Common Reading Program
The Common Reading Program at Susquehanna University is an effort to create a shared intellectual point of engagement for first-year students. These students are asked to read a common text that will then be used in a variety of ways during their first semester on campus in the fall, including during Welcome Week. The overall goal is to introduce students to life in a community of learners where we are all engaged in discussion and reflection on texts and ideas.
Faculty and staff also read the common reading and find a myriad of ways to use it to engage first-year students. In the classroom, in the residence halls, in administrative offices, over lunch, and in the gym, they engage students and each other in what are hoped to be lively conversations that challenge all to think critically about this text.
2011 Common Reading
This year the university has assembled a collection of readings related to the yearlong University Theme “Fear.” We risk ignoring important facets of human existence if we do not encourage the exploration of powerful phenomena, such as fear, that have traditionally been condemned as dishonorable. Fear is a primitive emotion that can serve to protect people from perceived physical and emotional threats. It affects a huge range of human activities, and has been a theme examined in great works of art and literature. Fears of racial, religious, sexual, and ideological differences have served to divide, rather than unite, diverse groups of people for centuries.
Fear is a subject of study within many academic disciplines. For instance, psychologists study the emotional and psychic texture of fear, while biologists examine it as a physiological phenomenon. Marketing experts study how fear affects decisions people make about consumer products, while sociologists examine the effect fear has on our culture. This anthology contains readings that explore the topic of fear, approaching it from multiple disciplines and perspectives. Perhaps by studying fear, we will better understand its influence on our lives.
Members of the Class of 2015 should read this book and complete the related assignment before arriving on campus. There will be opportunities for discussion about this book with peers, orientation team leaders, resident advisors and professors during Welcome Week. The assignment will be collected in the first Perspectives class.
Get the student critical reading guide and access supplemental common reading documents.
