Umatilla Native Announces New Book

       Congratulations to Heidi Hatfield Edwards on her new book which was recently published. Heidi is a Umatilla High School graduate, Class of 1985. She has recently published a book with a team of co-workers on communication and narratives. Heidi is a professor at Florida Tech in Melbourne.
   When we asked Heidi about her recent work, she humbly said “it is very academic” but she did share a news release from Florida Tech.
       The book she co-authored is titled "Narratives in Public Communication" and is available online. From the news release, we learned the new book was co-edited by School of Arts and Communication professor Heidi and looks at how narratives are used and how effective they are across political, corporate, and other areas of communication.
      The book is a collection of communications research material edited by Heidi and Fuyuan Shen, Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Advertising. Penn State’s Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication funded the research featured in the book.
   The book is a culmination of studies conducted that examine political, health, and science communication as well as advertising and public relations.
   "The research in this book covers a wide range of topics important to the public, and uses diverse methods that broaden our understanding," Edwards said. "We have highly quantitative studies and we have qualitative studies. It's a nice range and mix of inquiry and analysis that gets to the nuances of narrative communication. We are all storytellers. How we tell those stories makes a difference."
   A highlight for Edwards was looking at the work and different perspectives of the researchers featured in the book. She noticed connections to other research and her belief was confirmed that all these approaches can be used and be helpful to people who are trying to tell stories – and those consuming them, as well. There are many things that the public doesn't understand, and how communicators tell those stories matters.
   “I love the topic because narratives are so powerful,” she said. “They really help us to connect to each other.”
   We were delighted to see Heidi’s new book. She is to be commended for her tenacity in seeing this project through.