Creating a Common Ground
As in previous years, the book ultimately chosen to be the 2009 common reading for about 3,300 freshmen in Pullman met several criteria all geared toward helping new students find their place in the academic environment of the research university. "Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" by author Michael Pollan was selected and copies distributed to students at summer orientation. A generous contribution by WSU alumnus Bill Marler will fund a visit to campus by Pollan on Jan. 13, 2010.
In fall 2009, topics from the book are being used in more than 90 courses for freshmen and other students. In addition to Common Reading Tuesdays presentations by WSU research faculty and staff and other guests, special displays by WSU Libraries, and discussions and events in Residence Halls, several programs have taken up the general "Food for Thought" theme of the year. For example, special programming in the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences taps research faculty there and brings to campus guest speakers from a number of food-related fields to speak to students. Dining Services is hosting "Dinner with a Dietician" evening meal discussions around campus weekly. Be sure to check the calendar and news items in this Web site for more details.
Why this book?
Several at WSU nominated “Omnivore’s Dilemma” to the Common Reading Committee for consideration as the 2009 Common Reading book. Here’s what they had to say about it …
“A provocative and entertaining discussion of current food and agriculture systems! These are topics that affect us all, whether we think of them or not. It is exciting to see the oft-overlooked field of agriculture elevated to discussion status across WSU, and this is a good choice for doing it! (But do take the critique of the large scale organic industry with more than a few grains of salt – Pollan does a disservice to the many dedicated and knowledgeable folks who work on the ground in WA in ‘big organic’ in his attack on that industry.)” -- Cathy Perillo, Crop and Soil Sciences
“It discusses a topic central to EVERYONE—food. It’s also salient to a community in the middle of farm fields. The book discusses chemistry, biology, agriculture, social life, economics, nature, the environment, human-animal relations, philosophy, medicine, history, and even a bit of psychology. I view this cross-cutting of topics highly interdisciplinary. . . .It’s lengthy and challenging BUT not without reward. It stops you in your tracks and makes you think about what you eat and where it comes from. It educates people on why their food may taste/cost as it does. I think freshmen need to think about these issues as it will be their generation who has to fix many of the problems noted in the book.” – Julie Kmec, English
“This book is by a talented writer who did in-depth investigative work to put together a socio-cultural history of our industrialized food system. All students, all of us, need to know more about how our food is grown, processed, and distributed. Although it is not entirely a book about sustainability, it certainly brings up questions about the sustainability of our food system, asks important questions about the way we eat, and in the end offers no ‘pat’ answers. The lack of such answers makes this an excellent book for discussion. This book relates to almost every discipline in this university. It is a particularly appropriate book for a land grant university that is so involved in research into crops, soils, agriculture, food science, rural agriculture and economics, business, marketing, advertising, and many more areas. Too many of us eat without thinking. Our food comes sanitized and wrapped, displayed in shiny packages in brightly-lit megastores. Too many of us have little or no idea of how the meat, bread, and potatoes on our plates got there. Most of us have little idea of the costs (broadly defined) of the food on our tables. Because this book deals with the food we eat today, it is likely to engender lively discussion and even disagreement. But discussion and disagreement are the bread and butter of academic discourse.” – Patricia Freitag Ericsson, English
The quest for a common reading book on the WSU campus in Pullman began in fall 2006 when then-WSU Provost and Executive Vice President Robert Bates convened an ad hoc committee of faculty, student representatives, and student affairs and undergraduate education staff. Common reading projects at universities had gained popularity since the early 1990s, and are shown to enhance students’ academic transition to college and increase student success.
Bates said: “The Common Reading project will serve multiple purposes. It will: encourage students and faculty to talk in small, informal groups; communicate academic expectations; introduce first-year students to the intellectual life of the university; enable departments and faculty to connect informally with pre-majors; and expose students to the value of research and to the power of ideas. The Common Reading experience will also create common ground among students in their freshman year.”
To be considered for selection to be nominated for approval, the Common Reading committee (made up of faculty and staff) looks for books that ...
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are non-fiction
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are capable of use across disciplines, and of engaging student interest
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have a global and diverse theme
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are of a manageable length
Common Reading 2007
“Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It,” by Gina Kolata, was the book selected for reading by all Pullman freshmen, and was used in dozens of courses across many disciplines. A visit by Kolata on Nov. 6, and by WSU retired faculty Alfred W. Crosby, a historian and an expert on the 1918 flu, on Oct. 16 enhanced the common reading experience.