Common Reading new

student reading
COMMON READING
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Share a story.
Share an experience.

 

Braiding Sweetgrass Cover 2

Announcing the book of 2022-2023: Braiding Sweetgrass

The Common Reading book of the upcoming school year has been selected. For the second year in a row, the campus community will be reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by author Robin Wall Kimmerer.

All are welcome to join in, whether they participated in the previous year or not. The campus community will be digging deeper into the text and new opportunities will be available to engage with the themes and hear from the voices of our local indigenous community.

In "Braiding Sweetgrass" Kimmerer brings together her experience as a botanist and as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in a bestselling memoir that urges humans to reconnect with the rest of the living world.

Despite considering other options for the Common Reading program, it was clear that students wanted to spend more time engaging with this selection.

►  Read more about the decision to continue with the book
►  Learn more about Braiding Sweetgrass and its author

What is UO Common Reading?

Common Reading creates community across campus. Each year, the Common Reading program presents an engaging selection, often a book, that will be the focus of a campus-wide discussion. Enjoy the opportunity to meet authors, have lively discussions with peers, and experience the piece inside and outside of the classroom. 

A FIG is made up of three courses, two regular university courses and the FIG seminar, called College Connections, that brings the disciplines together.
"I think that author visits are very influential for future students. There is a lot of value in hearing an author’s experience in person as well as when reading their book."
A First-Year Student

The program started in 2009 as an initiative of the Clark Honors College. In 2014, it expanded to include all first-year students. Common Reading is now coordinated by the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success and has had support from the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the Division of Student Life, the Division of Equity and Inclusion, and the Center for the Study of Women in Society among others.

Although the selection changes each year, Common Reading is always about building community, enriching curriculum, and engaging research through the shared experience of an important work.

3,996 
UO-affiliated participants Are Taking part in Common Reading events this year 
students at museum

 

How to get involved
 

The program is open to the entire campus community, and there's many ways to participate, whether you're faculty, staff, or a student. First-year students receive a copy of the Common Reading selection during IntroDUCKtion, and participants can get a free copy from the university library. ​​​

►  Find past and upcoming Common Reading events
►  Sponsor Common Reading or have it sponsor your event
►  Work with the book in your classroom or group
►  Hold a pop-up book distribution event
►  Host your own event in partnership with the program

Suggest a theme & title

The Common Reading program solicits suggestions from the campus and area community as we begin our search to find the next year’s reading selection, which can be a book, podcast, documentary, film, or another work. From there, a committee of campus partners, faculty, students, and program administrators work to narrow the choices to create a shortlist of finalists. Some years, the choice for the selection from that group has been a unanimous decision. In other years, we seek the input from our campus community and the public to help decide what piece will be at the center of the next year’s conversation.

Send us your suggestion

Each nomination is considered for how well it meets each of the following criteria:

  • Appeal to both faculty and first-year students (i.e., have a strong narrative or narrative voice that pulls readers in and builds empathy)
  • Focus on a subject of timely, topical relevance
  • Provide a strong intellectual hook, offering multiple disciplinary and interdisciplinary jumping-off points for discussion and teaching, inquiry and research
  • Are accessible (in print, of readable length, etc.)
  • Fits the annually selected theme

What do you recommend as an important work on this theme that the entire University of Oregon should engage in reading? 

Past & current themes

Ever since 2018, the program has selected themes to go alongside the book selections. Below are previous themes that have been chosen:

  • 2020-2022: Listen. Learn. Act.
  • 2018-2020: Transborder/Transnational

Past Common Reading selections

 

Meet our partners

Instructors, departments, and other groups from across University of Oregon elect to use the Common Reading selection in their curriculum each year. We also partner with the Eugene Public Library, Springfield Public Library, Bethel School District and Eugene/Springfield NAACP.

writing meeting
Departments that have worked with Common Reading
All First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs)
Anthropology
ARCs
Architecture
Department of Equity and Inclusion
Education Studies
English
Environmental Studies
Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies
Law
Philosophy
Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM)
Romance Languages
SAIL
UO Teach
Women & Gender Studies
Academic units engaging with the book outside the classroom
Black Cultural Center
Composition
Education Studies
Environmental Studies
Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Planning, Public Policy, & Management
Prison Education Program
Residence Life
 

Selection Committee Members

2022-23

Name Position
Laurel Bastian Faculty Consultant, Teaching Engagement Program

Jamar Bean

Program Advisor, Multicultural Center
Cora Bennet Director, Student Orientation
Kelby Beyer ENVS undergraduate
Sarah Coates

Common Reading Student Coordinator

Rebecca DesPrez Executive Assistant, UO Libraries
Sydney Duncan Student Coordinator, First-Year Experience
Sarah Ebert Senior Instructor, School of Music and Dance
Jill Elizabeth Program Manager, Environment Initiative
Jackie Etchison Assistant Director, First-Year Interest Groups
Rita Gillihsn First Year Programs Administrative Assistant
Dana Glasscock First-Year Programs Outreach Coordinator
Rebekah Hanley Clinical Professor, Law
Allie Ivey

UO alum

Digital Learning Program Specialist, Oregon Department of Education

Michael Jarvis Instructor, English
Zoey Kambour Museum Fellow, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Danielle Knapp McCosh Curator, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Abigail Leeder Director of Experiential Education & Prevention Initiatives, Dean of Students
Gina Ricketts

UO alum

Former Native American Program Coordinator, Central Oregon Community College

Nick Sky

PhD candidate, ENVS

GE, Education Studies

Esperanza Soliz

Student Coordinator, First-Year Experience

Jeffrey Staiger Humanities and Romance Languages Librarian
Sarah Stoeckl Assistant Director, Office of Sustainability
Julie Voelker-Morris Director, UO Common Reading

Contact us

Email us at commonreading@uoregon.edu
Follow us on Twitter @CommonUo
See the latest on Instagram @uocommonreading

First-Year Programs
5256 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5256
Office: Oregon Hall, Room 107