Florida A&M University graphic arts students can now be on the look out for a textbook written by one of its professors.
Vincent Blyden, a graphic arts professor at Florida A&M University, has written and will publish a book, “Electronic Prepress for Publishing,” tailor-made for two of the classes he teaches, Graphic Communication Materials and Processes and Image Acquisition for Publishing.
Blyden said he combined the information from the two courses, in an effort to make it easier on his students. The reason he wrote this book was to combine the classes and give his students a greater understanding of the course.
“I actually wrote the book according to the way I teach my class,” Blyden said.
He said he got word two weeks ago that his book will be on the market this summer, and it will be his first time using it for class. In 2005 Blyden released “Graphic Communication” published by Book Search Publishing, owned by Amazon.com.
Blyden said the second book, titled “Basic Prepress and Typesetting Handbook,” is for his electronic prepress for publishing class and his third book, titled “Book Assembly and Design,” is for his book publishing class.
Blyden said the two books are really just a breakdown of his first book into two separate works. He added more chapters to go along with his class lesson.
Positive feedback came from other professors and students about him writing his book and having it published.
“I think its great that Professor Blyden wrote his book,” said Dorothy Bland, director of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. “In fact I think it’s great when any professor publishes their writing.”
The students in professor Blyden’s course agree with Bland about the idea of professors creating books for their classes.
“I think it was pretty cool to have a professor with so much knowledge that he could write his own textbook,” said Faraji Jackson, one of Blyden’s students, from Richmond, Va. “I mean the people who make up a textbook basically sit down and try to decide what to write and what to teach anyway.”