About the program


Students discussing Common Book in a circle

Purpose

The KU Common Book program is a campus-wide initiative to engage students, faculty, and staff across the university. A new book is selected each year that fosters critical thinking, and generates opportunities for shared experiences and conversation about topics and issues of significance in today’s world. The program has three goals:

  • Build community among students, faculty, and staff
  • Encourage intellectual engagement through reading, discussion, curriculum, and events
  • Create a shared conversation about topics and issues of significance in today’s world

The program is coordinated by the KU Libraries, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Division of Academic Success.

Program History

The KU Common Book program began in the fall of 2012. From 2012 to 2019, the program was focused on first-year student engagement and administered by the Office of First-Year Experience.  The program went on hiatus in 2020 and returned in the fall of 2021 with an expanded purpose to engage all levels of students at KU. This expanded engagement included an expanded program coordination that includes the KU Libraries, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Division of Academic Success. The program’s success depends on many collaborative partners across campus.

The KU Common Book steering committee is charged with oversight of the program including the nomination and selection processes, and communicating information about the program to the campus community. The steering committee is responsible for designing and implementing a coherent, integrated program that fosters awareness of and engagement with the book. The steering committee will also oversee the preparation and dissemination of materials for educators to integrate into their courses.

Previous Selections

  • 2012-2013 - Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
  • 2013-2014 - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
  • 2014-2015 - The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
  • 2015-2016 - A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  • 2016-2017 - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • 2017-2018 - Citizen by Claudia Rankin
  • 2018-2019 - Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat
  • 2019-2020 - Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation edited by John Freeman
  • 2021-2022 - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  • 2022-2023 - Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong

2023-24 steering committee members:

Jill Becker, Co-Chair (Libraries)

Giselle Anatol, Co-Chair (Hall Center for the Humanities and Department of English)

Kate Kemper (Center for Service Learning)

Chelsea Lantz-Cashman (Academic Programs and Experiential Learning)

Amy Leyerzapf (CTE Fellow and Institute for Leadership Studies)

Fernanda Lopez (Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging)

Sarah Ngoh (Department of English)

Elliott Reeder (Hall Center for the Humanities)

Emily Ryan (The Commons)

Celka Straughn (Spencer Museum of Art)

Chris Wiles (School of Engineering)

Ashley Kalatusha (Edwards Campus)