A textbook that was co-authored by Dr. Glen Williams, professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Southeast Missouri State University, has received an award.

The textbook, "Public Speaking and Civic Engagement," received the Textbook of Distinction award from the National Communication Association.

The textbook focuses on teaching students how they can use public speaking to become better citizens. It also includes instructional materials that go along with the text.

"Part of our mission is helping students understand how speaking can help them professionally, but it also is an important part of citizenship so that we can make sure that our communities are aware of issues and that we address those issues effectively," Williams said.

Williams is one of four authors of the textbook. The other authors are J. Michael Hogan, Patricia Hayes Andrews and James R. Andrews. Hogan is a professor at Penn State University and Patricia Andrews and James Andrews are retired professors from Indiana University. Williams was a student of all three at Indiana University and pitched the idea first to Patricia Andrews then got her husband, James Andrews, involved before recruiting Hogan because he is an expert in civic engagement.

Williams wrote two of the chapters and created all of the instructional materials that are included. The textbook is in its third edition and Williams co-authored the first and second editions as well. Williams had also been a part of other public speaking textbooks, but what sets this textbooks apart from the others is the civic engagement angle.

"I've co-authored a couple of earlier public speaking texts, but we wanted to go with the civic engagement angle," Williams said. "We knew there was a need for that, people need to participate in democracy. ... We better be out there speaking if we want to make a difference."

Another faculty member that had a part in the creation of the textbook was Michael Simmons, an instructor of mass media.

"We worked together developing a class. He knew I had some experience on the graphics side, he understands curriculum really well, so it was a nice partnership," Simmons said. "So when this textbook came up it just seemed easy to continue that."

Simmons contributions to the textbook centered around graphics and visuals.

"I designed and wrote all of the powerpoints for all the chapters, and there is a separate chapter on visual information and presenting that, and I did all of the graphics and samples for that chapter," Simmons said. "I developed all the materials that an instructor would use in a classroom as far as the power points, and that one chapter he and I worked on and I developed all of the graphics for that chapter just on using graphics in presentations."

According to Simmons, the decision to be a part of the creation of the textbook not only had to do with the subject matter but working with Williams as well.

"First of all I got to work with Dr. Williams, so that's a plus," Simmons said. "When you work in the academic environment it's important to be publishing work and to be working on textbooks, and I think the topic's important."

The textbook is newly released and used in school curriculums all over the country, including a course at Southeast called "Fundamentals of Oral Communication."

"It's being used all over the country. ... We use it here, and it's nice to be able to use our book," Williams said. "Our faculty believes in civic engagement, too. We wanted a book that we could use that encouraged civic engagement, so this is the book that does that."

The Textbook of Distinction award is a national award that is given out annually. Professors from around the country vote for their favorite textbook of the year, according to Williams.

Winning the award and seeing the response from others was an exciting surprise for Williams.

"I was shocked because there are a couple of major titles out there. It's nice that people have responded to the civic engagement theme. They see the importance of that just like we do," Williams said. "We had a good team in place to help us get where we are, people have responded, we're excited. ... Once the shock wore off we did cartwheels."

On the contrary, hearing the news of the award was no surprise to Simmons.

"I'm not surprised, look at the team they had writing it. It was wonderful just to be a little part of that," Simmons said. "We had some really creative and bright people putting that material together, so I'm not surprised at all."

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