Campus Reading Celebration

The idea behind the Campus Reading Celebration is to invite all members of the campus community (students, faculty, staff and administrators) to read the same book and to talk with each other in both formal and informal venues about the book throughout the academic year. By having the entire campus community read the same book we will all have a common intellectual experience that can generate shared discussions of a book we’ve all read.

2005/2006 Book Announced!

The book for the second annual Campus Reading Celebration this fall will be The Open Space of Democracy, by Terry Tempest Williams. Williams links the necessity of wilderness and open space with the dreams and potential of democracy. Barry Lopez said the book asks and tries to answer the question, Can American-style democracy survive in its birthplace? Williams is also the author of Refuge, a memoir-like account of the deaths of her mother and grandmother and other women from cancer, as a result of ongoing nuclear-weapons tests in the nearby Nevada desert, and the solace she finds in
the struggle of birdlife to survive the threat of the rising waters in the Great Salt Lake. Williams' work raises issues of environmentalism, sustainability, and democracy all of which will be discussed in various forae during the Reading Celebration.

Students will be given the book at the end of this semester and asked to read it over the summer (new students will be given the book as part of their orientation packages during the summer). Faculty, staff, and community members are invited to buy and read the book, as well. During fall semester, the book will be incorporated into courses across disciplines, including the freshman composition courses, Environmental Studies and Resource Management courses in literature, political science, biology and other areas. Faculty are encouraged to incorporate the book into their syllabi, and to encourage or require students to attend Williams' presentations. Members of the campus community will discuss the book in informal reading groups, as well.

The centerpiece of the Campus Reading Celebration is the visit by the author. Terry Tempest Williams will come to campus on November 8, 2005; she will do an afternoon presentation for the campus community, and an evening presentation open to all.

For more information about Williams, please visit her website at www.coyoteclan.com. 

For more information about the Campus Reading Celebration, please contact Dr. Renny Christopher via email at Renny.Christopher@csuci.edu or by phone at (805) 437-8994.

Please check back often for future developments.

The Campus Reading Celebration was started in fall 2004 with the book Rain of Gold by Victor Villaseñor.