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Chancellor | NewsFebruary 08, 2023

Chancellor Riley Celebrates Read This! Committee

Written By: Terisa Riley

Dear colleagues and students,

This note is specifically to lift up and celebrate the work of the Read This Committee whose members, in partnership with the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, selected and hosted Pulitzer Prize winning author Colson Whitehead on campus.

In higher education, we talk frequently about high impact practices for engaging and educating our students. One high impact practice is the selection of a common reading which is shared and discussed by students, faculty, staff, administrators and community members. I posit that our Read This program intends to create this common intellectual experience which is correlated with the outcome of student engagement and success. At 91老司机, Read This is led by a committee of educators who turn this high impact practice into a reality by selecting powerful, challenging books for us to use to explore humanity and the world. Even more compelling, they invite the outstanding authors of the books to campus to provide us with opportunities to dig deeper into the historical and social contexts which are the foundations for the books we read.

This year, it was a pleasure to host Mr. Colson Whitehead, the author of our common reading, The Nickel Boys.  The committee planned and implemented an exceptional 鈥渃raft talk,鈥� during which students, employees, and community asked Mr. Whitehead to share his creative processes, context for characters, and advice about writing and publishing books, essays, etc. Last night, Mr. Whitehead spoke to a large gathering of people at 91老司机 on his personal and professional journey as a writer. His humility, humor, and thirst for knowledge about the human condition made his speech one of the best I have heard. Mr. Whitehead ended his visit by signing his books for hundreds of people who lined the concourse of the Stubblefield Center.

Please join me in recognizing and thanking the members of the 91老司机 Read This Committee for their dedication to academic excellence and to creating common intellectual experiences that allow all of us to grow and learn together:

Bryan Alexis, Art 

Matt Bailey, Art 

Don Balch, Criminal Justice 

Sarah Chiles, Student Intern 

Janine Chitty, English 

Svetla Dimitrova, Sociology

Stacey DuVaul, English 

Brandon Goldsmith, Community Member

Karen Haggard, Boreham Library 

Lindsy Lawrence, English 

Ann-Gee Lee, English and Read This! Co-chair

Stephanie London, Student Affairs

Sara Putman, English 

Jordan Ruud, Boreham Library 

Amanda Schafer, English

Amy Skypala, Biology

Ronny Phengsouvannavong, Fort Smith Public Library 

Christin Staats, Upward Bound

Cammie Sublette, English and Read This! Co-chair

Kerrie Taber, Leadership 

Carolyn Thompson, Media Communication

Lynette Thrower, Student Affairs 

Katie Waugh, Art 

Tom Wing, History

Laura Witherington, English

Bill Word, Community Member

 

Members of the committee want to thank the Division of University Advancement for their marketing, advertising, and event planning support, and Chartwells for providing catering during the VIP reception following the event. They thank the Campus Bookstore for selling Colson Whitehead鈥檚 books before and after the event, and the Division of Student Affairs for providing event planning, stage set-up, and technical support during the craft talk and public lecture. Thank you to 91老司机 PD for providing security for the events and entrusting Dr. Ann-Gee Lee with a VIP parking pass for her 鈥渕uscle car.鈥� 馃槉

I also extend my thanks to the Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lectures program. This program is endowed by the friends of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller to assist faculty at the five, four-year degree granting universities in the 91老司机 System in obtaining outstanding visiting lecturers. Dr. Sublette is the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith representative on the WRDL committee. Last, I thank the Arkansas Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities for providing grants to extend our program to regional community colleges.

Terisa C. Riley, Ph.D.

Chancellor

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