The 2007 Common Reading Selection Committee includes:

Jim Tackach (Co-Chair): English and Creative Writing
John King (Co-Chair): Vice President of Student Affairs
Kate Mele: English
Jeffrey Martin: Academic Affairs
Mike Swanson: History
Susan Hammond: Student Advocacy and Enrollment Management
Renee Soto: English and Creative Writing
Christine Fagan: Library
Lisa Newcity: Criminal Justice
Hans Shattle: Political Science
Brett McKenzie: Business
Heather Cantwell: Orientation
Amanda Haskins: First-Year Student

The committee solicited book recommendations from faculty and staff members.  Recommended books needed to meet the following criteria:

• Book should support or exemplify at least one of the Core Values of the University.
• Appeal to a general audience especially recent high school graduates.
• Written by a living author who is comfortable and engaging in both large and small group settings.

The following books were considered:

• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Wells
• Charity Girl by Michael Lowenthal
• Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert
• The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle
• The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness
• Account of Wrongful Executions by Helen Prejean
• Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas
• When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
• The 2007 Common Reading book will be announced shortly.