Recognizing MSU faculty authors

At MSU’s College of Letters and Science 16th annual Author Reception, eight faculty authors were recognized for their published books. Disciplines of the awarded faculty range from Earth science to philosophy and English. The virtual event took place on Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 7 - 8 p.m. and although the usual wine and hors d’oeuvres weren’t served, the attending faculty laughed together and celebrated the accomplishments of their colleagues in high spirits.

The reception started out with the Dean of the College of Letters and Science, Yves Idzerda, Ph.D., interviewing associate professor Sara Rushing about her novel “Virtues of Vulnerability: Humility, Autonomy and Citizen-Subjectivity.” Rushing’s book was published in 2020 by Oxford University Press, and explores the “complex medical-legal-policy-insurance nexus’’ of modern healthcare.

When asked what her inspirational process was, Rushing told Idzerda that, “I knew I needed to write something like this book when I had the experiences in the foreword.” The experiences she explores in her foreword include her brother’s struggle with mental illness, his suicide in 2001 and the birth of her first child in 2007. “Those were these profound experiences that as a political theorist I really wanted to examine in the lens of political theory,” Rushing explained. Rushing also thanked MSU for its support of faculty authors, pointing out that authoring books is, “time consuming, and they take a lot of stewing and reflection.”

Rushing gave a synopsis of her book in the interview. She hopes that her look at the doctor-patient relationship in modern America can help people realize the fragility of autonomy. “Today, we think of people when they enter the hospital complex as people who should advocate for themselves and inform themselves. I think there’s something really beneficial about that, in the sense that it gives you more of a sense of agency,” said Rushing. “We are largely dependent on and must trust people who are smarter than us, know a lot more and are there to care for us. This [book] is really thinking about what does it mean to be totally of choice and control.”

The other faculty authors recognized at the virtual ceremony were Earth sciences’ Julia Haggerty, Ph.D., for her editing of the book “Energy Impacts: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of North American Energy Development,” Kristen Intemann, Ph.D., from the history and philosophy department, for editing “The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Philosphy of Science,” William Wyckoff, Ph.D., also in Earth sciences, for his book “Riding Shotgun with Norman Wallace: Rephotographing the Arizona Landscape” and Gretchen Minton, Ph.D., from the English department, for her books “Twelfth Night: Arden Performance Editions” and “Shakespeare in Montana: Big Sky Country’s Love Affair with the World’s Most Famous Writer.” Also recognized were Nicole Carnegie, Ph.D., and Stacey Hancock, Ph.D., from mathematical sciences for their book “Montana State Introductory Statistics with R,” Paul Lachapelle, Ph.D., of political science for “Community Capacity and Resilience in Latin America” and Scott Parker from English for his “Being on the Oregon Coast.”

Dr. Idzerda thanked MSU and the celebrated faculty for their work. “I’d like to thank you, and we as a community of the university would like to thank all of our authors for doing this heavy lifting, writing this book. It’s great for the college university, it really increases our prestige,” Idzerda said.All the faculty’s books are available for purchase through Amazon.com.