The Life of the Mind Program is seeking suggestions for its 2015–16 common reading selection for first-year students.
A Ready for the World initiative, Life of the Mind is a component of First-Year Studies 100, a required online course that helps first-year students develop the right mindset for the college experience. As part of the course, students read the Life of the Mind book, submit a creative response, participate in a small-group discussion session, and attend a lecture by the book’s author.
In the coming months, a Life of the Mind committee of faculty, staff, and students will review many books to select a common reading experience for the Class of 2019. To help them get started, the committee is seeking nominations for the Life of the Mind book.
Criteria for selecting books are as follows:
Thematic Criteria—must meet one or more
- Global—Themes expressed in the book should expose students to international cultures, people, or issues.
- Transition-oriented—Themes expressed in the book should represent some aspect of transition that can be related to the first-year experience at UT.
- Current—Themes expressed in the book should have some element of relevancy to current events in our society.
Program Criteria
- The author must be alive, available, and affordable.
- The book should be less than 350 pages and cost less than $20.
Book suggestions can be submitted on the First-Year Studies website. The final selection will be announced during the spring 2015 semester.
If you have questions about the book selection process or the Life of the Mind program, contact Jason Mastrogiovanni, director of First Year Studies, at firstyear@utk.edu or Ruth Darling, assistant provost for student success, rdarling@utk.edu.
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C O N T A C T:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)