No academic examination of motherhood existed when Dr. Andrea O'Reilly was earning her PhD in English, so she decided to design a course. This effort led to the establishment of the Association for Research on Mothering [now known as Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI)], an academic journal and a publishing house dedicated to mothering-related topics. Earlier this month, her Encyclopedia of Motherhood was released. The three-volume collection features 700 entries on the subject.