Otterbein University has established a common reading experience for new students through a gift from an alumna, Mary Thomas '28. The selection of books for the common reading experience reflects Otterbein's resolve to add an academic component to new student orientation and to present itself to incoming students as an intellectual community willing to grapple with significant contemporary issues.
Since 1995, the series seeks to stimulate a year-long discussion of an academic theme derived from common book issues by exploring it in classes, residence halls, and co-curricular programming. A committee of faculty, staff, alumni and students select from over fifty books each year in an effort to find a significant contemporary work to read the next year.
Recommend books that you have read or heard about that could be a strong choice for a freshman common reading experience. Please remember that the author must be alive so we can invite the author to campus. If you have books to recommend, please send the book title and author to Amy Parsons, Library liaison for the Common Book Committee (aparsons@otterbein.edu) for consideration.