Jennifer Reynolds-Moehrle (left), associate professor of accounting at UMSL, and Stephen Moehrle, professor of accounting at UMSL, peruse the offerings at the Faculty Author Reception Dec. 6 at the St. Louis Mercantile Library. (Photo by August Jennewein)

For several years, María Teresa Balogh attended Friday’s annual Faculty Author Reception, always telling herself that she’d have a book out by the next year. As a longtime writer, she’d published lots of her poetry, but her own book remained a goal.

“This year, that finally happened,” said Balogh, next to her copies of “Bailar Caribeño,” her debut poetry book. Balogh is an associate teaching professor of Spanish at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Her book was one of 155 books, recordings and compositions by UMSL faculty members featured during the annual reception in the St. Louis Mercantile Library. Selections included fiction, poetry and nonfiction encompassing topics ranging from accounting to depictions of Greek women in the arts.

The event allows faculty to not only showcase their works, but also to see what their fellow UMSL faculty have accomplished, said Chancellor Tom George, who had three books on physics featured among the selections.

“It’s nice to celebrate people’s accomplishments, particularly in authorship,” George said. “But it also helps to acquaint you with what your colleagues are doing.”

Denise Mussman’s work straddled multiple worlds. Mussman is an associate teaching professor and coordinator of the English for academic purposes program. She also edited “New Ways in Teaching Writing”, a textbook for instructors of English-language learners, and wrote “The Adventures of Buzz and Fuzz,” a story about a homesick honeybee who befriends a bear. “The Adventures” is a chapter book geared toward elementary students, but she also found use for it with her EAP students, who are non-native English speakers.

“My students were able to journal about issues like homesickness, belonging and diversity,” she said.

Many faculty publications focus primarily on journal articles, but the faculty author reception brings everyone on the campus community together, said Stephen Moehrle, professor of accounting in the College of Business Administration at UMSL. Moehrle had co-authored two books on display about accounting with Jennifer Reynolds-Moehrle, associate professor of accounting at UMSL.

“It’s a chance to bring the state of the art from the journals to speak to a wider audience than our colleagues and our profession,” Moehrle said.

This year, his works on display were “A Global History of Accounting, Financial Reporting, and Public Policy: America,” and “Understanding Accounting Academic Research: Before and After Sarbanes-Oxley.”