The University launched two programs this fall—Conversations and OneBook—to
encourage a campuswide dialogue on the many facets of power. Jim Patterson spoke
with English Professor Laurin Porter, right, and Dawn Remmers, director of
University Advising and Student Success, co-chairs of the Conversations team of
faculty, staff and students. For more information, visit www.uta.edu/conversations and www.uta.edu/onebook.
What is Conversations?
Porter:
Conversations is designed to engage the entire campus community in discussions
focused on a single issue. This year the issue is power. We want to explore the
nature of power, its distribution, use and abuse. We picked this theme from our
common reading experience with freshmen, a new initiative called OneBook. The
book we selected is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
What is OneBook?
Remmers: The
tagline of our Web site is, “All freshmen have at least one thing in common.”
That one thing is reading the same book. At freshman orientation, all students
were given a free copy of The Kite Runner. They’ll use this book in
their English 1301 courses as well as in freshman seminars and, hopefully, in
discussions at lunch and late-night conversations in the residence halls. So all
of these students who come to campus not knowing each other, not necessarily
having anything in common, will share this book as the focus of their first
year.
Why did you choose power as the
theme?
Porter: The Kite Runner
covers a wide range of themes and issues—class, ethnic and religious
differences; gender issues; guilt; betrayal; father-son relationships;
friendship. We decided on power because it was the broadest theme, the one that
would be most applicable to different disciplines across the University. We also
thought it had the potential to generate meaningful, meaty discussions.
Tell us about The Kite
Runner.
Porter: The Kite
Runner is about the friendship of two young boys living in Afghanistan in
the early 1970s, right before the Russian invasion. Amir, the protagonist and
narrator, is rich and privileged, a Pashtun. Hassan, his friend and the son of
his father’s servant, is a Hazara, a member of the scorned underclass. The novel
begins with Amir as an adult, now a successful writer living in San Francisco,
looking back on a critical moment in his childhood when he was 12 years old and,
as he puts it, his life changed forever. It traces the friendship of Amir and
Hassan up to this critical juncture, as well as Amir’s relationship with his
cold and somewhat distant father, whose love he desperately wants to win. We
gradually learn what happened between Amir and Hassan at that moment years ago—I
don’t want to give away too much—and we watch as Amir returns as an adult to
Afghanistan, now controlled by the ruthless Taliban regime, to try to put things
right.
How did this program come
about?
Porter: This all began when the
president and the provost approached Dawn and me and asked us to look into the
idea of a common reading experience. We went to a conference in Atlanta on the
freshman experience, attended a workshop on common reading experiences and spoke
with faculty and staff from across the country who were engaged in these
programs. Learning from that, we put together a book selection committee of
faculty, staff and students. Over the next six weeks, we read a lot of books,
narrowing our choices to nine, then three, and finally one. We chose The
Kite Runner because it involves a period and an area of the world very
important in today’s news. We felt our students would benefit from a close study
of another culture. We also felt that students would identify with Amir, a young
man discovering his own identity. We thought it would speak to them in a very
personal way.
How prevalent are these programs at other
universities?
Remmers: This is a
relatively common program on many campuses throughout the nation. It helps
initiate freshmen into the campus community and introduces them to academic
discourse. Many of them come from high schools where they have not gotten to
talk with people from very diverse backgrounds. This gives them something in
common, something to discuss, and introduces them to a campus where people
listen to and learn from others with different points of view.
Why did you select The Kite
Runner?
Porter: We wanted to encourage
students to read for the sake of reading, to open up new ideas and new windows
to the world. We wanted to select a book that we, the committee, found to be a
“page turner,” a book that was hard for us to put down. It was important to us
that the book, while challenging, was also engaging—a good read. This book has
been on the best-seller list for many months and has gotten enthusiastic reviews
from some of the most respected critics. We think this is the perfect book to
introduce this program.
How can alumni get
involved?
Remmers: We would encourage
alumni in the area to go to the UT Arlington Bookstore, where they can buy the
book at a 30 percent discount. We have many activities and events planned around
the book and the power theme that we hope our Metroplex alums will attend if
they can. There’s also a wealth of information about the book, the author and
Afghani history and culture on our Web site. We’ll also have an online book
discussion.
What other events are planned in connection with the
program?
Porter: There will be a brown bag
lecture series on alternate Fridays throughout the academic year. Faculty
members from departments across the University will address issues of power from
their own disciplinary perspective. We have a political science professor
lecturing on power and foreign policy issues and another from criminal justice
talking about homeland security. A nursing professor’s topic is “Patient Power:
What It Is and How You Get It.” The dean of education is speaking about the
power of education, and our provost, Dana Dunn, is lecturing on “Gender and
Power.” The Theatre Arts Department is calling its 2006-07 season “Power Plays,”
and all the productions will deal with issues of power. The history department’s
annual Webb Lectures will focus on slavery, a condition defined by those who
have power and those who don’t.
Are there plans to continue the
program?
Porter: We want to stress that
this is not just a one-year program. We’re going to continue doing this every
year. There’s a form at www.uta.edu/onebook for the University
community to suggest a theme for next year’s OneBook experience.