The first academic assignment for the Marquette class of 2016 is already in the works.
The selection committee for first-year student reading is back at work to find the next book to be read by incoming freshman over the summer and discussed at orientation before the fall semester.
Susan Mountin, director of Manresa for Faculty at Marquette and book selection committee member, said the process usually begins with 20 to 25 books after receiving nominations from the Marquette community over winter break. The selection for last year’s class was “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore.
“We narrow it down and then eventually get it to a reasonable number that we’re assigned to read, like one or two texts and then we do an evaluative process,” Mountin said.
Narrowing the list from its original titles begins with taking basic practical considerations, including the book’s availability in paperback, a living author and its length, which the committee prefers to be under 300 pages, Mountin said.
Another important criterion is the book must have a theme students can relate to.
“We’re looking at something that would resonate with the experience of an 18, 19 year old, something that would focus on questions of, ‘Who am I?’ ‘Where is my place in the world?’ ‘What choices am I making?’ ‘What are my values?’” Mountin said.
Vocational discernment — the search for deeper meaning in the lives of themselves and others — was a founding principle of the Manresa Project, the group that took charge of the first-year reading program when it started in 2002, said Kate Trevey, assistant dean for leadership and vocation programs and selection committee member. When funding waned for the Manresa Project, the Office of the Provost took over expenses for the first-year reading program, which include paying for all of the books and individually shipping them to every new Marquette student.
“As the grant ended … the program continues to evolve, but at the same time stays true to the roots of why it started,” Trevey said. “(The first-year reading program) has this dual connection to help students enter into the academic experience of college life right from the beginning … but also trying to elevate these themes of vocational discernment right away.”
Mountin is excited by how faculty members have embraced the first-year reading program by integrating selections into their classes.
“I think there’s a desire among the faculty to have it more coordinated so that it does become not just the one-day experience for orientation, but they can work it in (class) if it fits what they’re doing in their classes,” she said.
The first-year reading program is also the first opportunity students have to experience Marquette in an academic setting.
“This is the first chance that a student has to be with a faculty member in a conversation and I hope it kind of sets a grounding for the rest of their experience as a student at Marquette,” said Mountin.
Vince Beacom, a freshman in the College of Engineering, enjoyed what the first-year reading program had to offer.
“I loved (“The Other Wes Moore”). I thought it was a really good book and to be honest I haven’t read a lot of books cover-to-cover because they don’t hold my interest, but that book did,” he said.
Mountin said a decision on the next selection will be made by April.