Volume one of the faculty reading list includes a variety of scholarly works penned by Northeastern University professors, such as African American studies professor Robin Chandler’s book about gender-based violence during wartime and journalism professor Dan Kennedy’s personal exploration of the culture of dwarfism. 

Title: “Women, War, and  Violence: Personal Perspectives and Global Activism”

Author: Robin Chandler, professor of African American studies at Northeastern, Lihua Wang and Linda K. Fuller

Description: Global activists, scholars, NGOs, and clinicians weigh in on how war and its violent underpinnings affect everyday women and families. With first-hand research and assessments of gender-based violence interventions, it invites perspectives and storytelling beyond traditional academic writing. It also sheds new light on war-related gender oppression at the intersections of race, nationalism, religion, and social class and the need to promote gender equality.

Title: “Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter’s Eyes”

Author: Dan Kennedy, professor of journalism at Northeastern

Description: Filled with poignant personal experiences, Kennedy, whose daughter was diagnosed with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism, explores the ancient history of dwarfism, its subculture and caste system. It also takes a look at controversial medical procedures that allow parents to eliminate differences like dwarfism and Down syndrome. Kennedy argues for the cultural value of preserving differences, and that eliminating them may harm society in unpredictable ways.

Title: “Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry: Avoiding the Performance Trap”

Author: David Wesley, manager of the Institute for Global Innovation Management, and Gloria Barczak, professor of marketing at Northeastern

Description: This book identifies patterns to help video game engineers, developers and marketing executives create better business strategies and successfully bring new products to market. It highlights companies that challenge the norm to attract new customers like parents and senior citizens, and explains how video games are used in a variety socially beneficial ways.

Title: “Introduction to Subsurface Imaging”

Author: Michael Silevitch, director, Jose Martinez-Lorenzo, research assistant, and Carey Rappaport, associate director in the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems at Northeastern

Description: Describing and evaluating the principles and methods of subsurface sensing and imaging, this book links theory to real-world applications in medicine, biology, security and geophysical exploration. It integrates sensing techniques (acoustic, electric, electromagnetic, optical, x-ray or particle beams) by unifying physical and mathematical similarities, and computational and algorithmic methods.

Title: “Parkscapes: Green Spaces in Modern Japan”

Author: Thomas R. H. Havens, professor of history at Northeastern

Description: Japan protects one-seventh of its land surface in parks, which are visited by over a billion people each year. This book analyzes the origins, development, and distinctive features of these public spaces and explains how they evolved from government use into sites of demonstrations, riots, shelters, as well as recreation. Based on extensive research in government documents, travel records, and accounts by frequent park visitors, it is the first book in any language to examine the history of both urban and national parks of Japan.