Swapping Places

Bookshelf

What's Been Happening

Users Views of New Information Technologies in Education: Studies From Multiple Nations by Cesáreo Morales and Patricia Ávila, with the Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicación Educativa in Mexico City; Gerald Knezek, UNT professor of technology and cognition; and Rhonda Christensen, UNT research scientist in technology and cognition (Instituto Latinoamericano de la Comunicación Educativa). Presented in both Spanish and English, the book offers research compiling the points of view of the primary users of technology in schools: teachers and students.

Beyond Teams: Building the Collaborative Organization by Michael Beyerlein, UNT professor of psychology and director of the Center for the Study of Work Teams; Sue Freedman, president and owner of Knowledge Work Associates in Dallas; Craig McGee, principal of Solutions in Fort Collins, Colo.; and Linda Moran, executive consultant with Achieve Global in Simsbury, Conn. (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer). This book illustrates how work team structures must evolve to a more complex set of social interactions that define a collaborative organization. The authors discuss 10 principles of organizational design and their application in manufacturing, service and virtual settings.

Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire by Don Graham ('62, '64 M.A.) of Austin (Wiley). Graham, professor of English at the University of Texas-Austin and writer-at-large with Texas Monthly, tells the epic history of the founding and evolution of the King Ranch, from 1853 to 2003. The book offers an account of Richard King's life and explores the implications of a forgotten court case, a lawsuit brought against King in 1879 by Helen Chapman, the widow of a former partner. The tangled tale of the Chapman and King partnership provides a J.R. Ewing moment in the book.

Never Say Never: 10 Lessons to Turn You Can't Into Yes I Can by Phyllis George (honorary '98) of New York City (McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books). George, who attended North Texas in the late '60s, shares lessons she learned throughout her varied experiences as Miss America 1971, woman sportscaster, actress and entrepreneur. The book also includes stories from personalities such as Walter Cronkite, Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw.

Home Was Never Like This: The Yardley Diaries, edited by Charles A. Turnbo ('64) of Evergreen, Colo. (Yardley Enterprises). Col. Doyle R. Yardley, commanding officer of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, wrote about his military experiences during World War II, including 16 months in a German prisoner-of-war camp in Poland. His diaries chronicle what he and the other men of the battalion thought and did during the war.