Shepherd professor establishes general studies fund

ISSUED: 15 March 2007
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Shepherd professor establishes general studies fund)

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Shepherdstown, WV--The Shepherd University Foundation announces the establishment of a special fund to support the general studies program. Dr. Michael Austin, associate professor of English at Shepherd, will donate royalties from his textbook Reading the World: Ideas That Matter published by W.W. Norton and Company. The book has been adopted as part of Shepherd's English curriculum.

"As a member of the English department, I have some input into what textbooks are used in all of our general studies classes," said Austin. "By creating this fund and contributing to it 100 percent of all royalties derived from purchases of the book by Shepherd students, I am trying to make absolutely sure that the money students spend on my book will go toward their education rather than into my pocket," he said.

Austin wrote the 700-page textbook because he felt there was a need for a freshman composition text that would introduce students to the great ideas of the world as well as the great ideas of the many worldwide cultures that make up America. The book includes a collection of 79 texts by some of the world's greatest thinkers, as well as visual expressions of great ideas.

For more information about this fund or about creating a scholarship fund, contact the Shepherd University Foundation at 304/876-5397.

-30-HORST

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