|
|
|
Casie Hermansson has had several works published in the last few years, but has never made it to the faculty author reception.
“I was pretty tight with the research time I had,” Hermansson said. “Researching my book required an obsessive amount of time. I couldn’t spare an hour and a half to drink punch and eat cookies.”
But now the product of Hermansson’s efforts is finally complete and published, allowing Hermansson to get her punch and cookies. Casie’s book, “Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide to the English Tradition,” was one of numerous published efforts by Pittsburg State faculty honored at the 26th annual faculty author reception.
The reception meant a lot to Hermansson, who has traveled all over the world to find information on Bluebeard, the noted “serial wife murderer.”
She’s been to London, Canada and Harvard.
But a trip to Bloomington also was in store. Unfortunately, the New Zealand native nearly missed the point of her search. Hermansson made a mistake in her traveling and started heading to Bloomington, Ill., rather than Bloomington, Ind.
But now Hermansson’s shifting gears again, attempting to get into the children’s book industry. She suggested she may be “overcompensating” after the Bluebeard book.
“Bluebeard was a children’s figure up to the turn of the 20th Century, when we decided as a culture that a serial wife murderer was not something we wanted to read to our kids,” Hermansson said. “Up until then, children were on a first-name basis with Bluebeard.”
But even beyond Hermansson’s Bluebeard, there were multiple other PSU authors, including PSU archivist Randy Roberts, who published “Pittsburg”, a photographic history of the town, along with Janette Mauk. Roberts also published with Shannon Phillips “Pittsburg State University: A Photographic History of the First 100 Years.”
“What was reinforced in both of these works is the resilience of Pittsburg and Pittsburg State,” Roberts said. “It’s been hard here in recent times with the loss of this business and that business. But through the research, that’s something Pittsburg has pushed through many times. In the early times, we lost the zinc smelting industry. Several thousand left then... But Pittsburg has always bounced back. It’s been the same way as the university.”
Other celebrated faculty authors include: Dr. Donald Baack, Dr. Judy Berry-Bravo, Dr. Selim Giray, Dr. David Hurford, Dr. Stephen Meats, Dr. Stephen Timme, Dr. Bobby Winters, Dr. Kelly Woestman and Dr. Paul Zagorski.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
Casie Hermansson has had several works published in the last few years, but has never made it to the faculty author reception.
“I was pretty tight with the research time I had,” Hermansson said. “Researching my book required an obsessive amount of time. I couldn’t spare an hour and a half to drink punch and eat cookies.”
But now the product of Hermansson’s efforts is finally complete and published, allowing Hermansson to get her punch and cookies. Casie’s book, “Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide to the English Tradition,” was one of numerous published efforts by Pittsburg State faculty honored at the 26th annual faculty author reception.
The reception meant a lot to Hermansson, who has traveled all over the world to find information on Bluebeard, the noted “serial wife murderer.”
She’s been to London, Canada and Harvard.
But a trip to Bloomington also was in store. Unfortunately, the New Zealand native nearly missed the point of her search. Hermansson made a mistake in her traveling and started heading to Bloomington, Ill., rather than Bloomington, Ind.
But now Hermansson’s shifting gears again, attempting to get into the children’s book industry. She suggested she may be “overcompensating” after the Bluebeard book.
“Bluebeard was a children’s figure up to the turn of the 20th Century, when we decided as a culture that a serial wife murderer was not something we wanted to read to our kids,” Hermansson said. “Up until then, children were on a first-name basis with Bluebeard.”
But even beyond Hermansson’s Bluebeard, there were multiple other PSU authors, including PSU archivist Randy Roberts, who published “Pittsburg”, a photographic history of the town, along with Janette Mauk. Roberts also published with Shannon Phillips “Pittsburg State University: A Photographic History of the First 100 Years.”
“What was reinforced in both of these works is the resilience of Pittsburg and Pittsburg State,” Roberts said. “It’s been hard here in recent times with the loss of this business and that business. But through the research, that’s something Pittsburg has pushed through many times. In the early times, we lost the zinc smelting industry. Several thousand left then... But Pittsburg has always bounced back. It’s been the same way as the university.”
Other celebrated faculty authors include: Dr. Donald Baack, Dr. Judy Berry-Bravo, Dr. Selim Giray, Dr. David Hurford, Dr. Stephen Meats, Dr. Stephen Timme, Dr. Bobby Winters, Dr. Kelly Woestman and Dr. Paul Zagorski.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
