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The Carolina Summer Reading Program is back for its second year and faculty
and staff members are again needed to lead small group discussions.
The discussions will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 21 at locations
that will be announced later.
Cynthia Wolf Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student learning, said
112 faculty and staff members participated last year. The University is seeking
170 volunteers for this year's program.
Staff members must have taught at the college level or been a presenter
before student groups, she said.
The idea of the reading program is to connect newly arriving students with
the faculty and staff while sharing a common academic experience with each
other, Wolf Johnson said. The program is one of the University's ongoing
efforts to improve the intellectual climate on campus.
The book to be discussed is Confederates in the Attic, a 1998 national
bestseller by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz. A group of students
and faculty selected the book to provoke discussion on the centrality of the
Civil War in Southern culture and identity and the importance of race in
shaping people's view of the world.
It is about a group of men and women attempting to relive the Civil War era
in every detail. The New York Times Book Review said the volume is "the
freshest book about divisiveness in America ... a splendid commemoration of the
war and its legacy."
The selection committee was led by Deb Bialeschki, an associate professor
of recreation and leisure studies. Committee members found the book to be both
funny and provocative in its exploration of the Civil War and its lingering
social effects.
Provost Richard "Dick" Richardson, in a May 12 memo to academic deans,
center directors and academic department chairs, said evaluations turned in by
last year's participants indicated that the program met its mission of engaging
students in new thought while developing a greater sense of community.
The problem was that not as many students participated as had been hoped,
Wolf Johnson said. A little more than 1,000 students participated last year, or
about 28 percent of all first-year students.
Part of the problem was logistics -- some students simply got lost trying
to get where they needed to be.
Other students were told the program was not a requirement.
This year, participation is required, Wolf Johnson said. It is the
committee's hope that faculty and teaching assistants will use the book in
first-year courses, where appropriate.
As more and more students participate in the reading program and enjoy it,
they will tell newly arriving students how much of a good time it is, Wolf
Johnson said. And that's the whole idea of the program -- to get students to
participate in intellectual discussions because they want to.
How to volunteer
If you are interested in leading a Carolina Summer Reading Program
discussion, please submit your name, phone number and e-mail address to the
Carolina Summer Reading Program at Read@unc.edu by June 16.
Volunteers will be contacted directly about further details of the
process.
In August, all faculty and staff volunteers and students will receive a
pack of inter-disciplinary materials to help them prepare for discussions.
Meanwhile, these same materials will be available on the web at
http://www.unc.edu/srp
All faculty, and in particular Carolina Summer Reading Program discussion
leaders, are encouraged to attend New Student Convocation Aug. 20 at 7 p.m in
the Dean E. Smith Center. The reading program will be addressed at this
event.
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