Faculty Promotion & Tenure Books

"The legitimacy of public pdministration in the American system of government is more than its legality. In Civil Servants and Their Constitutions, John A. Rohr reminds public administrators of their duty to faithfully execute the law and the Constitution. Public administrators inevitably have discretion in responding to the specific circumstances of their professional responsibilities. In exercising this discretion, Rohr reminds us that the law, and the Constitution for that matter, creates a floor below which state actors must not fall beneath; it does not construct a ceiling. This realization pushes administrators to ask not only if a certain action is legal but also if it is just."

Daniel Boden, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Political Science & Public Administration
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This book is one that stays with you. It makes you deeply analyze who you are and how to create a life and purpose."

Jennifer DeVries, D.N.P.
College of Nursing
Promoted to Assistant Professor, 2021

" 'Passion is a choice' -- Eliud Kipchoge"

Kevin Egan, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Economics
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"A fascinating memoir on Stephen King’s struggle to overcome poverty and addiction to become one of the most celebrated authors of our time. This is not the typical Stephen King horror story, but rather a personal account of the dedication required to master the craft of writing. As an avid Stephen King reader, I took for granted that King’s pure creative talent led to numerous New York Times best sellers, when in fact, his commitment and perseverance led to his success."

Steven Haller, Ph.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Medicine
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This book is the foundation of how I approach teaching and learning. It transformed my mindset from a 'banking' model in which learners’ brains are passively filled with deposits of information, to a 'learning community' model in which learners actively engage with information and co-create meaning together!"

Janet Hoy-Gerlach, Ph.D.
College of Health & Human Services
School of Social Justice
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"I first read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë when I was 17 years-old and it was a monumental influence on me. I have since re-read it several times at different stages of my life. The life story and literary work of Charlotte Brontë, and of her fellow novelist sisters Anne and Emily, will always be close to my heart. The Brontë sisters' deep connection to the spiritual and soulful elements of nature - so gloriously depicted in their prose, letters, poems, and diaries - fills my heart with joy and keeps me feeling inspired even in the most challenging of times."

Jodi Jameson, M.L.I.S.
University Libraries
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This was the first book that I had read since I was a child that had me so engrossed I lost time and stayed up all night. It is one that I reread almost annually and is my pop culture comfort food. I shamelessly get and devour all new versions of it. Original text? On paperback. Author's extended version? On tablet. Annotated edition? On my coffee table. This is the work in which Gaiman transcended being a comic book genius to a fully fledged author, and will be a novel fully canonized eventually."

Edward Janek, Ph.D.
Judith Herb College of Education
Department of Educational Studies
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"The book presents editor/translator Mir's understanding of some of the best works of one of the pre-eminent philosopher/thinkers from the Indian subcontinent. Although the original poems are in Urdu/Persian, this translation comes pretty close. Growing up, these poems inspired me to explore the world around me, no matter how simple or complex an entity in existence may seem. Topics vary from God, Paradise, Satan, World to Responsibilities, Meaning of Life, Nationalism, Culture, Personalities, Slavery, and Improvement of the Human Condition. It took me several reads of the original version and exploration of a variety of meanings of individual Urdu/Persian words to gain a better understanding of the author's message."

Ahmad Javaid, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"As a teenager, I was always fascinated watching David Attenborough's series on TV. I admired how one person can bring awareness of small changes happening around us and the impact we can have and to make it right. This book chronicles all the changes through the eyes of an extraordinary naturalist."

Malathi Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Biological Sciences
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"I have always found this Christian mythology book interesting and somehow that inspired me to study science."

Wei Li, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother by James McBride is one of those rare books that has served my public-facing writing, my scholarly work, and my teaching. It’s a book I never hesitate to recommend and one I have gifted many times!"

Kimberly Mack, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of English Language & Literature
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"I have loved Calvin and Hobbes since the sixth grade. As the years went by, I came to appreciate all the philosophy and humanity Bill Watterson included in the series. There's a lot more than you might think. To this day I use strips to illustrate ethical, metaphysical, and environmental topics in my courses and close most class e-mails with a strip. I even designed and taught a first-year course called 'Calvin and Hobbes Explore the Philosophical World.' I hope this book inspires others as much as it inspires me."

Christopher Martin, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This children's book was one of my favorites. I recall the gold-foiled 'ticket' in the text and being transformed to this magical place called Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Two life lessons from this book include: 1) do the right thing, and 2) good things happen when you least expect it."

Kathleen Mitchell, D.N.P.
College of Nursing
Promoted to Assistant Professor, 2021

"I purchased this 64-page primer on drawing from a table at my school book fair when I was ten years old. I loved to draw as a kid, and this was my first 'formal' training. I got many, many hours of focused enjoyment out of this book as I followed the author's instructions and absorbed each example, trying to copy each image as faithfully as I could (much to the delight of my parents, I'm sure). One example from the book made a particularly deep impression on me--an illustration done by Ben Shahn of a jester-like figure standing on a horse. Shahn's cartoon-like style immediately caught and held my attention, as had Theodore Geisel's books when I was younger. Even though the book was supplying my young and pliable mind with the basic principles of art, it was not lost on me that these rules could be applied in an endless variety of ways. The lesson I learned--creativity needs no restraints. Many years have passed, and I still have the book. Shahn's jester inspires me to this day; every time I look at it, I am reminded of Picasso's statement, 'It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.' I am reminded to deconstruct my way of thinking to regain that childlike sense of wonder and freedom to create without the restraints imposed by a world of rules and regulations."

Gerald Natal, M.L.I.S.
University Libraries
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This book is the ultimate reference in vascular and endovascular surgery. It has been a key reference in my personal library since my internship and is very helpful for my educational activities, lecture preparations, etc. This is the newest version which came out this year, and I would love to have it in my armamentarium."

Mohammed Osman, M.D.
College of Medicine & Life Sciences
Department of Surgery
Promoted to Associate Professor, 2021

"As a child I spent countless hours exploring my neighborhood and the state park that was adjacent to my elementary school. I cultivated my early passion for geography during those childhood years, and later discovered academic geography to be a remarkable interdisciplinary field of study. When I was enrolled in a geography course as a master’s student that required fieldwork, I discovered that it was much more than just basic location (memorizing countries, states, and capitals). It was there that I experienced places and began to understand how spaces on the earth’s surface are transformed into places through human-environmental interaction. As a geographer interested in the social science side of the discipline, specifically human geography, I was exposed to many of Yi-Fu Tuan’s books. With titles that resonate with human experiences, such as Escapism, Cosmos and Hearth, Morality and Imagination, The Good Life, Landscapes of Fear, Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets, and many others, his publications have raised interest in and awareness of what we do in geography. I was fortunate as a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to take the last seminar in cultural geography that Yi-Fu Tuan taught before he retired. I chose his book entitled Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience for the UToledo Library because it captures the idea of how 'space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value' through our direct and indirect experiences (Tuan, 1977, p. 6). Knowing and experiencing places in the world is an invaluable pursuit."

M. Beth Schlemper, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Geography & Planning
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"A unique source on the theory of forms on supermanifolds and related questions."

Ekaterina Shemyakova, Ph.D.
College of College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Mathematics & Statistics
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"The knowledge that one is not alone, and that a critical mass is forming, and that abusers of power will eventually run out of places to hide in academia, can provide the strength necessary to persist and even fight back."

Henry Streby, Ph.D.
College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Department of Environmental Sciences
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"This is a marvelous book. It inspires readers to look deeply into one's own life including the dreams, frustrations, regrets, glories, and happiness, to reflect on the past, and ponder the journey forward. Harold's decision to carry out a 500-mile walk to see his friend is courageous, much like the way we carry out the research to solve an unknown problem, albeit challenging, with each and every step firm and steady, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I would highly recommend this book."

Weiqing Sun, Ph.D.
College of Engineering
Department of Engineering Technology
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"Understanding U.S. health care is an incredibly difficult and complicated endeavor. Coming from another country makes it even more challenging. This book was my introduction to the U.S. health care system, its evolution, and present problems. This book made me truly ‘educated’ in the field that I am pursuing my career."

Varun Vaidya, Ph.D.
College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Pharmacy Practice
Promoted to Professor, 2021

"The Rwandan Genocide in 1994, along with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, are the two reasons I decided to dedicate my life to political science and human rights. Gourevitch's work on Rwanda had a profound impact on me and as helped me treat victims of conflict as people instead of numbers."

Joel Voss, Ph.D
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Political Science & Public Administration
Promoted to Associate Professor & Granted Tenure, 2021

"Jameson's focus on the value of utopian thinking has greatly informed my work on fans and their relationship to popular culture as a means of personal utopia-building."

Matt Yockey, Ph.D.
College of Arts & Letters
Department of Theatre & Film
Promoted to Professor, 2021