The Office of Student Affairs, Cross-Cultural Center, Campus Diversity Initiative, Teaching and Learning Center and SASI have joined forces to create a One Book, One College program this fall in support of our First Year Experience Pathway.

According to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Documenting Effective Educational Practices (DEEP) project, the American Association of Higher Education, and other nationwide groups, the design and implementation of a First Year Experience (FYE) seminar taught by faculty from across the disciplines and linked to a shared campus experience such as a “One Book, One College” program has been repeatedly shown to be effective in addressing both student success and faculty / staff development goals. The experience that these learning experiences provide for students, faculty, and staff can become a “lightening rod” of shared intellectual identity on campus (Cuseo), which deepens a sense of shared commitment to student success. The “One Book, One College” Initiative will contribute to and inform our ongoing conversations about who our students are and how we can best serve them, as well as what kind of campus we want to be.

Our first selection is The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream, by Drs. Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins, an inspirational memoir of 3 African-American youths growing up in urban Newark in poverty who pledge to become doctors and successfully achieve their dream. Now practicing medical professionals, the doctors also find time to give back to the community through their non-profit organization, The Three Doctors Foundation, which recently celebrated its 11th year of offering free health, education and mentoring programs for youth and families in the NY/NJ area. The doctors continue to make numerous television appearances in support of their message of health, education and youth mentoring, including appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show and recently on the CBS Morning News. There is a documentary of their story which will be shown as part of the program. Most exciting, we have booked all three doctors to come and present this November 18th, 2011 from 3:30 – 6pm in the Creveling Lounge.