Jean Murphy Receives $1,000 TAA Publication Grant

TAA member Jean Murphy has been awarded a $1,000 Publication Grant from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association to cover manuscript editing costs for her academic book, A View From The Balcony: Opera Through Womanist Eyes Praxis for Developing a Balcony Hermeneutic of Restorative Resistance, which will be published by Cascade in early 2024.

“Being a member of TAA gave me access to resources and authors who gave pointers, encouragement, and the incentive to bring this book to completion,” said Murphy. “This grant validates all the time and effort spent to bring it to fruition and certainly assists with the cost of being an author. Please extend my thanks to the selection committee.”

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10/19 TAA Webinar: Blunders, Bad Ideas, and Bliss: My Experience Writing a Textbook

Are you contemplating writing a textbook? It can be a daunting process but there are many success stories and opportunities to learn from colleagues who have recently published their content.

Please join XanEdu Publishing and Erica Irlbeck, Ed.D, Professor of Agricultural Education and Communications at Texas Tech and author of The Crisis Communication Guide for Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, on October 19 from 2-3 p.m. ET for the TAA webinar, “Blunders, Bad Ideas, and Bliss: My Experience Writing a Textbook.”

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TAA Members Say They Want More How-tos, Strategies, Tools

On October 3, 2023, TAA sent 2,115 members the first in a series of survey questions the association will use in preparation for a meeting of the TAA Council and staff in January 2024. The responses to these questions will be used to determine how the association can best serve members over the next year.

Of the 101 members who responded to the question, “As a TAA member, what do you want more of?,” more than half (55%) said they wanted more how-tos, strategies, and tools. Fifteen percent said they wanted more educational offerings, and 13% said they wanted information that will help them negotiate better contracts. Eight percent want advocacy on issues they care about, and 4% said they wanted opportunities to connect with other members.

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TAA Member Receives Research Grant From NSF for Wiki Education Project

TAA Member Dr. Brian R. Shmaefsky, Professor of Biology & Environmental Science at Lone Star College – Kingwood, received a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to engage students from a Hispanic-serving institution to write Wikipedia biographical entries of Hispanic scientists who are underrepresented in Wikipedia. The goal is to improve the visibility and reduce citation inequity of scientists from marginalized populations.

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TAA Member Phil Wankat: Notable Cartoons from the ‘TAA Report’

The second installment of TAA Member Phil Wankat’s curation and commentary of the archival issues of the TAA Report (now The Academic Author), Cartoons, is now available.

Wankat selected articles that have information that is still valid today, and included commentary on each. We will be adding these articles to the web page, “Articles from TAA Report Archives (now The Academic Author) with Commentary,” over the next few months. The articles are organized into 10 categories, including Authors Needed, Cartoons, Contracts, Ethics, Money, Production, Recognition and Rewards, Software, Textbooks as Scholarship, and Writer’s Block. The first installment was Authors Needed.

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12/7 TAA Webinar – Passion for Learning and Research: Is Earning a Doctorate the Right Path For You?

Join us Thursday, December 7 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET for the TAA webinar, “Passion for Learning and Research: Is Earning a Doctorate the Right Path For You?”. Presenters Dr. Tasha Egalite, a newly minted PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in TESOL at New Mexico State University, and Dr. Kristin Kew, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Administration at New Mexico State University, will share and reflect on their own doctoral journeys, the critical issues they encountered, and the hoops they jumped through while completing their dissertations. Some of the themes discovered during their research on the dissertation process and obtaining a doctorate were sustaining momentum, maintaining purpose, and creating meaningful works while furthering their learning in the fields of education and educational leadership. Advice will be provided on how to determine whether to apply for a doctoral program and how to navigate some of the pitfalls and rabbit holes of the academic arena.

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