Member Spotlight: John W. Budd

TAA member John W. Budd is a Professor at the University of Minnesota where he holds the Industrial Relations Land Grant Chair, and both a textbook & academic author in the employment relations writing discipline.

His most recent publication is Labor Relations: Striking a Balance, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018). The 1st edition won a “Texty” Textbook Excellence Award in 2005. He has also published three previous university press books on work and employment relations.

Member Spotlight: Mike Kennamer

TAA member Mike Kennamer is a Director of Workforce Development and both a textbook & academic author in the education and health sciences writing disciplines.

He has four textbooks currently in print. The most recent revision was the second edition of Math for Healthcare Professionals, published by Cengage. 

The most useful textbook & academic posts of the week: May 11, 2018

One thing’s for certain in life. The future is always unwritten. No matter the past experiences or institutional standards, we must change, adapt, and grow with each day – and our writing must as well.

This week’s collection of articles from around the web begins with writing habits, creative research methods, practices for overcoming writer’s block, and ways to evaluate data sources. It continues with exploration of fears and uncertainties related to sharing grant applications and pursuing a PhD as a single parent. Finally, we close with considerations of changes in subscription models, including cancellations of traditional journal subscriptions by universities, and the impact of recent changes in how Facebook is sharing data with the research community.

M. Kirin reminds all authors that “you’re writing someone’s ‘future’ favorite book.” Despite any challenges, fear, anxieties, or past experiences, I hope this week you can focus on the future and share your message through your writing.

15 Tips for engaging conference presentations

Conferences offer opportunities to develop professionally, build networks, find potential collaborators, and stay up-to-date with emerging research. As presenters, conferences offer us the opportunity to try out new ideas and get input from attendees. If we use our presentation time to talk at the audience, and don’t create an environment where attendees are invited to think and contribute, we haven’t made the best use of our time. When attendees are straining to read small print from the back of a conference ballroom or trying to stay awake while you talk fast to fit every detain in during the allotted time, the usefulness of the event is diminished.