Arturo Gomez Molina
Arts Editor
The Wilson Library hosted faculty authors for Book Day on Monday to kick off National Library Week and showcase faculty achievement.
Book Day consisted of a meet-and-greet with the 13 featured faculty authors and their recently published books, followed by a panel discussion.
Among the authors was Associate Professor of English Jane Beal with her book, “Approaches to Teaching the Middle English Pearl,” which is designed to help teach the poem, “The Pearl.”
“It was a work in constant rewrite,” Beal said, adding: “I would encourage all first-time authors to not be discouraged because it is a hard process to go through. They need to take the feedback … and keep rewriting for what they love.”
Beal said she plans to continue writing about Renaissance literature and guides for professors on how to teach it.
Vanessa Morales, associate director of STEM, with Sarah Dunn, associate professor of kinesiology, Kathleen Weaver, associate professor of biology, Kanya Godde, assistant professor of anthropology, and Pablo Weaver, biology instructor, co-wrote “An Introduction to Statistical Analysis in Research.”
Their goal for this project was to create a book they believed would be more beneficial for students than the current textbooks available.
“Everyone helped and contributed to the book in their own unique ways,” Morales said. “We … wanted to make sure this was going to be the most useful book for their studies and senior projects.”
Dunn added: “We were all taught in very different ways, so we had to come together. We wanted to make sure we were giving students the best intro to statistics.”
Morales said seeing the book in published version after nearly five years and many rewrites was an amazing feeling.
Vice Provost Beatriz Gonzalez started the event’s panel discussion by asking the faculty if they had any strange rituals that they needed to do to get in their writing modes.
“Writing in the morning is best for me because I know if push it off until later it will not get done,” Beal said. “It is honestly like training your body for a marathon, you need to train your mind.”
After the panel, attendees enjoyed refreshments while they mingled with the faculty authors.
“It was a wonderful event and I hope the attendees learned about how unique each of the authors is, as well as the process they went through to finish their book,” Gonzalez said.
“It is not the books that make the University of La Verne, it is the authors behind them that work here every day,” she said.
Arturo Gomez Molina can be reached at arturo.gomezmolina@laverne.edu.
