The success of the freshmen readership program at WTAMU has inspired other readership opportunities around campus. The CORE office organized two different readership during the Fall semester, the Leadership Readership and the Diversity Readership programs.
The Leadership Board organized the Leadership Reader, which started two years ago.
“We wanted to have this [Leadership Readership] as another program that students could get involved with to actually expand their leadership skills by reading certain books,” Valerie Swope, leadership consultant for the CORE office, said. This year the chosen book was “Humilitas” by John Dickson. Participants were given about two months to read the book and then joined for a two-day discussion forum about the book.
Dr. Jonathan Shaffer, assistant professor of Management, participated in the Leadership Readership and said the most helpful meeting was when the group had a Facebook conversation with the author of the book.
“I think he was able to explain his thoughts in a more detailed and sometime more nuanced way than he was able to do in the book,” he said.
On the other hand, the Diversity Readership is a program that started this semester, organized by the Diversity Program of the CORE office. Skip Chisum, director of student activities, said they partnered with Study Abroad and Students for Global Connections. The book chosen for the program was “Travel as a Political Act” by Rick Steves.
Chisum said this book was chosen because the global market has shrunk and the chances of working with someone from another culture is greater.
“We want to create marketable graduates and I think diversity is a big part of that,” he said. “The more you know about diversity, the more you understand about culture, the more effort you put in cross cultural communication, I just think you are well-rounded.”
As far as why readerships have become so popular in WT campus, Chisum said it is the momentum.
“When a lot of people do the same thing it created this momentum, it all comes back to a shared experience and I think that is what books are all about,” he said. “ I also think more than that, we realize students look for opportunities outside the classroom to broaden their horizons.”
Shaffer said that as a faculty, it is also beneficial to participate in this type of programs.
“As a faculty member, one responsibility that we have is to make contributions in the classroom. Another responsibility that we have is to make contributions to research, another responsibility that we have is to make contributions to student development overall,” he said. “So being involved with this types of programs for faculty, I think can benefit both the faculty member and the students.”
