Early registration is now open for TAA’s 2021 Virtual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference! Our annual conference event is always an incredible opportunity to network with authors from a variety of disciplines and to learn about the latest trends, best practices, and industry changes.

In addition, conference-goers have the opportunity to sign up for 15-minute sessions with experienced members who are serving as mentors in a dozen areas of interest. Mentor registration is now open. A preview of the topics and associated mentors is below.

Academic Writing & Building a Tenure Binder

Felicia Moore Mensah is an Associate Dean and faculty member in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Teachers College Columbia University. Her research addresses diversity and equity in science education. She advises and mentors students and faculty across the college and other institutions. Felicia has sponsored more than 35 doctoral student dissertations and has served on more than 90 dissertation committees, including international. Through Sister of the Academy Institute, she has been a member of TAA for 12 years.

Academic Writing Productivity & Project Management Strategies

After being a tenured professor at Texas A&M University, Erin McTigue started her own business, The Positive Academic, through which she mentors and coaches academics in writing and productivity, as well as runs workshops. While at Texas A&M, she co-directed a university-wide writing support program and developed an academic writing course for international students. Erin is widely published, has won teaching and mentoring awards, and continually aims to bring a lightness of spirit to the weight of academia.

Author Royalties

Richard Wessler is a Senior Director at Ankura Consulting Group, affiliated with the New York, NY office.  He has over 20 years of experience in the Higher Education publishing market in matters related to author royalty calculations, intellectual property compliance and Accounting/Finance analysis and reporting.

College Textbook Publishing: Ask an Insider

Sean Wakely is Vice President of Product and Editorial at FlatWorld. Sean possesses extensive higher education publishing experience gained by working at Cengage Learning, Thomson Learning, Pearson Education, and Houghton Mifflin’s college division. He’s held positions as a sales representative, college acquisitions editor, professional books editor, editorial manager, and, just prior to founding Academic Author Advisers, was a senior executive for Cengage Learning’s global product planning team and National Geographic Learning group. He is also coauthor of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide, published by TAA.

Journal Article & Academic Book Authoring, Faculty Writing Group Strategies

Dannelle D. Stevens, Professor Emerita at Portland State University, is the author or co-author of five books and numerous journal articles. For the last five years she has been the Portland State Faculty-in-Residence for Academic Writing where she initiated the highly successful Jumpstart Faculty Writing Program. Her fifth book, Write more, publish more, stress less! Five key principles for creative and scholarly writing was released in 2018.

Marketing Your Work / Writing Productivity

Meggin McIntosh, Professor Emerita (University of Nevada, Reno), now known as The PhD of Productivity, is an author, coach, and workshop leader. Through her coaching business, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., she works with overwhelmed academics who would prefer to be overjoyed, instead. Meggin has been called “an educational treasure” and has won every teaching award for which she was eligible at the University (locally, state-wide, and regionally). Her mission is inspiring joyful work.

Mastering the Publication Process / Marketing for Academic Authors

John Bond has worked in scholarly publishing for 30 years. He served as chief content officer for a major scholarly publisher. He now heads up Riverwinds Consulting and advises on book and journal related topics with authors and organizations about strategies for creating and disseminating quality content. For more information, see RiverwindsConsulting.com and YouTube.com/JohnBond/.

Publishing Contracts and Copyright

Brenda Ulrich is an intellectual property attorney who focuses on publishing, higher education, copyright and trademark law. Brenda represents authors negotiating and interpreting publishing agreements, agency agreements, and joint author agreements.  She also advises colleges and universities on the development and implementation of intellectual property policies, navigating copyright questions related to teaching and scholarship, as well as managing and defending college and university trademark portfolios.

Publishing, Media, and Copyright Matters

Steve Gillen teaches Electronic Media Law at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Steve worked for nearly 20 years in publishing prior to entering private practice in the middle 1990’s. He is presently a partner at Wood, Herron & Evans (a 145-year-old Cincinnati law firm focused on intellectual property) where he concentrates his practice on publishing, media, and copyright matters. Steve is a long-time member of the TAA Council and a regular speaker at TAA conferences. He is also the author of Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts and coauthor of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide.

Royalty Collection and Publisher Disputes

David Slarskey is a trial attorney with experience in copyright, contract, and competition disputes. He has counseled authors in disputes adverse to McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Cengage. For more information on his practice, see http://www.slarskey.com

Time Management for Academics / Promoting Your Work

Christine Tulley is Professor of English and Founder and Director of the Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Writing at The University of Findlay. She is the author of How Writing Faculty Write (2018), the forthcoming Rhet Comp Moms: What 100 Time Use Diaries Can Teach Us about Parenting, Productivity, and Professionalism (Utah State University Press), and contributes regularly to Inside Higher Education on academic publishing and productivity issues.

Writing and Publishing Textbook Supplements

Paul A. Krieger is an award-winning teacher and the creator, author, and illustrator of Morton Publishing’s Visual Analogy Guide series. Due to the success of his first book on human anatomy in 2004, this unique book concept quickly evolved into a four-book series. He is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy & Physiology at Grand Rapids Community College and also works as a scientific illustrator.

Questions about conference mentoring? Contact Maureen.Foerster@TAAonline.net