Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Message Archive

Monday, November 19, 2012

 

This email is being sent to all members of the Baruch College faculty.

 

For an archive of announcements sent from the Provost’s Office beginning June 2011, see http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/provost/archive.htm

 

 

From:   Provost John Brenkman, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President

 

The Freshman Text Selection Committee has begun the process of picking a common reading for the Fall 2013 incoming freshman class.  I invite you to suggest titles for what will be our thirteenth annual freshman text.

 

This activity is one of the few opportunities for the entire Baruch community to engage together in a shared intellectual pursuit.  All entering freshmen receive a free copy of the selected text and are asked to read it prior to attending the fall Convocation, in which the text is the subject of the keynote address.  This year the committee is particularly looking for titles that:

• students will be eager to read on their own over the summer and discuss;
• will challenge students intellectually;
• faculty can incorporate into their course reading lists;
• can be discussed across the disciplines;
• have not already appeared on most high school reading lists;
• ideally do not exceed 300-350 pages.

 

In addition, this year we are looking especially for titles that explore how cities or communities struggle with traumatic events (natural disasters/climate change, war, social unrest/division). Suggested titles could include non-fiction and creative non-fiction as well as novels, dramas, or other works of fiction that explore how individuals, families, and/or societies overcome/deal with trauma from the contemporary or any historical period.

 

The committee welcomes one or two suggestions per individual (rather than a complete list of your favorite books!).  For a complete listing of past titles selected as the freshman reading, go to: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/orientation/destination-baruch.html.

 

To recommend: 

If you would like to recommend a book for consideration, please send an email to Mark Spergel (Mark.Spergel@baruch.cuny.edu) no later than December 6^th.  The committee will then meet to determine a short list of titles from all suggestions received by the deadline and announce its decision by mid-spring semester.  The committee has set up this timeline in order to provide faculty with sufficient advance notice to incorporate the text into their fall syllabi.

 

This year’s selection committee comprises the following members:

 

Timothy Aubry (English)

Kimberley Goonie (student rep)

David Hoffman (SPA)

Randy Hensley (Library)

Joanna Mendez (student rep)

Cheryl Smith (English)

Mark Spergel (Orientation/New Student Programs)

Thomas Teufel (Philosophy)

Ashka Thaker (student rep)

Valerie Watnick (Law)

Elilzabeth Wollman (FPA)