Over the past several months, four Mount St. Mary’s University faculty members have published books.
Released in March were “Ranked Choice Voting” by Professor of Political Science Michael Towle, Ph.D., and James Endersby, professor of political science at the University of Missouri, and “What Everyone Should Know About Business: A Primer,” by Distinguished University Professor of Business Patrice Flynn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Theology Joshua Brown, Ph.D., published “Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters: Chinese Philosophy and Catholic Theology” last November. The paperback version of “With Justice for All: A Social History of Disability in America,” by Department Chair and Professor of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Human Services Jack Trammell, Ph.D., recently was issued. The book originally was published in November 2023.
“Ranked Choice Voting” by James W. Endersby and Michael J. Towle
While ranked choice voting is a foreign concept to many Americans, Towle has already spent years researching it—including in pockets of the U.S. like New York City, cities in Utah and Minnesota, and the entire state of Maine, which have implemented ranked choice voting.
He began studying ranked choice voting after leading a study abroad trip to Dublin in 1998. “Ireland has what I thought was this really odd election system, where they’d write their first choice, second choice, third choice, etc., on a ballot. And so I was introduced to it over there,” he noted.
Over the years, he researched and discussed it with Endersby, a classmate from graduate school, as well as wrote a couple of papers on the topic for conferences. After ranked choice voting became popular in parts of the U.S. a few years ago, they decided to distill their years of study into a book.
“In the book, we don’t take sides. We tried to take an even-handed approach and analyze the research we’d done, the interviews with people who use this form of voting, to present the pros and cons of ranked choice voting,” Towle explained. He hopes the book, published by Oxford University Press, will introduce readers to the concept, show them that there are multiple ways of conducting elections in the U.S., and spark conversation on how we want our elections to be run.
"What Everyone Should Know About Business: A Primer” by Patrice Flynn
Published this spring by Business Expert Press, Flynn’s “What Everyone Should Know About Business: A Primer,” offers an accessible overview of the functional areas of business. As the title implies, it’s written in a way that anyone, business student or not, can appreciate.
Flynn covers the theory behind the various functional areas of business while applying them to modern-day issues, questions and examples. She wrote the book to offer readers of any background an engaging map to understanding and succeeding in each of these areas in the 21st century.
With decades of experience teaching global business and economics and as an economic policy expert, not to mention applied researcher on historical and global business practice, Flynn provides a wealth of knowledge in navigating the ever-changing economic and business landscape.
“I welcome all students to join me in an exciting adventure exploring the nature of business as we experience it in today’s global economy, a subject I find endlessly fascinating,” she exclaimed.
“Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters” by Joshua Brown
Brown’s book, “Aquinas and the Early Chinese Masters,” was a passion project. The book, published by The Catholic University of America Press, was inspired by his respect for the open-minded treatment of pre-Christian writers and thinkers by St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Catholic priest and theologian, and his deep love of ancient Chinese philosophers and the Catholic Church in China.
Brown began writing it in 2020. “I viewed it as a thought experiment, and asked myself, how would Aquinas have read these early Chinese authors?” he explained.
He spent much of the free time provided by COVID-related lockdowns writing, and had finished the book within a couple of years. Brown credits Associate Professor and Justin Matchulat, Ph.D., and Professor of Philosophy Joshua Hochschild, Ph.D., and Michael Hahn, associate professor in the Seminary, for helping him get through the lengthy reviewing process—each one read some, or in Hahn’s case, all of his manuscript and provided feedback. He was also able to purchase books for the project thanks to a faculty summer grant from the Mount.
Brown’s goal in writing, beyond putting a foundational Western Catholic philosopher in communication with Chinese thought, was to introduce Western Catholics to the rich offerings of Chinese culture and Chinese Catholicism in general. “People who are smarter than me will hopefully read the book, and begin to read Chinese texts with an eye to bringing it to the Church, to Christ.”
“And Justice for All” by Jack Trammell
Trammell, a former special education teacher and father of students in special education classes, explained that writing “With Justice for All” was a deeply personal and enjoyable experience.
After lamenting the lack of a book that fully explained the history and experience of disability in North America, he decided to author it himself. Common Ground Research Networks published the book
“This book was different. It took me 10 years to write,” he noted. After traveling as far as Eastern Europe and California for research, thanks in part to summer research and department travel grants from the Mount, he was left with “a newfound appreciation for how hidden the stories of those with disabilities have been in the U.S.”
Trammell, who incorporates the experience of people with disabilities into all of his courses, hopes his book will serve as an eye-opening primer to students, and a call to readers to share their own stories.
“I hope [the book] encourages people to think about all of the untold stories around them and to write them down, memorize them, share them in some way,” he said.