Thirty-seven Dartmouth professors who published books or articles in the past year discussed their works yesterday afternoon at an "Authors and Editors" English tea in the Tower Room of the Baker Library.
The books and articles covered everything from the calendars of pre-Mayan civilizations to the lifestyles of women mathematicians.In his address to the crowd of students and faculty members gathered, College President James Freedman said Dartmouth "has every reason to be proud of the professors and faculty members" recognized at the event. Their works "enrich understanding" in academia with intellectual dialog and reflect positively on the quality of Dartmouth, he said..
Mathematics professor Claudia Henrion said she did most of the work on her book over leave terms, and she estimates the book took her about 10 years to complete.
"It is hard to have a continuous train of thought," said Henrion, author of the book "Women in Mathematics," which examines the lifestyles of contemporary women in mathematics. Henrion first became interested in the subject when she was a math graduate student, and she noticed there were almost no female math students.
By examining the subtle barriers and the stereotypes of mathematicians, Henrion's book contrasts the myths about math with real examples from interviews with contemporary female mathematicians all over the United States.
Henrion said she hopes the book will help cross the bridges between the two worlds and make the invisible characteristics of the culture of math more visible to those both inside and outside that circle.
French professor Marianne Hirsch said she received a grant and took a year off to write "Family Frames," a book that combines personal narratives and literary analysis in viewing and interpreting family photographs.
Geography professor Vincent Maelstrom lead Foreign Study Programs in Mexico and used his leave terms to do research on his main publication of last year, "Cycles of the Sun, Mysteries of the Moon," a work which examined the calendars of a Pre-Mayan civilization. The book was about 20 years in the making. He also published two articles, a textbook called "Contemporary Europe" and an encyclopedia of the history of science.
Andrew Garrod, an education professor, had two of his books on display. One, a work titled "Preparing for Citizenship" was translated into Russian and written solely for circulation in Moscow. Based on studies from Brookline High School and Hanover High School, the book is intended to prepare Russians educators for democracy.
Garrod's second book on display at the Tea was "First Person, First People," a book on the struggles and achievements of Native American college graduates. The two books share the common goal of furthering human development and studying what lessons can be learned to foster that development in all people, Garrod said.
