Freshman Center

First Steps pre-vU - Chancellor's Reading Club

Fayetteville State University and University College value reading.  Reading is an important skill to help you succeed in college.  Reading can also enrich your life by bringing to you stories of wisdom and courage.

Each year the Chancellor's Reading Club brings first-year students together with faculty and staff to discuss a common reading.  Entering freshmen must purchase the reading, read it before the semester begins, and participate in a Chancellor's Reading Circle discussion during Freshman Orientation. Freshmen will also complete a project based on this reading during this first semester. Participation will count toward Freshman Seminar grade and projects will be shared and discussed during the spring semester.

This year's reading is

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by
Rebecca Skloot

"One of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time... A thorny and provocative book about cancer, racism, scientific ethics, and crippling poverty, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks also floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of Erin Brockovich, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and The Andromeda Strain.  Skloot writes with particular sensitivity and grace about the history of race and medicine in America... It has brains and pacing nerve and heart, and it is uncommonly endearing.  You might put it down only to wipe off the sweat." 

~Dwight Garner, New York Times

Study questions for the reading are available on the Chancellor's Reading Club website.  Check your e-mail for more information and instructions about a Freshman Seminar assignment for this reading.