Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

A Celebration of Books 2025 recap

April 8th, 2025

On April 7, Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies hosted its second annual “A Celebration of Books” to honor Purdue faculty who published books throughout the past academic year. This year’s event featured over 70 authors across various academic disciplines. 

Five authors spoke about their books and writing processes at the event, including:

• Robert Browning, political science professor, author of “Partisan Rhetoric and Polarization: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research, Volume 10”
• Alfred López, professor and English department head, author of “A Posthumous History of Jose Marti: The Apostle and His Afterlife”
• Matt Hannah, associate professor in Libraries and School of Information Studies, author of “Conspiracy Theories and Extremism in New Times”
• Catherine McBride, associate dean for research for the College of Health and Human Sciences, distinguished professor of human development and family science, author of “Routledge International Handbook of Visual-motor Skills, Handwriting, and Spelling: Theory, Research, and Practice” and “Handbook of Literacy in Africa”
• Trish Morita-Mullaney, associate professor in English language learning, author of “Lau V. Nichols and Chinese American Language Rights: The Sunrise and Sunset of Bilingual Education”

Clarence Maybee, associate dean for learning and W. Wayne Booker Chair in Information Literacy for Libraries and School of Information Studies, made formal remarks. 

During her speech, McBride noted, “I want to highlight the fact that creating a book is a very big undertaking. If you write a book, the planning is enormous, even after you get comfortable with your ideas and the publisher has weighed in. There are typically external reviews of the proposal and some further suggestions as to how to address various topics within it…I commend all the authors here, and I’m also grateful to Purdue again, as other people have said, for initiating the creation of books as a top priority.” 

Attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and authors received a pin-on corsage upon check-in. Images of the published book covers were displayed for authors to autograph. 

Provost Patrick Wolfe said, “I’m really glad to see our libraries hosting this event because books are such an important part of scholarly output.” The event successfully highlighted the value of books and celebrated Purdue authors for their dedication and efforts.