physical campus features and facilities
as well as food, accommodations and expenses. Included are useful
Internet links.
"The book
was written for interested international and domestic students,
parents, counselors and agents," say the authors.
Each year,
The Eric Hoffer Book Award (formerly The Writers' Notes Book Award)
recognizes excellence in independent publishing by academic, small,
and micro presses, as well as self-published authors in eleven
genre categories that cover the entire publishing spectrum. Full
coverage can be found at www.HofferAward.com
and in the upcoming release of Best New Writing 2007.
Janik currently
teaches English and English as a Second Language at Intercultural
Communications College in Honolulu, Hawaii, in association with
Upper Iowa University, Fayette, Iowa. He also teaches English
at Hawaii Pacific University and Psychology at Argosy University
Hawaii. Weaver is Director of Intercultural Communications College
and an Adjunct Instructor of ESL courses for the Hawaii Department
of Education, as well as past-chair of Hawaii NAFSA and a lecturer
on Intercultural Communications with that body of International
Educators.
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Free workshop
on writing a college textbook
Psychology
textbook author Michael Spiegler will be presenting a three-day
workshop on writing a college textbook at the University of Washington
in Seattle, August 4-6, 2007, as part of one of 70 Chautauqua
Short Courses for teachers that are sponsored by the National
Science Foundation each year. The hands-on, interactive workshop
will cover the challenges and rewards of textbook writing by providing
participants with a realistic snapshot of what it entails, what
is required professionally and personally, how to get started,
and how to bring the vision of a book to fruition, which includes
writing a prospectus and sample chapters, contacting publishers,
negotiating a favorable contract, the writing phase, the production
phase, dealing with publishers, alternatives to traditional publishing,
and survival skills for authors. Spiegler is a professor of psychology
at Providence College, and has been a successful textbook author
for 35 years, with leading books in two areas of psychology. He
is currently writing a comprehensive Handbook for College Textbook
Writing.
For more information
about the workshop and to enroll, visit http://depts.washington.edu/chautauq/
(local site) or http://www.massachusetts.edu/chautauqua/about.html
(national site)
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UC Press
to use ScholarOne for online peer review
University
of California Press Journals Digital Publishing Division chose
ScholarOne's Manuscript Central as its online peer review system
for use by its editors and authors. Manuscript Central offers
a number of features to address a variety of manuscript-submission
and peer review requirements, and enables users to submit, review,
annotate and format technical manuscripts in innovative ways.
ScholarOne,
Inc.: http://www.scholarone.com
UC Press: http://www.ucpressjournals.com
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Horizon
Wimba now just 'Wimba'
Education
technology company Horizon Wimba, recently shortened its name
to Wimba, to eliminate he multiple monikers and identities that
currently define the company. The company has been known as Horizon
Wimba, HorizonLive and even Wimba since HorizonLive and Wimba
merged in 2004. Wimba CEO Tommaso Trionfi said he hopes the name
change will help identify the company by their products and customer
service rather than by their multiple names and identities. The
company's products and services will remain the same. Wimba's
new tagline: People Teach People. http://www.wimba.com
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Wimba
to offer collaborative tools
Education
technology company Wimba is offering a new product called The
Wimba Collaborative Bundle, collaborative tools that allow faculty
to retain the highly personal and lively nature of traditional
classroom instruction. The Collaboration Bundle works seamlessly
within existing online courses so instructors never need a new
username or password, and never have to leave their familiar online
course environments. http://www.wimba.com
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Free
e-books offered to English Comp students
The Freeload
Press has launched a "Download a Dozen" campaign that will feature
12 free e-books for English Composition courses. The series is
published in e-book and paperback formats. Students download the
free e-book versions, which contain advertising placed in natural
breaks in the scholarship. Students can also opt to buy paperback
versions with no advertising. The first publications in the campaign
include a handbook on grammar, a guide to writing exploratory
essays and a multimedia flash-card program that helps students
remember rules of grammar. Additional titles will be published
over the balance of the year, and include Introductory Composition;
Analysis and Critical Thinking; Composition for Non-native Speakers
of English; Argument and Critical Thinking; Professional and Technical
Writing; Writing Research Papers that Matter; Making Oral Presentations;
and Writing about Literature. The campaign will feature a series
of e-books authored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor
Dr. Steven Strang, Director of M.I.T.'s Writing and Communication
Center. Strang has taught all forms of writing during his 26 years
at M.I.T. Learn more about the "Download a Dozen" campaign at
http://www.freeloadpress.com
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Distance
learning provider Thomson Education Direct sold
Private equity
group Wicks Group of Companies LLC, based in New York City, purchased
distance-learning provider Thomson Education Direct for an undisclosed
amount. Thomson Education Direct was purchased by Thomson in 2000
as Harcourt Learning. The new company plans to expand the business
under the brand Penn Foster, offering high school, career and
college products.
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Text and
Academic Authors Association calls on members to speak out against
a proposed Oregon bill that would dictate how faculty choose
textbooks, course materials
|
The
Oregon state senate is trying to dictate how their faculty
choose textbooks and other course materials.
Let them know that a decision to support senate bill 365
would adversely affect student learning and actually increase
the cost of textbooks.
Background
information
The Public
Research Interest Group (PIRG) has asked Oregon Senator
Bill Morrisette to sponsor a bill that would dictate how
Oregon faculty choose textbooks and support materials for
use in their classes. Senate Bill 365 would require publishers
of college textbooks to inundate faculty members with thousands
upon thousands of pages of unwanted and unneeded information
that does not relate to their field of instruction.
What
we know
This
bill would put an economic strain on publishers to provide
information to faculty textbook and course material adopters
that is already readily available to them through catalogs
and publisher websites. The bill is also based on a faulty
premise by PIRG that textbooks account for a large percentage
of a student's college costs (26 percent of the cost of
tuition at an average four year university, and 72 percent
of tuition at the average community college), when in reality,
based on research by the Government Accountability Office,
the percentage is only about 4 percent. The bill also calls
for the unbundling of textbooks (bundles are textbooks shrink-wrapped
with the supplemental materials chosen by faculty) -- a
move that would cost the student more, since bundled items
are sold cheaper than when the items are purchased separately.
Full text of the legislation can be found here.
What
you can do
Don't
let PIRG portray you as uniformed, uncaring, corrupt, lazy
and stupid, as they have in hearings on this issue in other
states. Oregon faculty members and textbook authors can
send an email to the Oregon State Senate by April 26, 2007
using the form located here.
Sample text here
If
you would like to send a letter by mail, you can print out
Oregon Senate Members' mailing labels here.
For
more contact information for Oregon State Senators, including
phone numbers, visit
this site.
Sample
text to send to Oregon state senate:
Read
TAA member letters
April
23, 2007
Dear
Senator:
My
name is (YOUR NAME) and I am a faculty member at (YOUR UNIVERSITY
OR COLLEGE, CITY, Oregon) and (if applicable) a textbook
author in the field of (FIELD YOU AUTHOR IN).
I am
writing to you in opposition of Senate Bill 365, which would
allow the Oregon state legislature to intervene in how their
faculty choose textbooks and support materials for their
classes. As a constituent in your district, and as a faculty
member and textbook author (if applicable) who would be
adversely affected by this bill, I would like to bring the
negative effects of this bill to your attention.
If
passed, Senate Bill 365 will actually increase the
cost of textbooks by imposing unrealistic and unnecessary
requirements on the textbook marketing and adoption process.
It would also affect my ability to choose textbooks and
other course materials for my students based on their value
as tools to promote the learning process. (Please add
your own comments on how the bill would effect you, your
profession, students, etc., and why you believe your legislator
should oppose it. You may also want to mention that
you are a member of the Text and Academic Authors Association
(TAA) http://www.TAAonline.net, which also opposes this
bill).
Thank
you for taking the time to consider my opinion on Senate
Bill 365. I hope that my concern will make a difference
in your decision.
Sincerely,
(YOUR
NAME)
(TITLE & COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY AFFILIATION)
(ADDRESS)
(CITY, STATE, ZIP)
(PHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE)
Click
here to open sample text in a new window, to copy and paste
TAA
members, please send copies of your letters to Kim Pawlak
at kmpawlak@centurytel.net
to post on the TAA website. The letters will also be shared
with the Association of American Publishers, which will
be attending the hearing.
|
TAA is encouraging
its Oregon members to contact their state legislators by Thursday,
April 26 to oppose a proposed bill that intervenes with faculty
selection of textbooks and support materials used in classes across
the state. The Oregon Senate Education and General Government
Committee is meeting Thursday morning to decide whether to support
the bill.
"We are encouraging
our Oregon members to send e-mails, make phone calls or visit
personally with their state legislators to alert them to the harm
that the bill would cause," said Richard Hull, TAA's executive
director.
Oregon Senator
Bill Morrisette sponsored the proposed legislation, Senate Bill
365, at the request of the Oregon State Public Interest Research
Group (OSPIRG). The bill would require publishers of college textbooks
to inundate faculty members with thousands upon thousands of pages
of unwanted and unneeded information that does not relate to their
field of instruction.
"The bill,
if implemented as introduced, would actually result in an increase
in textbook costs due to the new burdens placed on publishers
and faculty alike," said Hull.
In other
states where the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has proposed
similar bills, the testimony of faculty members and textbook authors
has been greatly appreciated by the legislators, helping to provide
them with a balanced presentation of viewpoints, Hull noted.
"Senate Bill
365, like similar bills supported by PIRG in other states, is
based on misinformation," Hull said. "These bills continue to
fail when exposed to factual discussions of the continuing efforts
of publishers and faculties to hold down students' spending on
classroom materials while providing a quality student education
and promoting student success; the role and rigors of faculties
as they put education first, working to identify classroom materials
that meet the unique educational needs of today's students; the
value, number and kinds of learning materials offered by publishers;
the Constitutional challenges and potential litigation the proposed
laws would invoke; and the transparency and ease of obtaining
content and pricing information for textbooks and supplemental
instructional materials."
"The implication
of Senate Bill 365 is that faculty are uninformed, uncaring, corrupt,
lazy and stupid," he said. "If faculty members do not speak out
for themselves then they will continue to give free rein to OSPIRG
to vilify them."
More Information:
At a similar
hearing on textbooks in the Connecticut legislature, testimony
by David F. Walsh, president of the Connecticut Chapter of the
American Association of University Professors, and a faculty member
at Western Connecticut State University, had a dramatic impact
on the tenor of the hearing and the eventual legislation, said
Hildebrand. "This is a real opportunity for faculty to speak out
for themselves," he said. "The tone of the hearing and the comments
by PIRG's representative [at the Connecticut hearing] were --
and are -- that faculty are uninformed, uncaring, corrupt, lazy
and stupid. If faculty do not speak out for themselves then they
will continue to give free rein to PIRG to vilify them in the
same tone and vein as publishers." Read Western Connecticut
University faculty member David F. Walsh's testimony before the
Connecticut Summit on the Cost of College Textbooks: Click
here to download PDF
Bruce Hildebrand,
the AAP's executive director of higher education, said Senate
Bill 365 is "long on rhetoric and misinformation, generating emotion
while obscuring facts." He said similar bills offered in several
states have failed when exposed to factual discussions of the
continuing efforts of publishers and faculties to hold down students'
spending on classroom materials while providing a quality education
and promoting student success; the role and rigors of faculties
as they put education first, working to identify classroom materials
that meet the unique educational needs of today's students; the
value, number and kinds of learning materials offered by publishers;
the Constitutional challenges and potential litigation the proposed
laws would invoke; and the transparency and ease of obtaining
content and pricing information for textbooks and supplemental
instructional materials. Read a "Facts vs. Rhetoric" dissection
of the main points of the proposed bill, by Bruce Hildebrand,
Executive Director of the Association of American Publishers:
Click here to download
PDF
AAP (Association
of American Publishers, Inc.) document including talking points
regarding Oregon Senate Bill 365
"The Facts about OSPIRG's Oregon State Senate Bill 365":
Click here to download
PDF
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TAA announces
2007 Texty, McGuffey Award winners
|
The
Award Winners:
2007
Texty, McGuffey authors share award-winning advice
(Texty)
Finite Mathematics and Applied Calculus,
1st ed., by Frank C. Wilson, published by Houghton Mifflin
(College Mathematics/Statistics category)
(Texty)
Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Understanding,
Preventing, and Responding Effectively, 2nd ed., by Barbara
Kaiser and Judy Sklar Rasminsky, published by Allyn &
Bacon (College Communication/Education/Performing Arts/Visual
Arts category)
(Texty)
Invertebrate Medicine, 1st ed., by Gregory
A. Lewbart, published by Blackwell Publishing Professional
(College Life Sciences category)
(Texty)
Data and Computer Communications, 8th ed., by
William Stallings, published by Pearson/Prentice Hall (College
Computer Science/Engineering category)
|
The Text and
Academic Authors Association has selected seven textbooks to receive
a 2007 Textbook Excellence Award ("Texty"), and two textbooks
to receive a 2007 William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Award ("McGuffey").
The awards
will be presented at the TAA Awards Luncheon June 22 in Buffalo,
New York during the association's 2007 Conference on Text and
Academic Authoring at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. More
on TAA Conference
The Texty
winners for 2007 are:
- Challenging
Behavior in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing, and Responding
Effectively, 2nd ed., by Barbara Kaiser and Judy Sklar Rasminsky,
published by Allyn & Bacon (College Communication/Education/Performing
Arts/Visual Arts category)
- The
Essentials of Computer Organization & Architecture,
2nd ed., by Linda Null and Julia M. LoBur, published by Jones
& Bartlett Publishers (College Computer Science/Engineering
category)
- Data
and Computer Communications, 8th ed., by William Stallings,
published by Pearson/Prentice Hall (College Computer Science/Engineering
category)
- Invertebrate
Medicine, 1st ed., by Gregory A. Lewbart, published by Blackwell
Publishing Professional (College Life Sciences category)
- Finite
Mathematics and Applied Calculus, 1st ed., by Frank C. Wilson,
published by Houghton Mifflin (College Mathematics/Statistics
category)
- A History
of Roman Art, by Fred S. Kleiner, published by Wadsworth/Thomson
Higher Education (College Humanities/Social Sciences category)
- Race,
Ethnicity, Gender, and Class: The Sociology of Group Conflict
& Change, by Joseph F. Healey, published by Sage Publications,
Pine Forge Press (Humanities/Social Sciences category)
The McGuffey
winners for 2007 are:
- College
Algebra, 8th ed., by Michael Sullivan, published by Prentice
Hall (College Mathematics/Statistics category)
- Biological
Psychology, by James W. Kalat (textbook), Elaine Hull (study
guide), Jeffrey Stowell (test bank), Cynthia Crawford (instructor's
resource manual), and Chris Hayashi (NOW and Multimedia Manager),
published by Thomas Wadsworth (College Humanities/Social Sciences
category)
2007
Texty, McGuffey authors share award-winning advice
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Seven
candidates running for seats on TAA Council
Seven candidates
are running for open seats on the TAA Council, including two officer
positions, Vice President/President-Elect, and Secretary, and
two Council positions. Winners will take office on July 1, 2007.
Officers serve two-year terms and Council members serve three-year
terms.
Former TAA
Council member and 2001 TAA Convention Chair Paul Siegel is running
for the position of Vice President-President Elect. Siegel is
director of the School of Communication at the University of Hartford,
and author of "Communication Law in America." Former TAA Executive
Director and current TAA Council Secretary Ron Pynn is running
for a second term as Secretary.
Five TAA
members are running for two open seats on the TAA Council, including
current Council member Steve Gillen, an authoring attorney with
Greenebaum Doll & McDonald; Jan Lyons, adjunct professor in
Risk Management at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who
recently completed her first textbook, Risk Management for
Technical Professionals; Hannah Rubenstein, a writer and editor
who has used her training in communication to guide her collaborations
on three editions of A Speaker's Guidebook, A Pocket
Guide to Public Speaking, and Public Speaking: Challenges
and Choices, and other successful college texts; Nick J. Sciullo
is an academic author currently pursuing a Masters degree in international
relations who has published law review articles on feminism and
foreign policy as well as governance and race issues; and Nancy
J. Volkman, associate professor in the Department of Landscape
Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University in
College Station, Texas, and author of many academic articles in
the area of landscape history and co-author of the leading textbook
in that field, Landscapes in History, going into its 3rd
edition.
Ballots and
candidate bios and position statements were mailed to TAA members
this week. Ballots must be postmarked by April 20, 2007 to insure
counting.
Download
a ballot PDF
Candidate
bios and position statements:
Paul Siegel
(Vice President-President Elect) is a relative newcomer to
the ranks of TAA and to textbook authorship, having attended his
first conference when the first edition of his Communication
Law in America was in press, back in 2000. He served as primary
convention planner for the next year's convention, and was elected
to the TAA Council shortly thereafter.
Siegel, who
is director of the School of Communication at the University of
Hartford, was the founding executive director of the American
Civil Liberties Union's Kansas and Western Missouri affiliate.
A performance arts junkie, Siegel writes theatre reviews for the
Connecticut Life newspapers.
Microsoft's
Steve Ballmer has suggested that the most important question to
ask about any new software, or even the computer itself, is "why
do I need this thing?" It seems to me that we in the TAA would
benefit from periodically asking, "Why would anyone want to be
a member of this association?"
The TAA leadership
needs to do meaningful "in-reach" to its current members, including
our more long-term members who rarely if ever join us at our conferences.
We need to ascertain what we can do to strengthen their sense
of ownership. At the same time we need to continue and expand
our ongoing outreach to potential members and to other core constituencies.
We have much to offer and we need to tell our story frequently
and passionately.
Ronald
E. Pynn (Secretary) is Professor Emeritus from the University
of North Dakota where he taught political science from 1971-1997.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. While at
North Dakota he served as chairman of the Department of Political
Science for 12 years and he was Assistant Vice President for Academic
Affairs from 1992-1994. Pynn has written several books on political
science, including Watergate and the American Political Process,
American Politics: Changing Expectations (5 Edition), Political
Economy, and The Election of 1994. Pynn was a charter member
of TAA, serving as a senior member during its formation. He has
twice been President of TAA (1992-93, 1996-97), and he served
as TAA's Executive Director from 1995-2005. Pynn served as TAA
Secretary from 2005 to 2007. He presently resides in Burlington,
Vermont.
I am running
for a second term as Secretary, not so much because I really want
the position, but out of my sense of loyalty and commitment to
TAA. There are no other candidates who have stepped forward. Were
there, I would gladly pass on the leadership to the next generation.
But I have
been involved with TAA too long, and I have seen the good work
TAA has accomplished, especially for beginning authors and with
copyright around the world, so I continue that work until another
person feels called to work on behalf of authors and to continue
the work achieved by TAA.
Steven
E. Gillen (Council) is a lawyer and Member of the 200-lawyer
firm of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald. Steve has been practicing
publishing and copyright law for over 25 years and has been involved
with educational publishing for 30 years. Prior to entering private
practice in 1994, Mr. Gillen served as house counsel for South-Western
Publishing Company (an educational publisher owned by The Thomson
Corporation). In addition, Mr. Gillen has served on copyright
and permissions committees with the Association of American Publishers.
He has written and spoken nationally on various publishing and
copyright topics and teaches a course in Media Business and Law
at the University of Cincinnati and a course in Electronic Media
Law at the College Conservatory of Music. He has served on the
Council of Advisors to the Text and Academic Authors Association
since 1997, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Voyageur
Media Group, Inc., and is a member of the Authors Guild. Mr. Gillen's
practice emphasizes publishing and entertainment transactions
and disputes, internet issues, advertising law, computer law,
copyrights, trademarks, and related matters. His clients include
several East Coast publishers as well as authors, artists, photographers,
videographers, independent producers, Internet service providers,
multimedia developers, and software programmers from Maine to
California. Mr. Gillen is admitted to practice in Ohio and before
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
I first became
involved in educational publishing in 1976, first taught in 1986,
and first became associated with the TAA in 1997 - every decade,
it seems, brings with it a new stage in my understanding of and
appreciation for the call of teaching and writing. I have been
around the educational and academic publishing business for 30
years, as contract writer, freelance writer, author, co-author,
copyeditor, editor, executive editor, and author's lawyer as well
as an in-house lawyer for a publishing company and outside counsel
to book and magazine publishers. Over the course of those 30 years
and the range of those roles, there aren't many facets of the
business I haven't experienced and not many perspectives I haven't
seen. I propose to bring that insight, balance, and identity of
interest to bear on the issues facing the teacher-authors I count
as my clients, my colleagues, and (with good fortune) my constituents:
- Better
access to useful and timely information about the profession
and the business
- Fair treatment
at the hands of publishers - textbook and academic
- Due credit
from academic institutions for the professional value of textbook
and journal authorship
- Careful
stewardship of the professional association that guards these
interests - TAA
Jan Lyons
(Council) is an adjunct professor in Risk Management at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas. She holds degrees in Economics
and Systems Engineering from The College of William and Mary,
Clemson University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
She recently completed her first textbook, Risk Management for
Technical Professionals, to fill a void in available Systems Engineering
publications. Prior to joining SMU, Dr. Lyons worked in varying
capacities in Operations Research and Systems Engineering with
Lockheed Martin, Martin Marietta Energy Systems and General Dynamics.
She led efforts in risk oversight, business systems implementation,
software program management, and mathematical modeling research
and development.
Although I
am still a journeyman in textbook and academic authoring, I am
sincerely enjoying the learning process and the new avenues it
has opened for me. While it is a stretch to consider myself either
a professional academic or author, I believe I could provide an
alternative perspective on the TAA council into how TAA might
best serve non-traditional authors. Many of my contemporaries
are also leaving the corporate world while still young enough
to pursue other interests. These second careers and pastimes often
involve or require effective use of written communications in
order to share knowledge gained over long and varied professional
careers.
Hannah
Rubenstein (Council) is a writer and editor who has used her
academic training in communication (M.A., Fairfield University)
to guide her collaborations as co-author on three editions of
A Speaker's Guidebook (2007;Bedford/St. Martins), A
Pocket Guide to Public Speaking (2007;Bedford/St. Martins);
Public Speaking: Challenges and Choices (1999; Bedford/St.
Martins) and other successful college texts. Beginning her publishing
career as an editorial assistant at the Yale University Press,
former positions include development editor with Allyn and Bacon,
managing editor of an academic journal, reporter, and arts critic.
The mother of two school-aged children, she heads her own communication
firm, Hedgehog Productions, based in Simsbury, Connecticut.
I believe
that we are facing extraordinary changes in the publishing world.
Foremost among these are the advent of the ebook and the continued
growth of custom publishing. Both pose challenges to business
as usual. Publishers never lose sight of their own interests,
and I believe that text and academic authors must also consider
theirs. If elected, I would like to work with TAA and other publishing
groups to protect authors' rights in this changing environment.
Nick J.
Sciullo (Council) I was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and
lived most of my life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I majored in
history and urban practice and policy with a minor in rhetoric
and communication studies at the University of Richmond and received
my law degree from West Virginia University. I am currently pursuing
a Masters degree in international relations. My publications include
law review articles on feminism and foreign policy as well as
governance and race issues. My editorials have discussed political
rhetoric, climate policy, and North Korea. My current interests
are leading me to pursue scholarly articles on hip-hop and the
law, constitutional history and criticism, and the railroad industry
and economics.
I want to
advocate for young authors who need the resources and support
to find jobs and see their writing published. I feel that often
times young authors are left in the wake of more seasoned authors
and that young authors need a firm support system of editors,
collaborators, and friends to build their scholarly reputation.
I also believe that the TAA should work to encourage interdisciplinary
collaboration amongst its members. Writers in the field of law
should be brought together with writers from history, political
science, and sociology. Visual media writers should work with
rhetoric authors. Science writers should work with those in liberal
arts. Subjects and research areas should be imbued with the spirit
of other disciplines to enhance their accessibility and interest
as well as to build new audiences for various disciplines. I believe
increasing the amount of collaboration can benefit all text ad
academic authors.
Nancy J.
Volkman (Council) Nancy J. Volkman is a graduate of Beloit
College, Beloit, WI and University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. She
currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of
Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas. She There her principal areas of teaching
have focused upon landscape history, cultural landscape studies,
design and planning for historical landscapes, and community design.
She is widely published, particularly in the area of landscape
history, including the leading text and reference in that field,
Landscapes in History, co-authored with Phil Pregill, now
going into its 3rd edition. Professor Volkman is a member of several
honor societies, including Phi Kappa Phi, and a registered landscape
architect in the state of Texas. She is also in her third year
as co-editor of ARRIS—the Journal of the Southeast Chapter
of the Society of Architectural Historians.
As the world
of publishing changes rapidly, I believe that it is essential
that those who actually generate what is to be published have
an active role in framing the discussion and shaping the decisions
about how all parties in the process can be fairly recognized
and treated,. This is not just with regard to royalties and other
forms of compensation, but in terms of the quality of what is
produced. As an academic, I am, of course, particularly interested
in issues related to scholarly works, including those deemed textbooks.
Issues of the relationship between schools and publishers and
potential conflicts of interest should be addressed by organizations
such as Text and Academic Authors Association, since they represent
both the breadth and depth of current academic writing.
Download
a ballot PDF
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Must pre-register
for 2007 TAA Conference Niagara Falls Tours
2007 TAA Conference
registrants must pre-register for the day and evening Niagara
Falls tours. The tour package must be purchased prior to the conference
and the size of the package will be based on pre-registration
numbers. If you already registered for the conference and didn't
pre-pregister for a Niagara Falls tour but want to go, please
contact TAA headquarters before May 1: (727) 563-0020 or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
If you haven't registered for the conference yet, and are interested
in one or both of the Niagara Falls tours, be sure to pre-register
for them when you register for the conference. Learn more about
the Niagara Falls tours: Click
here for info
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TAA
Conference early registration deadline ends May 1
The TAA Conference
early registration deadline is approaching — register now
to get $25 off your conference registration. Registering early
also helps TAA plan better for the conference. Register
online today!
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2008
TAA Conference: Members vote for Chicago
Thirty-five
TAA members responded to a recent TAA Listserv survey asking members
whether they would attend a TAA Conference in Chicago in 2008,
despite higher hotel costs. Thirty of those respondents said they
would attend a TAA Conference in Chicago in 2008. TAA would like
to choose the site and hotel for the 2008 Conference within the
next month so it can begin attracting presenters, sponsor and
attendees, and promoting the Conference earlier than in previous
years. If you haven't voted yet, and would attend a TAA Conference
in Chicago in 2008, email Kim Pawlak, Associate Executive Director,
at kmpawlak@centurytel.net
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TAA welcomes
new members
Jennifer Aldrich,
Lynn Alkire, Steven Boone, Jerry R. Brown, Julie A. Chapman, Renee
Cole, Jenise Comer, Sherry Lynn Cox, Terry M. Cunconan, Holly
Davenport, Kathleen Desmond, Dennis Docheff, Brian Donahue, Kelly
Edmondson, Jennifer Freie, Andreanna Grimaldo, Freda J. Herrington,
Georgia Jarman, Michael W. Jinks, Akis Kalaitzidis, Ann Legreid,
Swarna Mandali, Larry Michaelson, Jean Nuernberger, Terry Ownby,
Kyle Palmer, Jennifer Robins, Paul Rorvig, Carol Smith, Susan
P. Stevenson, Patrick Streck, Jeff Ulmer
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