WSU Common Reading Welcomes Dean of Students Melynda Huskey to Oct. 29 Conversation on Useful, Painful, and Humorous Mistakes in College

PULLMAN, Wash.—Washington State University Dean of Students Melynda Huskey will present “All the Ways I Was Wrong in College, and How Glad I Am I Was” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29 in Stephenson Down Under, in the Stephenson Residence Hall Complex. The Common Reading Tuesdays lecture series hosts the event, which is open to the public.

“Since this year’s common reading book, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz, is about resiliency and learning from mistakes, it seems important to directly address these issues as they occur in the lives of our students,” says Karen Weathermon, co-director of the Common Reading Program.

“In the interests of student development, Dr. Huskey has agreed to share some personal stories from her own college days and describe how she learned and recovered from her mistakes, and went on to complete her degree in three years, be  invited into the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society, and build a successful career in student services.”

“My message—which I hope will be both fun and informative—will be that it is definitely possible to recover from what seems at any given moment like an impossible situation—such as disappointing mid-term grades,” says the dean of students. “I will talk about how, as a freshman, I choose a major for all the wrong reasons, and failed spectacularly. Even worse, I concealed my horrible GPA from everyone and never asked for help.

“Messing up like that liberated me from my own expectations, and I had to change a lot of my ideas about myself and the world. Throughout my career, I’ve realized that lots of people have done the same thing, and even have patterns of mistakes. I am very fortunate that in my current position I can speak from my experience and help students become resilient and seek resources at WSU to overcome what seems like an insurmountable catastrophe.”

The common reading is in its seventh year at WSU. Each semester faculty, staff, and external experts are invited to talk to students at numerous evening events on subjects related to the book. This year, as in the past, the book author will visit campus; Kathryn Schulz will be here Feb. 24, 2014.

For more information about the program, the book, and guest speakers, go to http://commonreading.wsu.edu.

MEDIA:  Karen Weathermon, Co-Director, WSU Common Reading Program, Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-5488, kweathermon@wsu.edu

Beverly Makhani, Director, Communications, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu