Over 70 faculty authors were featured Wednesday, March 23 at the sixth annual “Authors at Oakland” celebration. This year, the event honored individuals who have written journal publications.

Each year, many OU faculty submit their articles to be represented. The Senate Library Committee reads through the submissions and selects pieces that would be of “broad interest,” according to Frank Lepkowski, interim dean of Kresge Library.

“It is important to note that these articles and their authors are not selected as the best, or given special distinction,” Lepkowski said. “Rather these articles and their authors speak in representation of all of the OU authors who have written articles that are featured in the celebration.”

Dr. Jeffrey Insko, an associate professor of English, and Dr. Laura Pittiglio, an assistant professor of nursing, were both featured authors. The pair was selected to speak on the topics of their articles at the event.

“It was a great honor to be selected to speak at the ‘Authors at Oakland’ event — it’s one of my favorite events at Oakland,” Insko said. “OU faculty members across fields and departments are producing exciting and valuable scholarship that is well worth celebrating.”

Insko’s article, “The Logic of Left Alone: The Pioneers and the Condition of U.S. Privacy,” is based on James Fenimore Cooper’s 1823 novel “The Pioneers” and how it relates it to the right to privacy from the 19th century to today.

“It explores the complex and paradoxical interplay between privacy and personhood found in Cooper’s novel as well as the 2003 Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas and the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” Insko said.

Pittiglio’s article, “Coping with HIV: Perspectives of Mothers,” was written in relation to a study she conducted.

“This manuscript disseminates the results from a qualitative study I conducted which explored how HIV-infected mothers cope with a diagnosis of HIV and their resulting life circumstances,” Pittiglio said.

Dr. Mary Lewis, chair of the Senate Library Committee, oversaw the article selections. She thought both speakers represented their fields well.

“We, as a committee, purposely chose someone in the field of humanities … and someone in the field of sciences,” Lewis said. “Both of them were very much, in my understanding, in line … with what they do.”

Pittiglio was grateful she was selected to speak at the event, but she was mostly glad to be able to share the stories of the women coping with HIV.

“I was honored, but more importantly, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to share the amazing stories of these courageous women who have found a way to continue to live life despite their illness,” she said.

For more information on the featured articles, visit library.oakland.edu