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Acknowledgments

Sincerest thanks to the cofounders of Unnamed Publisher, Jeff Shelstad and Eric Frank, for their leadership and passion in restructuring the textbook industry and for approaching me to be involved with their efforts. Thanks also to Flat World’s dynamite team of editorial, marketing, and sales professionals—in particular to Melissa Yu, Jenn Yee, Sharon Koch, Brett Sullivan, and Michael Boezi.

A tremendous thanks to my student research team at Boston College. In particular, the work of Phil Gill, Xin (Steven) Liu, and Kathie Chang sped things along and helped me fill this project with rich, interesting examples.

I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues at Boston College, especially to my former department chair, Jim Gips, and current department chair, Robert Fichman, for their unwavering support of the project; to Jerry Kane for helping shape the social media section; to Sam Ransbotham for guiding me through the minefield of information security; to Mary Cronin, Peter Olivieri, and Jack Spang for suggestions and encouragement; and to the many administrators who have been so supportive of this effort.

Thanks also to the many alumni, parents, and friends of Boston College who have so generously invited me to bring my students to visit with and learn from them. The East and West Coast leadership of the Boston College Technology Council have played a particularly important role in making this happen. From Bangalore to Boston, Seoul to Silicon Valley, you’ve provided my students with world-class opportunities, enabling us to meet with scores of CEOs, senior executives, partners, and entrepreneurs. My students and I remain deeply grateful for your commitment and support.

And my enduring thanks to my current and former students, who continue to inspire, impress, and teach me more than I thought possible. It’s deeply rewarding to see so many former students return to campus as executive speakers and to host visiting students at their own start-ups. Serving as your professor has been my great privilege.

I would also like to thank the following colleagues who so kindly offered their time and comments while reviewing this work:

  • Donald Army, Dominican University of California
  • David Bloomquist, Georgia State University
  • Teuta Cata, Northern Kentucky University
  • Chuck Downing, Northern Illinois University
  • John Durand, Pepperdine University
  • Marvin Golland, Polytechnic Institute of New York University
  • Brandi Guidry, University of Louisiana
  • Kiku Jones, The University of Tulsa
  • Fred Kellinger, Pennsylvania State University–Beaver Campus
  • Ram Kumar, University of North Carolina–Charlotte
  • Eric Kyper, Lynchburg College
  • Alireza Lari, Fayetteville State University
  • Mark Lewis, Missouri Western State University
  • Eric Malm, Cabrini College
  • Roberto Mejias, University of Arizona
  • Esmail Mohebbi, University of West Florida
  • John Preston, Eastern Michigan University
  • Shu Schiller, Wright State University
  • Tod Sedbrook, University of Northern Colorado
  • Richard Segall, Arkansas State University
  • Ahmad Syamil, Arkansas State University
  • Sascha Vitzthum, Illinois Wesleyan University

I’m also grateful to the kindness and insight provided by early adopters of this text. Your comments, encouragement, suggestions, and student feedback were extremely helpful in keeping me focused and motivated on advancing the current edition:

  • Animesh Animesh, McGill University
  • Michel Benaroch, Syracuse University
  • Hanyin Cheng, Morgan Stanley
  • Barney Corwin, University of Maryland—College Park
  • Lauren B. Eder, Rider University
  • Rob Fichman, Boston College
  • James Gips, Boston College
  • Wolfgang Gatterbauer, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Roy Jones, University of Rochester
  • Jakob Iverson, University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh
  • Jerry Kane, Boston College
  • Fred Kellinger, Penn State University—Beaver Campus
  • Eric Kyper, Lynchburg College
  • Ann Majchrzak, University of Southern California
  • Eric Malm, Cabrini College
  • Michael Martel, Ohio University
  • Ido Millet, Pennsylvania State University—Erie Campus
  • Ellen Monk, University of Delaware
  • Marius (Florin) Niculescu, Georgia Tech
  • Sam Ransbotham, Boston College
  • Nachiketa Sahoo, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Shu Schiller, Wright State University
  • Tom Schambach, Illinois State University
  • Avi Seidman, University of Rochester
  • Jack Spang, Boston College
  • Veda Storey, Georgia State University
  • Sascha Vitzthum, Illinois Wesleyan University

Boston College students Courtney Scrib and Nate Dyer also pointed me to examples I’ve used in this edition, as did ACU student Aaron Andrew. Thanks for thinking of me and for sharing your very useful ideas!

I’ll continue to share what I hope are useful insights via my blog, The Week In Geek (http://www.gallaugher.com), and Twitter (@gallaugher). Do feel free to offer comments, encouragement, ideas, and examples for future versions. Sincerest thanks to all who continue to share the word about this project with others. Your continued advocacy helps make this model work!