Carly Hill
News Editor
A lunch of sandwiches and cheesecake accompanied Faculty Book Day last week in the Wilson Library, an event to acknowledge faculty members who have published books or contributed to journals within the last year.
Although funding is limited, the University of La Verne encourages faculty to contribute through scholarly work.
“Scholarship is so important to the University, faculty and students,” said Al Clark, associate vice president for academic affairs, who started the event seven years ago. “We need to recognize the faculty that contribute.”
President Stephen Morgan opened the ceremony with a thankful message to the faculty in attendance.
“Thank you to faculty who do research,” Morgan said. “It is distinguishing us here at La Verne.”
Each faculty member came to the podium to discuss their recent publications.
William Cook, professor of English, discussed his book on the middle-east conflicts entitled, “The Plight of the Palestinians,” which is available for purchase on June 22.
“This is the first book from a major publisher that has been published on the Palestinian perspective,” Cook said.
Glenn Gamst, professor of psychology, introduced his book on statistical programming, in which he collaborated with other scholars.
“Look for collaborations when purchasing books,” Gamst said. “Without a strong collaboration, I couldn’t do this.”
Other featured authors included Marcia Godwin, assistant professor of public administration; Richard Gelm, professor of political science; Jeffrey Kahan, professor of English; Ian Lising, assistant professor of speech and debate; Ken Marcus, associate professor of history; Jack Meek, professor of public administration; and Janice Pilgreen, professor of education.
Lising, who has participated in 17 World Debate Championships, as a competitor, adjudicator or chairman, published “Across the House: The Art and Science of World Universities Championship Debating.”
His book explains a format of debating that had previously been passed down through oral tradition.
“I wanted to introduce debate and public speaking to those who don’t know a lot about it,” Lising said.
Pilgreen explained the process of writing a book on literacy skills of children.
“Originally, we thought this book would be about developing a literacy center for children,” Pilgreen said. “This book eventually became about how kids develop literacy skills.”
After each faculty member spoke on his or her published works, Provost Greg Dewey explained how research is essential for the advancement of the university.
“To be a teacher-scholar is an amazing thing,” Dewey said.
“I am very impressed. I’m glad that professors can accomplish this level of scholarly work,” he added.
Faculty Book Day was full of smiles, congratulations and mutual respect among its participants.
The day was also a great way to teach faculty members what is going on throughout the rest of the departments.
“I thought (Book Day) was a sparkling addition to scholarship at the University,” Clark said.
Carly Hill can be reached at carly.hill@laverne.edu.
