Original essays and papers from WTAMU students are gaining the attention of the largest library in the world.
“The Politics, Bureaucracy, and Justice Journal” has not only become a distinguished academic journal of WT, but has also been formally recognized by the Library of Congress.
“We applied and we made our case stating that we were an academic journal that was going to be student-managed,” Dr. Dwight Vick, assistant professor of Public Administration and faculty supervisor of the journal, said. “That made it a rare situation that was attractive to (the Library of Congress).”
PBJ is a student managed journal from WT that contains essays and research papers from graduate and undergraduate students all over the country. Though faculty members are allowed to submit their own original works, student papers are the main focus of the journal.“There are not too many student-run academic journals in the United States and we have one of the few,” Vick said
The journal’s nationally recognized status has not only helped distinguish WT from other universities, but can also make job and graduate resumes for students who are published in the journal more colorful and professional.
“It looks really good if you’re coming fresh out of undergraduate and can say ‘Hey, I’m a published author,’” Jesse Jones, graduate student of Political Science and former editor of the journal, said. “It’s even better if you can work with the journal and get that experience.”
Based off of their criteria, student editors are in charge of reading and editing articles of every student and faculty member who submit a paper. Though the work of student editors can be rewarding, it can also have its moments of stress and uneasiness, especially when the students are asked to edit the works of professors.
“Let’s say there’s a faculty member who wanted to submit an article and you had problems with it,” Jones said. “It’s a little bit intimidating to go up to that tenure professor and say ‘this is the problem we have with your paper. Fix it, otherwise we won’t publish it.’”
It might be intimidating, but editing and being published for the PBJ Journal is part of the adult world of professionalism and responsibility, according to Anand B. Commissiong, assistant professor of political Science.
“It is a grown up thing,” Commissiong said. “It’s a grown up exercise that they’re engaging in.”
Part of the journal’s purpose is not simply to be recognized by government entities or graduate schools. It was also developed to help students grow professionally.
“The fact that they are doing the work is what’s important,” Commissiong said. “It’s part of getting the students to be professional in that area.”
Even if students feel their writing skills are not up to par to be published in the PBJ journal, student helpers who work with the journal are available to help develop the writing and grammar skills of other students for potential publication.
“We developed an entire system where a student, who may have writing deficiencies, can come and eventually be published by the time they graduate from here,” Vick said.
To read the journal, submit a paper, or for more information about the journal visit www.wtamu.edu/pbj.
