Campus Update
(December 4, 2006)
Books in Brief
The Thomson Reader, by
Robert Yagelski
Robert P. Yagelski of the School of Education
has written a new book, The Thomson Reader:
Conversations in Context (Thomson Wadsworth).
Grounded in the belief that reading and writing
always occur in context, the text is designed to
help student writers improve their critical
reading and writing skills by teaching them the
value of contextual awareness.
Lessons of Disaster, by Tom Birkland
Lessons of Disaster: Policy Change after
Catastrophic Events (Georgetown University
Press, 2006) is the latest book written by Tom Birkland of the Department of Public
Administration and Policy.
Birkland examines four categories of disasters: aviation security, homeland security, earthquakes, and hurricanes. He explores lessons learned from each, focusing on three types of policy change: change in the larger social construction of the issues surrounding the disaster; instrumental change, in which laws and regulations are made; and political change, in which alliances are created and shifted.
Birkland is on a one-year fellowship, serving as program director of the Infrastructure Management and Hazard Response Program at the National Science Foundation. He is also co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Media and Politics (CQ Press, 2006).
