With New Students Convocation now several weeks in the past, you might think that this year’s Common Read is over. In fact, the issues present in Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One are being “replayed” everyday, across campus, in the various projects connected with the University’s Deans’ Theme, which for the 2012-13 academic year is “social media.” And, among new students themselves – in their classes, their dorm rooms, their dining commons – the book and the questions it raises still resonate.
Meanwhile, campus leaders are already looking ahead to next year’s Deans’ Theme and Common Read. Let us know if you have any ideas about either or both of those!
And, by the way, check out the international Common Read currently underway involving Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. But make sure you’ve done your UMass homework first!