Faculty Promotion & Tenure Books

"I never would have thought I could write and publish my own book in the U.S. until this one. This is the first book I have written, which was recently published by Springer. This book is important to me because it summarizes my major research endeavors at The University of Toledo, which allows me to reflect on my journey to full professor and how far I have come in my career. It also motivates me to pursue more goals and write more books.”

Selected by:
Chunhua Sheng, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Promoted to Professor, 2018

“How far would you be willing to go in your pursuit of scientific discovery, artistic appropriation? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a fascinating accomplishment of intellectual development, especially considering she was only 19 years old when she wrote it. The ethical and moral reasoning of the monster begs a comparison to human cognition, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Frankenstein, portrayed as modern Prometheus, reminds us of our own professional dreams, milestones, and limitations. Hence, the book makes for an intriguing case study in my advanced graduate course: Thinking and Reasoning in School Contexts."

Selected by:
Florian Feucht, Ph.D.
Judith Herb College of Education
Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This is a book that gave me the ability to see many things around me from a much wider perspective, which in turn helped me comprehend dramatically many more things than I could up to that point. What sets it apart is that it touched upon fundamental and existential inquiries of mine at a critical time in my life.”

Selected by:
Gursel Serpen, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This book is a case study of a young boy named Dibs who is autistic. At the time, I was deep into my junior year of college as a physiological psychology major. I was being groomed for a life of lab research in neural functioning (e.g., recovery of function, dendritic sprouting) and in particular cortical processes. After reading this book, my professional interests shifted, and I wanted to apply my knowledge and skills to help young children, especially those that had unique learning challenges. This path led me to my eventual areas of clinical child neuropsychology and learning disabilities. As we all know, a book can be a powerful influence in a person’s life."

Selected by:
Raymond Witte, Ph.D.
Judith Herb College of Education
Department of Educational Foundations & Leadership
Appointed Dean & Professor With Tenure, 2018

"The fundamental argument in The End of Faith is we don’t need to believe in insufficient evidence in order to have deeply ethical and spiritual lives. I am inspired by Harris’ courage to write honestly, publicly, and with great precision on perhaps the most important and taboo issue of our time. Harris’ work has encouraged me to stand up for truth (even when it is unpopular to do so), relinquish untenable beliefs within faith, and maintain a fundamental openness to evidence."

Selected by:
Jason Levine, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Psychology
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

"Shortly after graduating from law school, I realized two things: (1) most lawyers write poorly, and (2) my writing looked a lot like that of most lawyers. Ever since then, as both a lawyer and an academic, I've worked to improve as a writer. Garner on Language and Writing is the first book on writing that I remember buying. This collection of speeches and essays inspired my philosophy for everything that I write: keep it short, make it clear, and simplify."

Selected by:
Bryan Lammon, J.D.
Associate Professor
College of Law
Granted Tenure, 2018

"Tagore won a Nobel Prize in 1913 for this book, a collection of short poems. Each poem is full of wisdom and offers deep relaxation.”

Selected by:
Devinder Kaur, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"The book goes to the very essence of formal systems isomorphisms. A complex net of neurons generates our mental life and our mental life transcends the net. Same way generated artificial intelligence could transcend its structure and equal or over pass human intelligence. The book was published in 1979, way before Deep Blue and Watson. Will ever computers overpass us? And then will they ever develop a status similar to our mental life ailments?"

Selected by:
Theodor Rais, M.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Psychiatry
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This handbook helped me understand how various forms of art can be used in knowledge development. The book shows that the arts have been used to frame research and inquiry in a variety of academic disciplines.”

Selected by:
Aravindhan Natarajan, Ph.D.
College of Health & Human Services
Department of Social Justice
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

"This book enhanced my love for the field of public health. I was in awe of how the early EIS officers operated and created the methods we take for granted today. It was inspiring to read how these EIS officers responded to outbreaks around the world and contributed to successes such as the eradication of smallpox.”

Selected by:
Sheryl Milz, Ph.D.
College of Health & Human Services
School of Population Health
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"I first read Les Misérables shortly after becoming a Christian. I was thunderstruck by the tale of God’s pursuit and redemption of a former thief and sinner into a forgiven and powerful protector of the poor, the wounded, and the orphans. My faith influenced my decision to switch careers, and now impacts on a daily basis how I approach my practice and care as a physician."

Selected by:
David Sohn, M.D.
College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"The most important book in my life is my father's dissertation he wrote while attending The University of Toledo in 1974. My father was an educator who taught others how to teach. He taught me how to think, and more importantly, to love learning; it was his inspiration that led to my career in academia. He passed away in the fall of 1996, and now I honor him by earning promotion to full professor in the fall of 2018. Clearly, his influence remains with me long after he passed. Indeed, the books we read (and write) not only influence us, individually, but also have a profound impact on our students and loved ones as well."

Selected by:
Tavis Glassman, Ph.D.
College of Health & Human Services
School of Population Health
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"The most influential authors to me are Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman. The PBS series Cosmos, featuring Carl Sagan, made me aware of science beyond textbooks. Professor Sagan’s description of the 'Pale Blue Dot' is as chilling now as it was back then. The first Feynman book I read was Surely You Are Joking, Mr. Feynman (Adventures of a Curious Character), and I have since read all his books several times over. Professor Feynman was best known for his work with path integrals and quantum electrodynamics that led to his Nobel prize in Physics. These were topics never broached in any course I attended. His ability to simplify and explain these complex ideas to a general audience, such as myself, was absolutely incredible. I was so enamored by his explanations that I still include concepts from 'QED' and 'Six Easy Pieces' in my lectures even when they aren’t the most appropriate. The Meaning of It All is the transcript from his 1963 lectures of A Scientist Looks at Society, a benchmark for scientific prose."

Selected by:
Timothy Mueser, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This book details the structures, chemical synthesis, biological relevance, and historical details of over 40 important molecules that played significant roles in human history. It's an interesting and very useful book.”

Selected by:
Jiayong Liu, M.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Promoted to Associate Professor, 2018

"In this classic of legal philosophy, Fuller takes up the formidable task of setting out standards for judging the internal morality of a legal system. His first standard, or ‘desideratum’ of a legal system, is that a rule must be generally applicable rather than an ad hoc command. This seemingly simple principle, the generality of law, is in fact highly complex and nuanced. Tracing the contours of a meaningful and enforceable value of legislative generality has been the focus of my research and my most abiding interest during my time as a scholar.”

Selected by:
Evan Zoldan, J.D.
College of Law
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This was one of my favorite textbooks as a student. It opened my eyes to the field of mathematics, which I was not aware of at the time, and it made a huge impact on my ability to create and analyze computational models to explain the results of my research.”

Selected by:
Scott Molitor, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Bioengineering
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This book has inspired me to face many challenges in my life.”

Selected by:
Xin Wang, Ph.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Psychiatry
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

“This first volume of poetry by Alice Walker informed my view of the world. It gave me the understanding that I am important and can contribute to the world in unique ways. I draw the strength that I need to persist as a unique individual from these words.”

Selected by:
Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, Dr. rer. Nat.
College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Medicinal & Biological Chemistry
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"I read this book, the first of countless times, when I began drafting my Ph.D. thesis back in 1995. Through its magic realism, this novel reminded me of everything that research was distracting me from at the time. Throughout the years, it helped me pursue an academic career without losing perspective of life as a whole. Every now and then, I go back to fictional Macondo to heal."

Selected by:
Guillermo Vazquez, Ph.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Physiology & Pharmacology
Promoted to Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

“I read A People's History of the United States for the first time in high school as a counterpoint to a traditional history textbook. I was struck by the contrast. Never again would I blindly accept as truth what I read or was told. The experience taught me to question the conventional wisdom, to seek facts, and to think critically.”

Selected by:
Joseph Cooper, Ph.D.
College of Business & Innovation
Department of Management
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

"At the beginning of my graduate studies in urban planning, this book gave me a theoretical framework to understand what I thought were just my casual observations. It was a powerful example of the ability of good scholarship to question assumptions as well as shape action and continues to help me think about my work.”

Selected by:
Sujata Shetty, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Geography & Planning
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"When I was a little kid, I was quite interested in encyclopedias and all kinds of information in them. I could not help myself going through the hundreds of pages of several volumes of AnaBritannica for hours. When I was in 3rd grade, without knowing too many details, I decided what I wanted to be in the future: I was going to be either a professor, a scientist, or a mechanical engineer. Years later, when I was studying mechanical engineering as an undergraduate, I studied this book for physics. I have studied several different science and physics books. Yet, this book had a special place in my heart. It was beyond a regular textbook; it gave me unique feelings. Probably because it was full of things that I had always been interested in learning more about, it gave me so much fun and delight. It had always taken me back to the early days of my childhood when I had spent days and nights diving into pages of encyclopedia volumes with excitement."

Selected by:
Halim Ayan, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Bioengineering
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

"Stone's Policy Paradox is a book that I read in graduate school. It changed the entire way that I saw politics and policy making. If you take the lessons from this book, you will see through the rhetoric and actions of politicians, interest groups, and other political actors. This helps you to understand what is actually happening and why.”

Selected by:
Jami Taylor, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Political Science & Public Administration
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This book vividly illustrates the fight against a smallpox epidemic in the early days of vaccines. The urgency of disease and the complexity of our responses involving medicine, law, and sheer determination helped draw me further into health law.”

Selected by:
Elizabeth McCuskey, J.D.
College of Law
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"In our intimately connected digital future (now present) even an obscure isolated hacker who lives in a cargo container could be the key to everything. Never underestimate the capabilities of anyone or their capacity to be a force of change.”

Selected by:
Terrence Lewis, M.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Promoted to Associate Professor, 2018

"Symbolist Drama is a book that led me to my current research in the occult and theatre. (In fact, I just signed an advance contract with Illinois University Press for a new book on occultism in the Midwest.) Symbolist Theatre opened my eyes to the important place of the occult among the playwrights working in the first wave of avant-garde theatre, which was called 'Symbolism' and thrived in Europe during the late nineteenth century. I was honored to have Daniel Gerould, who edited this excellent collection, serve as the chair of my dissertation committee while I pursued my Ph.D. at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Gerould’s book continues to inform my research today."

Selected by:
Edmund Lingan, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Theatre & Film
Promoted to Professor, 2018

“Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching), which may be approximately translated as The Doctrines of Nature Rules and Virtue, is one of the most influential books in Chinese culture. Ascribed to an ancient philosopher, Lao-Zi of the Zhou dynasty in approximately 5th-6th century BC, the book attempted to explain the fundamental connections among entities of nature and how humans would relate to them. I have found it quite inspiring along my career path. Written in ancient Chinese, this short-texted masterpiece of philosophic concepts can be difficult to understand. Despite this, it has been kept on my bookshelf for years and is often opened for various reasons."

Selected by:
Hongyan Li, M.D., Ph.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Neurology
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"Reading this book makes me think of what I have been through, the correct and wrong decisions I made at crucial points, what I would do if I could relive the first half of my life, and what my second half of life would/should be. It made me re-set priorities in life and work."

Selected by:
Hongyan Zhang, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This classic gives powerful insight into tolerance, justice, courage, compassion and social change. Reading this novel was instrumental in shaping many of my core beliefs.”

Margaret Hopkins, Ph.D.
College of Business & Innovation
Department of Management
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"As a young man in the 4th grade (9 years old), I read this book and was captured by the wonders of nature and the science that revolved around it. I believe it was at that time that I developed my love for science, technology, and the reading of science fiction."

Selected by:
Frederick Williams, Ph.D.
College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"When I first started practice, I lived in Northern California, this book's setting. It is an account of number of different individuals that climbed and measured the tallest trees in the world. It reminds me that any person can do amazing things when focused on a goal."

Selected by:
Daniel Gehling, M.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Promoted to Associate Professor, 2018

"Jill Ker Conway was President of Smith College when I was an undergraduate there. Her house was a stone's throw from my house and she was very visible on campus. Reading about her journey to that school and the trials she faced (while I was there!) is fascinating to me. She passed away this year but continues to serve as an inspiration."

Selected by:
Anne Balazs, Ph.D.
College of Business & Innovation
Appointed Dean & Professor With Tenure, 2018

"This is the book that has enhanced my career and helped me the most with my professional development as a professional scientist and author."

Selected by:
Michael Weintraub, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Environmental Sciences
Promoted to Professor, 2018

"This book had a profound influence on me when I read it the first time. Every time I read it, I gain a new perspective on it. It has inspired me to look at my past, to reflect on my values, and to reconsider the things that matter in life."

Selected by:
Rafael Garcia-Mata, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Biological Sciences
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2018

"This volume of companion essays, encountered at a conference trade show some fifteen years ago, strongly influenced my research directions and developing interest in the emerging field of human-animal studies. Authors in the collection deal with the 'animal other' and pose modes of thinking that help instigate a reassessment of presumed human superiority over other animal species, not to mention over other members of our own species."

Mysoon Rizk, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Music
Promoted to Professor, 2018