Michael J. McMains ’65 published the 6th Edition of Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections, 2021. The first edition of the book, coauthored in 1995 with Wayman Mullins, Professor at Texas State University, was based on McMains’ initial 13 years of experience and over 400 critical incidents with the San Antonio, Texas, Police Department. The text integrated experience, theory, and research in crisis intervention, risk assessment, group dynamics, psychopathology, persuasion, and negotiations to give Criminal Justice practitioners tools for resolving high-risk, potentially violent encounters as peacefully as possible. National data has suggested that up to 99% of high-conflict incidents have been resolved without injury or death using principles outlined in this book. The 6th Edition updates the original text and adds Andrew T. Young, Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Lubbock Christian University, to the authorship. The book has served as a resource for policing agencies and prison systems throughout Texas and the U.S., the FBI, and the U.S. Department of State’s Anti-Terrorist Assistance Program. It has been used as a text in multiple academic programs. “Blessed are the peacemakers …”
Gary Parker ’67 is a retired financial services industry actuarial executive living in Dallas. Since he retired, he has written several books.
Holy Bible Poetry: Popular Biblical Passages in Rhyme
Each of the 176 poems includes a popular Biblical passage word for word. A limited number of additional words and phrases are added to produce a rhyming poem with consistent timing and meter. The additions are intended to clarify or enhance the message.
Personal Life Lessons: My Path to Inner Peace
A book of assertions, affirmations, and truth statements representing lessons for the author and probably for many others experiencing life’s adventure of learning and personal growth.
Basic Group Singing Techniques: A Primer for the Amateur Singer
This booklet is a basic, to-the-point review of the essential elements of proper vocal techniques for group singing. Written in lay person terms, the principles are adaptable to all sizes of vocal groups from small ensembles to large choruses and choirs.
One and Done: Dealer’s Choice Quartet Overnight Success Story
A fascinating true story of a barbershop quartet’s journey from formation to international champion in 18 months, as well as their rewarding experiences as champions.
Bob Lively ’68 has written 500 newspaper columns, mostly for the Austin American-Statesman, and 15 books. He says he has probably said enough, perhaps even too much, but either way, is done, having written his last book, Why Pray?
Does prayer make a difference? When life delivers harsh blows— loss, illness, death—how does prayer help us? Do we even know how to pray? When we get it wrong, does God listen anyway? Lively has delved deeply into all these questions and more. His stories from personal experiences shed light on what it’s like to emerge from the shadows of grief, fear, heartache, and the burden of mistakes. How did he manage it? Why should we pray? At first, his reasoning seems simple. You’ll find the answer, and even more, inside these pages.
Now retired and living in the Texas Hill Country, Lively spent more than 40 years as an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church.
Cameron White ’78 (MA ’79), Ph.D. has written, co-written, or edited 15 books during his career as Professor of Social and Intercultural Education at the University of Houston. Recent books include Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education; Social Education Voices; Intercultural Education: Kosovo Voices of Struggle and Resilience; and Internationalizing Education. He also served as a Secondary Social Studies Teacher in Texas for several years (thanks to the AC Education Program) and has received numerous grants and awards including Fulbright awards, teaching excellence awards, and teaching American history grants. He also has considerable international education experience in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. He recently retired from the University of Houston after more than 15 years. He and his wife, Lori Domel ’79, live in Friendswood, Texas.
Barbara Foster Wilson Bates ’83 (MA ’84), under the pen name B. F. Bates, published her second book on history, Assam Trucking Company, Air Transport Command, Birth of AMC, in 2020. Assam Trucking Company (ATC) chronicles the daily routines and operations, as well as the innovative maintenance concepts, of the Air Transport Command in the China-Burma-India Theater of WWII. Lessons learned in theater were applied and evolved into today’s Air Mobility Command. Begun as a graduate paper in U.S. Historiography, Bates took the suggestion of Dr. Light Cummins and expanded her paper into a book. Over the next 36 years, work assignments as an instructional designer with military contractors allowed her access to various research resources.
Her first book, Texoma Medical Center: The First Twenty-Five Years, was published in 1985. Now retired from Boeing, Bates lives in the Dallas area and keeps her hand in writing and education by tutoring the next generation in English and Social Studies.
Sherry Owens Scott ’89 has written her third book, Playhouses: Sexuality and Fundamentalism, Childhood Roles and Gender, A Memoir.
Three cousins fiercely defended their roles within the sanctity of their playhouses. But a six-year stint in a fundamentalist religious organization thwarted Scott’s understanding of gender. Homosexuality was an insidious infective spirit that conferred fear upon her adolescent naivete, eventually eroding relations between the cousins. “Reconciling who we were took years, but survival led to relational ties without fear and hearts for activism in the face of rising institutionalized discrimination. Playhouses is a journey from corrosive indoctrination to celebrating the difference in others.”
Marc Parrish ’92 has published his third book about Austin College, ’Roo Tales: The Rivals and Legends of Austin College. Book #3 tells the stories of Austin College sports competition against rival schools and Austin College’s sports legends in the Athletic Hall of Honor. The book is dedicated to retired Director of Admission Jay Evans ’64, who Marc says was an important influence before and during his AC years. He is grateful to Coach Larry Fedora ’84 for writing the foreword.
AC Book #2, ’Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College History, was published in 2021. Because of its huge size at publication in 2020, AC Book #1 was split into two smaller books: ’Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Football and ’Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics. All of Marc’s books about Austin College are available on Amazon in e-book, paperback, and hardcover formats. Marc is an Assistant Director of Informational Technology in Austin. He and his wife, Dianne, work for The University of Texas System and are the proud parents of Alex, 17, and Malia, 12.