After a summer of solitary reading and online discussion, the UMass Amherst Common Read will get up-close and personal this week. That’s because new first-year students will arrive on campus, with their copies of No Impact Man, on Friday, August 30, to begin Fall New Students Orientation (NSO). A busy and exciting lineup of activities is planned for August 30 – September 2, including a keynote address by No Impact Man author Colin Beavan at Saturday’s New Students Convocation, August 31 at 11:30 am in the Mullins Center. And that event will be just the beginning of a semester’s worth of activities connected to the Common Read, all leading up to Beavan’s re-visit to campus on October 9! Stay tuned here for more information!