Mason Book Shelf

Cheryl Grabenstein, MEd Counseling and Development ’92, The Divorced Parent’s Challenge: Eight Lessons to Teach Children Love and Forgiveness, Collier Productions, 2007

The Divorced Parent’s Challenge offers simple, straightforward, and nonjudgmental advice on focusing on love for one’s children instead of on negative feelings toward one’s ex-spouse when divorce divides a family.

A registered nurse for 25 years, Grabenstein has worked on maternal-child education and program development. She has conducted stress management seminars and started one of the first health education programs in the country. She is a member of the Johns Hopkins Fellows Program in Applied Behavioral Science.

Elaina Loveland, MA English ’02, Creative Careers: Paths for Aspiring Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians, and Writers. SuperCollege LLC, 2007

Aimed at students, young professionals, and career changers, this book provides detailed information on various creative careers and includes nearly 100 interviews with real-world professionals who offer advice on their creative career path. The book is a follow-up to Loveland’s first book, Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians, and Writers.

Loveland is currently managing editor of International Educator magazine and has written for numerous publications, including Adjunct Advocate, American Careers, Dance Teacher, Dance Spirit, Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, International Educator, Military Officer, Pointe, and U.S.News & World Report. She has taught English courses as an adjunct instructor at several higher education institutions in the Washington, D.C., region and has taught ballet to children.

Carrie Loveless, MBA ’95, with Maggie Daniels, Wedding Planning and Management: Consultancy for Diverse Clients. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007

During spring 2005, Loveless taught classes on wedding planning and management at Mason as an adjunct professor. The classes were in such demand that Loveless and Assistant Professor Maggie Daniels decided to write a text on wedding planning and management. The resulting book, Wedding Planning and Management: Consultancy for Diverse Clients, prepares future event managers and wedding consultants. The book includes a discussion of theory and practice, case studies, a discussion of weddings around the world, and worksheets, checklists, and additional resources.

Loveless, a creative event planner, has staged social events domestically and internationally for parties of 20 to 5,000. She has studied design at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, and floral arranging at the Judith Blacklock Flower School in London and U. Goto Florist in Tokyo. She has been a guest speaker at several design and decorating events and a guest lecturer in the Artful Living series at the Rhode Island School of Design. Loveless and her husband, a captain in the U.S. Navy, live outside Tokyo, Japan.

Bang Doan Nguyen, BS Computer Science ’95 and MS Computer Science ’00, Tình Yêu Tìm La.i, FocuPress, 2006

Nguyen uses Mason as the setting for this love story, which conveys a message of hope and forgiveness and the struggle and success of young Vietnamese in their new homeland. The book is written in Vietnamese.

Nguyen is a software engineer for Raytheon and is currently working toward his MS in information systems at Mason. He lives in Annandale, Virginia.

Cara Putman, JD ’01, Canteen Dreams, Heartsong Presents, 2007

Canteen Dreams is a romantic novel set in Nebraska during World War II.

Putnam is an attorney and writer, who lives in Lafayette, Indiana. She has contributed to Generation NeXt Parenting and is a weekly guest blogger at www.genxparents.blogspot.com. She will be releasing two more books in 2008: Sandhill Dreams and Captive Dreams.