2019 Promotion and Tenure Recognition
The achievement of tenure and/or promotion represents the culmination of years of work and excellence and welcomes recipients into a community of privilege and responsibility.
To recognize this accomplishment, the Mary and Jeff Bell Library and the Office of the Provost invite recently tenured and/or promoted faculty to select a book to be added to the library collection that has inspired or encouraged them in their professional journey.
Each book receives a bookplate with the faculty member's name, rank, and year of achievement and is then added to the collection, serving as an enduring tribute to that faculty member's significant contributions and lasting legacy made at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
College of Liberal Arts
Jennifer Brown
Humanities
Tenure and promotion
Promotion to Associate Professor
Wolf of Willow: A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains (1962)
By Wallace Stegner
Wolf Willow represents Wallace Stegner's homage to place and to growing on a wheat farm along the Saskatchewan-Montana border (or, as he described it, "in a dung-heeled sagebrush town on the disappearing edge of nowhere"). I share a similar childhood so Stegner’s life and work provide inspiration.
Adam Costanzo
Humanities
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
The Fifth Season
By N.K. Jemisin
As a historian, it's my job to tell the story of the past and the ways that it affects the present. I love this N.K. Jemisin trilogy because her characters must face hard truths about their society's past in order to survive a cataclysm in the present.
Robert J. Dillard
Social Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, 1874-1965
By William Manchester and Paul Reid
Modern reflection on imperialism has led to much debate over the legacy of Winston Churchill. While I do not endorse every aspect of his life, his courage in the face tyranny was undeniable. -Dr. Robert J. Dillard, a very modest man, who indeed has much to be modest about.
Gabriel Ferreyra
Social Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
My Brother Moochie: Regaining Dignity in the Midst of Crime, Poverty, and Racism in the American South
by Isaac J. Bailey
No description available.
Shannon Fitzsimmons-Doolan
English
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities
Edited by Paul Kroskrity
When I was just out of undergrad, I taught elementary ESL in Colorado. I noticed teachers contrasting my students with "normal" students. Concerned and intrigued, I contacted an anthropologist at my alma mater and she explained that I was observing Language Ideologies. She recommended this book to me and it has guided all of my education and work since.
Kevin Loeffler
Theater
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop
By Richard M. Isacks & Karen L. Maness
This book is an excellent display of the history of the artists behind Hollywood backdrop painting. The craft, dedication, and talent exhibited in this book should serve as an inspiration to students in theatre and film, and provides a glimpse at the hidden artists of old Hollywood.
Eliza Martin
Humanities
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
The Routledge History of Queer America
Edited by Don Romesburg
One of my goals as both a social historian and educator is to introduce students to a more diverse version of the past, one where the voices of traditionally marginalized people can move to the forefront. Including this book in the library's collection will assist in that endeavor.
Dale Pattison
English
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Gravity's Rainbow
by Thomas Pynchon
Gravity's Rainbow is one of the most difficult, but rewarding, novels I've read. Pynchon's disturbing vision of a world dominated by plastics, technology, and geopolitical conflict has proved to be alarmingly prescient for the 21st century. I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on Gravity's Rainbow, and working with this novel motivated me to pursue graduate school and eventually a career in literary study.
Laura Petican
Art
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968
By Germano Celant
I recommend this book because not only does it commemorate an important exhibition of Italian art and culture from the post-WWII era, it also represents a multi-disciplinary perspective on the creative industries that challenges the hierarchies that have distinguished the arts from an historiographical perspective. It contributes to a broad understanding of European and Italian arts and culture that simultaneously illuminates the role of the past on postmodernism in Italy and highlights the particular approach to innovation that is characteristic of Italian artists, artisans, and designers of this generation.
Sandrine Sanos
Humanities
Promotion
Professor
Gender and the Politics of History
By Joan W. Scott
Reading Joan W. Scott's work as an undergraduate at Oxford University, was a revelation. It showed me how gender gives meaning to the world, and how it gives shapes to the relations of power that organize it. The book decided me to pursue a Ph.D in the United States to become the historian of gender and sexuality and French history I am today. It led me to a world of feminist scholarship where intellectual rigor, challenging the obvious and self-evident, and a commitment to fostering communities of teachers and students have driven my career since.
Sarah Scott
Social Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Inside Rikers: Stories from the World's Largest Penal Colony
By Jennifer Wynn
I wrote a book report on Inside Rikers when I was a criminal justice major at Texas State. Jennifer’s book showed me it was possible to be both a writer and a practitioner. Always keep your options open.
Jennifer Sorensen
English
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Collier's: the National Weekly, June 6, 1925; issue contains "The Professor's House", a novel by Willa Cather
I teach Willa Cather's The Professor's House first published in weekly installments in Collier's Weekly in several of my print culture focused courses. We explore the tensions between Cather’s text and Frank Street’s illustrations and contextualize the anti-materialist strain of the novel within the hyper-mediated, aggressively “material” context of Collier’s Weekly.
Brian Thacker
Music
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
A History of the Trombone
By David Guion
No description available.
David Wallace
English
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
Blood Meridian
By Cormac McCarthy
I chose Blood Meridian because it has been a literary catalyst for the more honest cultural re-telling of the U.S.'s history of racial violence and environmental degradation, shining a surgical light on the atrocities committed during the subjugation of the American West without romance and without remorse.
Susan Wolff-Murphy
English
Promotion
Professor
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God was introduced to me by Emeritus Professor J.J. Wilson, a strong woman who helped found Women's Studies and English at Sonoma State University. J.J. mentored me, demonstrating tremendous hospitality, care, and respect for people, even in the correction of a citation.
Anthony Zoccolillo
Psychology & Sociology
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness
By Otto F. Wahl
This book changed the way I view both the media as well as the impact it can have on the stigma of mental illness. I credit these perspectives for shaping the way I teach many of my courses, most notably, General Psychology.
College of Education and Human Development
Bethanie Pletcher
Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Guided Reading: Responsive Teaching Across the Grades, 2nd edition
By Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
When I began my second year of teaching in 1999, I found a hardly touched first edition of this book in my classroom. It guided my instruction of young children for the next 20 years. This is the second edition that I now use with teachers as they help their students become independent readers.
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Christina Murphey
Nursing
Promotion
Professor
Varney's Midwifery, 6th edition
By Tekoa L. King, CNM, MPH; Mary C. Brucker, CNM, PhD; Kathryn Osborne, CNM, PhD; Cecilia M. Jevitt, CNM, PhD
Varney's Midwifery, is the gold standard for midwifery practice and reflects current evidence-based guidelines. Varney’s Midwifery addresses care of women throughout the life-course, including primary care, gynecology, maternity and newborn care in a variety of settings. It provides important content on social determinants of health, the changing face of the population, and the population that midwives serve.
Jessica Peck
Nursing
Tenure and promotion
Professor
Life Application Study Bible: New International Version
As a clinician, leader and scholar in a lifelong pursuit of excellence in the art and science and nursing, I have found no greater wisdom and encouragement for the journey than that which comes from the healing words of the Bible. "For I will restore health to you." Jeremiah 30:17
College of Science and Engineering
James Dogbey
Math
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students’ Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching
By Jo Boaler
Mathematical Mindsets provides practical strategies and activities to help teachers and parents show all children (even those who are convinced that they are bad at math) that they can enjoy and succeed in math. Jo Boaler translates the concept of 'mindset' into math teaching and parenting strategies, showing how students can go from self-doubt to strong self-confidence - which is essential for mathematics learning.
David Portnoy
Life Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Fish Skulls: A Study of the Evolution of Natural Mechanisms
By William K. Gregory
Though the relationships among fishes as suggested by Gregory in this book are not supported, it is an extremely valuable resource to vertebrate anatomists and ichthyologists due to the incredibly detailed drawings of the skulls of fishes across a broad range of taxa.
Maryam Rahnemoonfar
Computer Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
To Have a Center
By Frithjof Schuon
It is important to have a center and maintain it through the ups and downs of career and life. This book describes that this decisive center is the sense of the Absolute or love of God. A soul lacking a center is a "house divided against itself," thus destined to fall.
Toshiaki Shinoda
Physical & Environmental Sciences
Tenure
N/A
Fundamentals of Ocean Dynamics
By V.M. Kamenkivoch
One of the professors recommended this book when I was a graduate student. It helped me to understand advanced materials of ocean circulation theory.
Jeffrey Spirko
Physical & Environmental Sciences
Promotion
Professional Associate Professor
On the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy
Edited by Stephen Hawking
On the Shoulders of Giants reproduces a few of the most important works in physics and includes a few of Stephen Hawking's essays to provide context. Their significance is as much historical as technical and this anthology deserves a place in any library.
Benjamin Walther
Life Sciences
Tenure and promotion
Associate Professor
Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries
Edited by Leslie A. Real and James H. Brown
This volume contains essential papers before 1975 that are required reading for ecologists. Many of these concepts have become staples of textbooks, but they come alive when read as originally written. I recommend this book to all my students so they understand how our discipline has changed over time.
University College
Brandi Kutil
Undergraduate Studies
Promotion
Professional Senior Professor
The Pact We Made
By Layla AlAmmar
The Pact We Made is the debut novel from my cousin, Layla AlAmmar. She has taught me about Kuwaiti culture, and more than anyone else in my life, has helped me to understand that we each must follow our own path.
Mark McNamara
Undergraduate Studies
Promotion
Professional Senior Professor
Encyclopedia of Texas Seashells: Identification, Ecology, Distribution, and History
By John Wesley Tunnell, Jean Andrews, Noe C. Barrera, and Fabio Moretzsohn
It is meaningful to me because the late Dr. Tunnell was a great mentor and on my masters committee, Moretzsohn and I are friends and learning community colleagues and I have some original photos published in the book.