Welcome

MTSU's Community Summer Reading Program was created in 2002 under the direction of Laurie Witherow, the Assistant Dean in the University College. The objectives of the program are to:

• provide a unifying experience for the entering class of students,

• partner with Murfreesboro community organizations,

• encourage intellectual interaction among students,

• provide students with the opportunity to read and personally interact with critically-acclaimed authors, and

• affirm the importance of reading for a successful and fulfilling life.

During CUSTOMS, all incoming freshman students receive packets that include a Summer Reading Guide, information about the author, and a list of course sections using the book selection for the Fall. In its first year, over 100 different course sections from three different academic colleges participated, along with six reading groups from the local community! More than 7,000 people attended last Fall's University Convocation where our guest author was invited to speak.

2013 
 

We are excited to announce that the 2013 Summer Reading selection will be  A Questions of Freedom by R. Dwayne Betts. This book chronicles Dwayne's years in prison, as he reflects back on his crime and makes a decision about how a "moment of insanity" would—or would not--define him. This book is about a quest for identity, one that guarantees a young man's survival in a hostile environment. But finally, and most poignantly, this story is about the many ways that books and a passion for writing helped a young man find his way back to the life he'd lost. Visit the author's website for the book at http://www.rdwaynebetts.com/.

Please mark your calendar to join us in welcoming R. Dwayne Betts as our keynote speaker for the opening University Convocation, which will be held again in the Murphy Center on Sunday, August 25 at 2pm.

Past Summer Reading Program Book Selections at MTSU

For more information about the Community Summer Reading Program, contact Becca Seul via email at Becca.Seul@mtsu.edu or via phone at (615) 898-2339.