What do professors do outside of class? Sometimes, they write books.

On Monday, Oct. 1 in the Ojibwe ballroom in Davies Student Center, UW-Eau Claire faculty gathered to celebrate their recent publications. From history textbooks to video games, the annual Author’s Celebration showcases the wide variety of materials published by professors. This year, 32 authors across all departments gathered to display their work.

Ryan Weichelt, associate professor of geography and anthropology, was in attendance to discuss his recent publication “Atlas of the 2016 Election,” one of three Atlases he has helped publish that study presidential election results under a geographic lens.

“We (the authors) are trying to discuss election results as geographers,” Weichelt said. “This book is a wide variety of spatial landscapes from the national level to the voting district level. We can look at things on the landscape and see why people were voting that they did.”

According to Weichelt, voting results show people who live next to each other are more likely to vote like each other. His book examines voter data with geographical maps to tell the story of why people voted for who they voted for, Weichelt explained.

“It’s our job to facilitate a good environment for research on campus,” Karen Havholm from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs said. “We try to get a representative from each department and we choose 32 authors who are nominated by their department chairs.”

Havholm said her office began contacting department heads in July to get nominations for authors to be represented. After all authors had been chosen, the ORSP designed the 32 posters displayed at the event, which will soon be transferred to frames in the hall of McIntyre Library.

A few rows behind Weichelt stood history professor James Oberly, displaying his book on Austro-Hungarian migration to the U.S., “From a Multiethnic Empire to a Nation of Nations: Austro-Hungarian Migrants in the U.S., 1870-1940.”

“It’s the history of immigrants — of migrants who don’t necessarily live out their dreams coming over here,” Oberly said.

From 1870 to the outbreak of World War I, a total of four million people migrated to the U.S. from Austro-Hungary, Oberly explained. Of those four million, two-and-a-half chose to remain in the United States, though Oberly said evidence shows that these people had every intention of returning home. This book delves into the experience of those migrants, examining the reasons why they left, or stayed, in the U.S.

“This event is a great opportunity to celebrate faculty publications,” Rochelle Hoffman, graduate student and event organizer, said. “It’s so impressive for them to do research outside of their normal work.”

Anderson can be reached at [email protected].