In addition to their full-time duties of lecturing, grading and keeping office hours, many professors at Sacramento State have written books, either as part of their research or to incorporate into their curriculum.

Stephen Brock, associate special education, rehabilitation, and school psychology professor, has written four books and is currently working on several more. He uses two of his books, one about autism and another about school crises, in his classes.

“The students…find the course content and the lecture materials very consistent with their assigned readings,” he said.

He said there are potential downfalls to a professor lecturing from his or her own book in that the material might be slanted.

“(Students) may not get the diverse opinions of the…material,” he said. “(But) as long as the professor is open to competing points of view, I don’t think there’s any problem with that.”

He also said the optional category of recommended reading on a syllabus is something students can use as an additional resource.

Some professors have written books based on their doctoral dissertations, which are essays that count toward obtaining doctorate degrees. In turn, some have discovered they want to write more.

Joseph Palermo, assistant professor of history, has written two books – one that was based off his dissertation and published in 2001, and another that will be available in 2008. Both focus on the political figure Robert F. Kennedy. He said not only is politician Arianna Huffington a fan of one of his books, but because of his work, he spoke at an event for the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, which was held in honor of RFK’s 80th birthday.

Palermo said he used his first book in past classes and plans to teach from his new one once it’s available. He said it is advantageous for those in the class to learn from the author of the book.

“Students are fortunate to have professors who are published here who are in a good position to answer questions about the book,” Palermo said. “I can refer students right to the subject of my lectures.”

Palermo said history books have the potential to contain bias, but it’s not necessarily bad.

“There (are) all sorts of debates going on at all times about all matters…it’s just another argument in many about what’s going on in the past,” he said. “It’s more complicated because…people have different interpretations of historical events.”

David Corner, a philosophy lecturer, wrote a book entitled “The Philosophy of Miracles,” which was published earlier this year.

“It’s taken from my doctoral dissertation,” he said. “It’s very specialized.”

As a result, the publication is more for a philosophical audience outside of the classroom.

The reasons he doesn’t use his book in his classes are twofold. It doesn’t pertain to any of the classes he is currently teaching, and he feels it might make students approach the material more cautiously.

“It just seems kind of strange to teach from your own book,” Corner said. “It might limit student discussion if they didn’t like it.”

He said given the time, he would like to write more books, but for now, he plans to write articles.

Of the more than 1,000 faculty members at Sac State, it is unknown how many have written books, as the university has no master list to keep track of faculty authors, past or present.

However, many are available for checkout. When a professor writes a book and notifies the University Library, the school purchases the book for the collection, said Ben Amata, reference librarian.

Additionally, it’s possible for the book to be sold at the bookstore, but any money made by the author is from the publisher.

Barbara Carle, Italian associate professor, wrote two books that are collections of Italian and English poetry and prose. While they were both published in 2006, some of the writing spans back 20 years.

Carle’s books are not written as instructional texts; rather, she said she compiled them for others to read because of her passion for writing.

“It’s one of my main activities,” she said. “It’s one of my main reasons for being.”

Natalye Childress Smith can be reached at [email protected].