Photo Albums

Professors (from left) Warren Campbell, Jeremy Hartnett, and Derek Nelson pose with their newly published books and the covers, tastefully produced in cake.

Dean of Students Scott Brown chats with a colleague.

Nelson slices a piece of cake for serving.

Joseph Day, emeritus professor of Classics, delivers a smile.

Dean of the College Todd McDorman (right), listens to a colleague.

Campbell (center) shares a laugh with McDorman (left) and Brian Tucker '98, professor of German.

English Professors Crystal Benedicks (center) and Jill Lamberton (right) listen to Evan Bone '26.

Emeritus Professor of Religion Raymond Williams (center) and Associate Professor of Religion Jonathan Baer (right) listen to President's Chief of Staff and Director of Strategic Communications Jim Amidon '87. 

Assistant Professor of Classics Theodora Kopestonsky (right) listens to Day.

Associate Professor of Political Science Lorraine McCrary engages with a colleague.

Hartnett (right) talks with Dean Brown. Of celebrations like this to honor a professional accomplishment, Hartnett said, "Books take years to gestate, and a lot of that work takes place in cold archives, on archeological sites, and in museums. Most of the writing happens alone with you hunched over a computer trying to crank out 500 to 700 words a day. Then it sort of vanishes into the ether before you get to hold a printed copy of it.To have everybody together for this public act -- rather than one that feels like a private indulgence in your own intellectual world -- is really meaningful."

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Glen Helman peruses one of the books.

Nelson gave an introduction to Hartnett's book, "The Remarkable Life, Death, and Afterlife of an Ordinary Roman."

Hartnett talked of what made this book particularly special, "Two things are meaningful about it. One is this has students at its center in two ways. This piece of sculpture at Newfields (the Indianapolis Museum of Art) was the topic of our senior seminar twice in Classics -- 2013 and 2014. To see some of those ideas that we workshopped a decade ago finally coming to fruition and pulling together a whole bunch of research assistants who worked on this over a series of summers is really meaningful to me. It's also really fun to share it with this local community because this piece is remarkable for it being in Central Indiana. Having an opportunity to talk about it in front of the piece, for example, at Newfields has just been super fun and not something I ever get to do. I'm really proud to contribute something to the broader body of knowledge."

Of his most recent book, Nelson explained it's topic, "Every day, everyone wakes up in a community that could be better, but no one knows really what to do. If you're not organized, not committed, not planning, and not thinking things through, your impact will be blunt. This (book) is about what pastors do and what churches do in helping communities get better. It's good for pastors to get out of their congregations. It's also good for communities to have different kinds of leaders doing different things. There's a space for the philanthropic sphere. There's a space for the government to do things, but there is stuff that pastors can do that maybe no one else can, and if they embrace that and use those skills, you can deliver some really positive results."

Tucker introduced Campbell's book, "The Pauline History of Hebrews."

Tucker shared kind words for Campbell's first book. Of the realease, Campbell said, "It's very humbling and rewarding. This is a multi-year process and a lot of stakes on the line for someone's first book, and I'll always treasure these brief, little moments of really refined and generous congratulations that I truly appreciate."

Campbell said of the pride in this moment, "There have been a couple of these moments that have allowed me to register the finality of the accomplishment a little more, and, yeah, a lot of angst and existentialism for the many years behind it. I haven't forgotten that, and I think it allows me to more richly engage with the generosity of these moments." 

These students were engaged listeners.

McDorman introduced Nelson's book, "Seek the 正规赌钱软件appll-Being of the City."

This student used the main staircase to get a better view.

McDorman spoke of Nelson's book sprint, a collaborative writing process with a group of colleagues. Nelson explained the process like this, "Book sprint is a collaborative, facilitated process where a small group of people who already know a lot about a topic work together to write a book. The question is, what will this book be about? Literally, we're starting from there. In our case, we all were directors of pastor leadership programs, and all knew this intimately and had enough in the well, so to speak, that we weren't needing to research (the topic). You work together to produce the book, and there's literally no dinner on Friday until you're done with a draft. 正规赌钱软件app write, brainstorm, outline, and then divide up writing assignments. When you write as much as you can, or as much as you want to say, then you stop and edit someone else's while they edit yours. Add a bit here, subtract a bit there, move stuff around. Then you take a break and you compose some more. It's hard to work that fast, but it's also thrilling to actually do it and see the see the final product."

Eric Dunaway, assistant professor of economics, was amongst the attendees. 

The collective accomplishment drew applause from Lewis McCrary (from left), communications and internship manager for the Stephenson Institute for Classical Liberalism, Lorraine McCrary, and Shamira Gelbman, professor of political science.

Cristian Cantu '26 made up a sizeable student presence.

These students took a moment to examine the books.

Matthew Gorey (left), assistant professor of Classics, talks with Eric 正规赌钱软件apptzel, professor of biology.

Baer (right) shares a laugh with a student.

Timur Akhunov, assistant professor of mathematics, stopped to say hello.

All were in a good mood on this Tuesday afternoon.