The DelVal Book Community
This academic year, Delaware Valley College joins hundreds of colleges across the country with the introduction of The DelVal Book Community, a non-curricular common reading program that jumpstarts incoming students’ college experience and joins the entire college community in a year-long dialogue devoted to the topics, issues, and controversies surrounding the selected books. Over the course of the next two semesters, this program will be supplemented by faculty-led forums, roundtables, discussion groups, film and lecture series, and other on-campus events.
The Goals
-
Introduce incoming students to the expectations of higher education
-
Involve all students, faculty, and staff in a common academic dialogue
-
Promote literacy, life-long learning, communication, and collaboration across multiple disciplines
The Books
- Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
-
Elizabeth Royte’s Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs,
and the Battle Over America's Drinking Water - Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain
Buy all three DelVal Book Community titles at the campus Bookstore and receive $10 off your purchase of a regular priced sweatshirt!
Events
Water Tasting / Water Testing
Wed., Sept. 28, 2011 in Levin Dining Hall from 5:00 to 7:00 PM
Come and sample a variety of fine bottled waters and celebrate one of the DelVal Book Community selections for 2011-12: Elizabeth Royte’s Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs, and the Battle over America’s Drinking Water. Everyone is welcome to attend this free on-campus event, which will serve as a fun social experiment devoted to one of the central dilemmas addressed by Bottlemania: Why do Americans consume so much bottled water when water from the tap is cheaper, better regulated, and oftentimes better tasting? Tasting stations set up in the foyer of the Dining Hall will give attendees the opportunity to sample a diverse variety of domestic and international bottled waters—still waters, effervescent waters, spring waters, filtered waters, even waters from local wells. The tasting will be complemented by a series of interesting and informative mini-presentations from members of the faculty and college community, including presentations by Dr. Edward Sambriski, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, on the chemistry of water’s taste, and Colin Chambers, DelVal’s Environmental Health and Safety Specialist, who will discuss procedures and regulations related to campus water quality. All are welcome.
Attention Freshmen
In addition to preparing students for a diverse schedule of faculty-led forums, roundtables, discussion groups, film series, lectures, and other campus events, incoming freshmen can also expect any or all of these books to be required reading in their courses during the coming academic year, especially the Skills for College Success course (LA 1020). As part of the First Year Experience program, students are strongly encouraged to acquire and read one—or all—of these selections between Orientation (June 4–9) and the Week of Welcome (August 25).