Author Interview with Dr. Callie Rennison
Has this ever happened to you? You are reading online about someone's work, then discover they are close-by in your own community? When I was looking at the impressive winners of the 2020 TAA awards, I was struck by the fact that one SAGE author won prizes for two books. This is a very rigorous peer-reviewed award, so winning twice in the same year is remarkable.
As luck would have it, Dr. Callie Rennison is a local so I had a chance to meet with her. I was so impressed by her whole approach to research, writing, and teaching, I wanted to give MethodSpace readers a chance to hear from her. So rather than give you a written exchange, we met online for this interview.
Tips that resonated with me from this interview include:
Take a holistic view of your field, including topics other texts don't cover, and stakeholders whose perspectives are usually missing.
Write to help students prepare for the messy real worlds of research and practice, not an ideal world where things go according to plan.
Use real cases that allow readers see the issues in context. By carrying cases through the book, you invite readers to see how situations unfold.
Suggest writing assignments that ask students to learn how to write in ways that will be effective at communicating with policy-makers, professionals, practitioners who don't read academic journals.
