With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 470 programs and their title selections, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2020-21. We will continue to update this listing to provide the most comprehensive record of programs available anywhere and welcome information about titles and institutions we might have overlooked. Please feel free to contact us here with additional information.
| University | Program Name | 2020-2021 |
| Albion College | Common Reading Experience | The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir, by Thi Bui |
| Allegheny College | Allegheny Listens Common Reading | Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation, edited by John Freeman |
| Alma College | First Year Seminar | Leading Lives That Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be, edited by Mark R. Schwen and Dorothy C. Bass |
| Amarillo College | Common Reader Project | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| American University | Writer as Witness | Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, by Eli Saslow |
| Appalachian State University | Common Reading Program | Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, by Elizabeth Rush |
| Arcadia University | Summer Reading | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi and Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, by Stephanie Land |
| Arizona State University – West Campus | Summer Community Read | Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans |
| Arkansas State University | Common Reader | This I Believe II: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman |
| Assumption College | First-Year Common Book | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Auburn University | Auburn Connects! Common Book | Suspended |
| Auburn University Montgomery | Connected Common Reading | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| Augustana College (IL) | Augie Reads | When the Emperor Was Divine, by Juile Otsuka |
| Austin Peay State University | The Peay Read | 101 Things To Do Before You Graduate, by Jullien Gordon & Patricia Hudak |
| Avila University | First-Year Experience Common Read | Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, by Jack Meyer |
| Baldwin Wallace University | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa | |
| Bard College | Language and Thinking Program | An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, an Epic, by Daniel Mendelsohn |
| Bard College at Simon’s Rock | Book One | Grief Sequence, by Prageeta Sharma |
| Bates College | Common Reading | “Dolores” (film) |
| Baylor University, Honors Program | Freshman Reading Project | The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic, by Steven Johnson |
| Bellarmine University | Book in Common | Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, by Hans Rosling |
| Benedictine University | Summer Reading | The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us, by Nicholas Carr |
| Bluegrass Community and Technical College | Common Read | The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow |
| Bluffton University | Summer Reading | No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process, by Colin Beavan |
| Boston College | Conversations in the First Year | Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen |
| Boston College – Woods College of Advancing Studies | Manresa Experience | Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Bowie State University | Freshman Seminar | A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines |
| Bowling Green State University | Common Reading | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Brandeis University | New Student Forum First-Year Book | Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom |
| Bridgewater State University | One Book One Community | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Beyond the Bright Sea, by Lauren Wolk |
| Bridgewater State University | One Book One Community | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Broward College | College Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Brown University | First Readings | “Slavery and Justice Report,” Brown University |
| Bucknell University | First-Year Common Reading | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Bunker Hill Community College | One Book Program | She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar |
| Butte College | Book in Common [w/ CSU Chico] | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Cal State Polytechnic University Pomona | Common Read | The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible, edited by Catherine Burns |
| California State University – Fullerton | One Book, One CSUF | The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez |
| California State University – Bakersfield | One Book Project | Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, by Claire L. Evans |
| California State University – Channel Islands | Campus Reading Celebration | Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, by Safiya Noble |
| California State University – Chico | Book in Common [w/ Butte College] | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| California State University – East Bay | Common Read | Postponed |
| California State University – Los Angeles | One Campus, One Book | Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., by Luis J. Rodríguez |
| California State University – Maritime | Common Reading Program | Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis |
| California State University – Monterey Bay | Common Reading Experience | How to Break Up with Your Phone, by Catherine Price |
| California State University – Northridge | Freshman Common Reading | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| California State University – Sacramento | One Book Program | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| California State University – San Marcos | Common Read | They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei |
| Calumet College of St. Joseph | First Year Experience Reader | The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, by Paul R. Loeb |
| Cardinal Stritch University | Common Read | So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo |
| Carlow University | Common Reader | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Case Western Reserve University | Common Reading Program | The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, by Elaine Weiss |
| Catawba College | Common Summer Reading | “Meno,” by Plato |
| Catawba Valley Community College | Interdisciplinary Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Central College | Common Reading | One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni |
| Central Methodist University | Freshman Community Read | This I Believe II: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman |
| Chadron State College | Common Reading Experience | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Chaffey College | One Book, One College | Symptoms of Being Human, by Jeff Garvin |
| Chesapeake College | One Maryland One Book | The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See |
| Christian Brothers University | Fresh Reads | We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, by Jonathan Safran Foer |
| Clinton College | Common Read | Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. |
| Coastal Carolina Community College | One Book, One Community | Call Me American, by Abdi Nor Iftin |
| Colgate University | Colgate Community Reads | Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas |
| College of Charleston | The College Reads! | The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border, by Francisco Cantú |
| College of New Jersey | Summer Reading | Sweat, by Lynn Nottage |
| College of Southern Nevada | One Book, One College | The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan Haidt |
| College of St. Scholastica | Dignitas Summer Reading | In the Night of Memory, by Linda LeGarde Grover |
| College of Wooster | Summer Reading | The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, by Jamil Zaki |
| Collin County Community College | Book-in-Common | The Leavers, by Lisa Ko |
| Colorado College | Common Book Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Colorado School of Mines | Mines Common Read | Program suspended |
| Colorado State University | Rams Read | Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine |
| Columbia College (MO) | One Read | A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles |
| Columbus College of Art and Design (OH) | First-Year Common Read | They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, by Hanif Abdurraqib |
| Community College of Aurora | Big Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Community College of Baltimore County | Community Book Connection | The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative, by Thomas King |
| Concordia College, Moorhead (MN) | Summer Book Read | Notes from a Young Black Chef, by Kwame Onwuachi |
| Concordia University, Texas | Common Reader / Common Reading | A Dream Called Home, by Reyna Grande |
| Connecticut College | One Book, One Region | Crazy Brave: A Memoire, Jo Harjo |
| Cornell University | Community Book Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Cosumnes Community College | One Book | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Cottey College | First-Year Seminary Common Reader | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Crafton Hills College | One Book, One College | Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis |
| Cuesta College | Book of the Year | The Honeybus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees, by Meredith May |
| CUNY Baruch College | First Year Text | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| CUNY City College | Community Read | The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson |
| CUNY Baruch College | First-Year Text | The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers, by Bridgett Davis |
| CUNY Hostos Community College | Hostos Reads Project | • “Facebook post on the death of her aunt (April 5, 2020),” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” by Ursula K. Le Guin [short story] • “Trayvon Redux” and “This is not a small voice,” by Rita Dove and Sonia Sanchez [poetry] • “You do not belong here,” by Jaquira Diaz [essay] • “Grief Is Purgatory,” by Imani A. Dawson [personal essay] • “Ghost Language,” by Hasanthika Sirisena [graphic essay] • Abuela Stories Project, by various authors {essays/website] • “George Floyd,” by Prof. Juan Soto Franco [acrostic poem in English and Spanish] |
| CUNY Queensborough Community College | Common Read | They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei |
| Cuyahoga Community College | Common Reading | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| D’Youville College | Common Read | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Davenport University | First-Year Read | Habitudes: Images That Form Leadership Habits & Attitudes, by Tim Elmore |
| Davidson College | Common Reading Book | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Defiance College | First Year Common Read | Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, by Kristen Iverson |
| Delaware County Community College | College-Wide Reading Program | About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times, edited by Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. |
| DePaul University – Honors Program | Summer Common Read | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon |
| Des Moines Area Community College | One Book One College | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Dickinson College | Common Reading | Sigh, Gone, by by Phuc Tran |
| Donnelly College | Common Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Drake University | Humanities Reads | Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, by Jaron Lanier |
| Duke University | Common Experience Summer Reading Program | Know My Name, by Chanel Miller |
| East Carolina University | Pirate Read | The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, by Jamil Zaki |
| East Los Angeles College | One Book, One College (OBOC) | When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele |
| East Stroudsburg University | One Book, One Campus | The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose, by Chris Wilson and Bret Witter |
| Eastern Mennonite University | EMU Common Read | In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World, by Pádraig Ó Tuama |
| Eastern Michigan University | Common Read | Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, by Kevin Boyle |
| Eastfield College | Common Book | Tornado Season, by Courtney Craggett |
| Eckerd College | Summer Reading | Circe, by Madeline Miller |
| Elizabethtown College | Open Book | Inspirations: Selection from Classic Literature, edited by Paulo Coelho |
| Elms College | Common Read / Common Reading Program | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Elon University | Common Reading | Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, by Jennifer L. Eberhardt |
| Evergreen State College | Orientation Common Reading | A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, by Rebecca Solnit |
| Excelsior College | Common Read | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover and Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah |
| Fashion Institute of Technology | Common Read Program | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| Feather River College | Book in Common | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Flagler College | Common Read / First Year Book / FYE Book | The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui |
| Florida College | Common Reading | “A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly,” by Edmund Burke |
| Florida International University | FIU Common Reading | A Dream Called Home, by Reyna Grande |
| Florida State College at Jacksonville | Author Series Learning Community | Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine, by Emily Bernard |
| Fordham College – Lincoln Center | First-Year Summer Read | The Colossus of New York, by Colson Whitehead |
| Fordham University – Rose Hill | First-Year Summer Read | The Colossus of New York, by Colson Whitehead |
| Fort Lewis College | Common Reading Experience | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Francis Marion University | Common Text – University Life 101 | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot |
| Frederick Community College | Frederick Reads | Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, by Wes Moore |
| Fullerton College | One Book One College | Small Doses: Potent Truths for Everyday Use, by Amanda Seales |
| George Mason University | Mason|Reads | Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game, by Abby Wambach |
| George Washington University – Elliott School of International Affairs | First-Year Reading | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| Georgetown University | Marino Family International Writers’ Academic Workshop | Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| Georgia College & State University | GC Reads | Essay 1: “Escape the Echo Chamber,” by C Thi Nguyen
Essay 2: “The Myth of the Moral Middle,” by Tayari Jones Essay 3: “Tell Me Where it Hurts,” by Nick Trout Essay 4: “Attitude,” by Margaret Atwood Essay 5: “How to Do What You Love,” by Paul Graham Essay 6:” In Extremis,” by Nabeelah Jaffer Essay 7: “Against Type,” by Jonathan Weber Essay 8: “The King of the Birds,” by Flannery O’Connor Essay 9: “This Is Water,” by David Foster Wallace Essay 10:” Not Here to Make Friends,” by Roxanne Gay Essay 11: “A Small Place,” by Jamaica Kincaid Essay 12: “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” by Alice Walker Essay 13: “This Island Is Sinking,” by Justin Worland Essay 14: “Righteous Incivility”, by Amy Olberding Essay 15:” My Demons and My Dog and This Anxiety and That Noise,” by Hanif Abdurraqib |
| Georgia Southern University | Common Read | Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines, by Jonathan Mooney |
| Glendale Community College | One Book One GCC | Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, by Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble |
| Goucher College | Summer Reading | Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, by Valeria Luiselli |
| Green River College | One Book | Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, by Susan Burton & Cari Lynn and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Grinnell College | Common Reading | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Gustavus Adolphus College | Reading in Common Program | Mom’s Cancer, by Brian Fies |
| Guttman Community College, CUNY | Summer Bridge Common Read | Dominicana, by Angie Cruz and “City Limits,” by Colson Whitehead |
| Harding University | Harding Read | View From the Top: An Inside Look at How People In Power See and Shape the World, by Michael Lindsay |
| Harrisburg Area Community College | One Book, One Community | Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, by Phaedra Patrick |
| Harvard College | Common Reading | The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate, by David Archer or Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway or Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver or Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet, by Varun Sivaram |
| Hawkeye Community College | Hawkeye Reads | The Martian, by Andy Weir |
| Henderson State University | Reddie Read Program | The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez |
| Hesston College | Community Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Hiram College | First Year Common Reading | Trashed, by Derf Backderf |
| Hofstra University | Common Reading | No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, by Greta Thunberg |
| Holyoke Community College | Common Read | One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy, by Carol Anderson |
| Hope College | “Big Read” Holland Area Community | In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick |
| Howard Community College | Book Connection | Friday Black, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah |
| Illinois Central College | One Book One College | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Illinois College | Summer Common Reading | Call Me American, by Abdi Nor Iftin |
| Illinois Valley Community College | One Book, One College | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Illinois Wesleyan University | Summer Reading Program | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Indiana University – School of Medicine | Common Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Indiana University Northwest | One Book…One Campus…One Community | The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, by Amitav Ghosh |
| Indiana University Southeast | Common Experience | Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage, by Dianne D. Glave |
| Indiana University, Kelley School of Business | Common Read Program | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Jacksonville State University | JSU Reads | Listening Is an Act of Love, edited by Dave Isay |
| Johns Hopkins University | Common Question | “What Is the Common Good?” 17 selected essays and videos |
| Johnson County Community College | Common Read | Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, by Sarah Smarsh |
| Juniata College | Common Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah and Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Kalamazoo College | Summer Common Reading | And It Begins Like This, by LaTanya McQueen |
| Kansas State University | K-State Book Network’s Common Reading | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer |
| Kent State University | Common Reading | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Lackawanna College | Lackawanna Reads One Book, One College | Send Judah First: The Erased Life of an Enslaved Soul, by Brian C. Johnson |
| Lackawanna College | Community Reading Book | The Book of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay |
| Lafayette College | Community Read | Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson |
| Lake Area Technical Institute | All-Campus Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Lake Forest College | Common Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Lake Superior State University | Campus Read | The Round House, by Louise Erdrich |
| Lansing Community College | One Book One LCC | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Lansing Community College | Beyond the Book: The Diversity Common Reading Program | We Should All be Feminists, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and There There, by Tommy Orange and From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, by Caitlin Doughty and The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, by Anthony Ray Hinton with Lara Love Hardin |
| Le Moyne College | Summer Common Reading Assignment | “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin |
| Lehigh University | Summer Reading | Make Your Home Among Strangers, by Jennine Capó Crucet |
| Lenoir-Rhyne University | Campus Read | An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago, by Alex Kotlowitz |
| Lewis and Clark College | Common Reading | A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home, edited by Nicole Chung and Mensah Demary |
| Lewis University | First Year Common Reader | Texts on Social Justice in Our Times (compilation) |
| Lipscomb University | LIGHT Common Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Lone Star College – University Park | ReadUP! | Team Human, by Douglas Rushkoff |
| Los Angeles Valley College | One Book, One College | Eating Animals, by Jonathan Foer |
| Louisiana State University | Honors College Summer Shared Read | The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, by Jeff Goodell |
| Lourdes University | Common Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Loyola Marymount University | LMU Common Book | Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest, by Hanif Abdurraqib |
| Loyola University Chicago | First-Year Text | Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas |
| Loyola University Maryland | Common Text Program | Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas |
| Luther College | Summer Reading | The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir, by Thi Bui |
| Maine College of Art | Common Reading | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Manchester Community College | Common Read | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Manhattanville College | First-Year Common Read | The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas |
| Mansfield University | Summer Reading | The Call of the Wild, by Jack London |
| Marist College | Common Reading | Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting, by Joshua A. Douglas |
| Maryville University | Maryville Reads | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT Reads | There There, by Tommy Orange and The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, by Anthony Abraham Jack |
| Medical College of Wisconsin | Common Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Meredith College | Summer Reading Program | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Messiah University | Common Reading | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot |
| Metropolitan Community College – Penn Valley (MO) | Common Read | Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother, by Sonia Nazario |
| Metropolitan State University Denver | 1 Book/1 Project/2 Transform | Sabrina & Corina, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine |
| Miami University | Summer Reading Program | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Michigan State University | One Book, One Community | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Michigan State University – James Madison Residential College | JMC Summer Reading | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Michigan Tech | Summer Reading | The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, by Michael Finkel |
| Middle Tennessee State University | Summer Reading Program | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Midway University | Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, by Brené Brown | |
| Millersville University of PA | One Book One Campus | The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris |
| Minnesota State University – Moorhead | One Book, One Community | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Mississippi State University | Maroon Edition—MSU Common Reading Project | Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, by Conor Grennan |
| Mississippi University for Women | Common Reading Initiative | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Missouri State University | Common Reader | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Molloy College | Common Reading Program | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Monmouth College (IL) | ILA Summer Reading | Becoming a Learner: Realizing the Opportunity of Education, by Matthew L. Sanders |
| Monroe County Community College | One Book, One Community of Monroe County | The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett |
| Montana State University | Common Reading | Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, by Sarah Vowell |
| Montcalm Community College | MCC Reads and One Book One County | Running with Sherman: The Donkey with a Heart of a Hero, by Christopher McDougall |
| Moorpark College | One Campus, One Book | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Moraine Valley Community College | One Book, One College | 1919, by Eve L. Ewing |
| Moravian College | Common Reading Program | We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, by Jonathan Safron Foer |
| Mount Holyoke College | Common Read | “The 1619 Project,” New York Times Magazine |
| Muhlenberg College | Summer Reading | Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| Nassau Community College | Common Reading | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| New York University | NYU Reads | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson and Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| Nichols College | Nichols Reads | Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football, by John Urshel and Linda Thomas |
| North Carolina A&T State University | Text-in-Community | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott |
| North Carolina State University | Common Reading Program | Suspended due to pandemic |
| North Dakota State University | One Book, One Community | The Lager Queen of Minnesota, by J. Ryan Stradal |
| North Idaho College | NIC Common Reading Program: Cardinal Reads | Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police and Punish the Poor, by Virginia Eubanks |
| North Iowa Area Community College | Common Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| North Lake College | Blazer Common Book | Notes from a Young Black Chef, by Kwame Onwuachi |
| Northeastern State University | Common Read | Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, by Adam Alter |
| Northeastern University | First Pages | Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas |
| Northern Illinois University | First Year Common Reading Experience | When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matters Memoir, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele |
| Northern Michigan Univeristy | Two Books Two Communities | The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell and To the Copper Country, by Barbara Carney-Coston |
| Northern Michigan Univeristy | Diversity Common Reader Program | Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Northern State University | Common Read | Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America, by Chris Arnade |
| Northern Vermont University – Johnson | Common Reading Initiative | Indivisible: Poems for Social Justice, by Gail Bush and Randy Meyer |
| Northwestern University | One Book, One Northwestern | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Norwich University | First Read | The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore |
| Notre Dame of Maryland University | Common Reading | Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, by Liza Mudy |
| Oakland University – Honors College | Common Read / HC 1000 | To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret, by Jedidiah Jenkins and Song for a Whale, by Lynne Kelly |
| Occidental College | First-Year Summer Reading | • “1619—Episode 1: The Fight for a True Democracy,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times [podcast]
• “Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlines, and No Apology,” from Heads of the Colored People, by Nafissa Thompson • “On Being White. . . And Other Lies,” from Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White, by James Baldwin • “Humility’s Wisdom,” from Ethical Ambition: Living A Life of Meaning and Worth, by Derrick Bell • “Chapter 6,” from Becoming, by Michelle Obama • “COVID-19 and Workers at Risk: Examining the Long-Term Care Workforce,” by Sarah True; Juliette Cubanski; Rachel Garfield; Matthew Rae; Gary Claxton; Priya Chidambaram; and Kendal Orgera. • “Manhattan is a Lenape Word,” from Postcolonial Love Poem, by Natalie Diaz • “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” by Kimberlé Crenshaw, TedWomen, [Video]. • “Manhattan is a Lenape Word,” by Natalie Diaz, Mellon Foundation [Video] |
| Occidental College | Community Book Program | Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson |
| Ohio Northern University | Campus Common Reading | A multi-faceted exploration of mindsets, growth and learning. You will have a chance to participate in innovative welcome online activities, view a few TED Talks, read essays, and discuss what you have learned with faculty, staff, students.
The welcome activity is a 30-minute online program that includes survey questions, short reading passages, and brief reflection exercises. Along with the online welcome activity, you will be reading a variety of short texts about growth, learning, resilience, and college life. |
| Ohio State University – Newark | One Book, One Community / Buckeye Book Community | Program suspended |
| Oklahoma State University, The College of Human Sciences | Freshman Reading Program | Well Being: The Five Essential Elements, by Tom Rath & Jim Harter |
| Otterbein University | Common Book | Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, by Sam Quinones |
| Owensboro Community & Tech. College | Common Reading | The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson and Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, by John Elder Robison |
| Pacific Lutheran University | Common Reading | The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas |
| Pacific University | FYS Summer Reading | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Palm Beach State College | Common Reader | There Is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years, by Mike Berners-Lee |
| Pennsylvania College of Health Science | Common Read | When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi |
| Pennsylvania State University | Penn State Reads | The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness, by Emily Esfahani Smith |
| Pennsylvania State University – Altoona | Common Read | The Memory Police, by Yoko Ogawa |
| Pennsylvania State University – Berks | Common Reading Program | Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth |
| Pennsylvania State University – Harrisburg | Penn State Harrisburg Reads | Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng |
| Pennsylvania State University – New Kensington | First-Year Summer Reading | “The Legacy of the Pandemic: 11 Ways it Will Change the Way We Live,” Vox, April 22, 2020 |
| Piedmont Virginia Community College | One Book Project | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Pierce College | One Book, One Campus | A People’s History of American Empire: The American Empire Project, A Graphic Adaptation, Howard Zinn |
| Polk State College | Common Read Program | American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, by America Ferrera |
| Post University | Common Read | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| Princeton University | Student Common Read | Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie Glaude, Jr. and Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, by Imani Perry |
| Princeton University | Princeton Pre-Read | This America: The Case for the Nation, by Jill Lepore |
| Providence College | Common Reading Program | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Providence College | Common Reading Program | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Purdue University | Big Read | Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik |
| Purdue University Northwest – Calumet Campus | One Book One Community | The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice, by Anthony Ray Hinton |
| Queens University of Charlotte | The Common Read Program | Leadership: In Turbulent Times, by Doris Kearns Goodwin |
| Ramapo College of New Jersey | FYS Summer Reading | Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| Randolph-Macon College – Honors College | Summer Common Read | Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, by Sam Quinones |
| Reed College | Welcome to Reed | Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison |
| Reedley College | One Book, One College | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Regis College | Common Reading Program | Life is Beautiful (film) and 13th (film) |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Community Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Rhode Island College | Open Books-Open Minds | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Rider University | Shared Read Program | Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, by Eli Saslow |
| Rivier University | One Book, One Campus | The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown, edited by Catherine Burns |
| Roger Williams University | Common Reading | Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence, by Danielle Allen |
| Roosevelt University – Institute for Continued Learning | ICL Read | Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Common Read | Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan |
| Rowan College of South Jersey (formerly Cumberland County College) | One Book, One College | Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and Mother’s Will to Survive, |
| Russell Sage College | Summer Reading | The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown, edited by Catherine Burns |
| Rutgers University, Camden | Rutgers Reads | “The 1619 Project,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones |
| Rutgers University, SAS Honors Program | Summer Reading | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| Saddleback College | One Book, One College | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Saint Joseph’s University | SJU Reads | “The 1619 Project,” by The New York Times |
| Saint Martin’s University | Freshman Seminar Book in Common | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota | Freshman Read | Palaces for People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life, by Eric Klinenberg |
| Saint Michael’s College | Common Text | Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship, by Michelle Kuo |
| Saint Paul College | Campus Common Book | Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond |
| Salem State University | First Year Reading Experience (FYRE) | Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, by John Elder Robison |
| Sam Houston State University | Common Reader Program | American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, by America Ferrera |
| San Diego State University | One Book One San Diego | They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei |
| San Antonio College | Common Read | The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible, edited by Catherine Burns |
| San Jose State University | SJSU Reading Program | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| San Juan College | One Book/One Community | Crazy Brave: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo |
| Scripps College | Summer Read | More than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say), by Elaine Welteroth |
| Seattle University | Common Text | 11 Essays 1. “Allegories on Race and Racism,” by Camara Jones
2. “Is ‘Race Science’ Making a Comeback?” by Angela Saini 3. “Implicit Bias, Stereotype Threat and Higher Ed,” by Russell McClain 4. “What Is Owed,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones 5. “Racism, the Immigration Enforcement Regime, and the Implications for Racial Inequality in the Lives of Undocumented Young Adults,” by Elizabeth Aranda and Elizabeth Vaquera 6. “The Police Killings No One Is Talking About,” by Stephanie Woodard 7. “The Model Minority Trap,” by Viet Thanh Nguyen 8. “Facing Racism,” by Anna Purna Kambhampaty, Sangsuk Sylvia Kang, and Haruka 9. “Examining Racial Disparities Observed During Coronavirus Pandemic,” by Rachel Martin 10. “This Is What an Antiracist America Would Look Like. How Do We Get There?” by Ibram X. Kendi 11. “Racism, Immigration and Ally-ship,” Jose Antonio Vargas interview with Karen Hunter and Drew McCaskill |
| Seton Hall University | Summer Reading | Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth |
| Sewanee The University of the South | Common Book | Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, by Diarmaid MacCulloch |
| Shepherd University | Common Reading | Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time, by Andrew Forsthoefel |
| Siena College | Summer Reading For First Year Seminar | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Siena Heights University | Common Reading Experience | “Claiming an Education,” by Adrienne Rich and “How we can face the future without fear, together,” by Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks [TedTalk] |
| Sierra Nevada College | Common Read | We the Animals, by Justin Torres |
| Simmons University | First Year Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Skidmore College | Summer Reading Program | Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang |
| Smith College | Smith Reads | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Somerset Community College | SCC Common Read | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| South Dakota State University | Common Read | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Southeastern Louisiana University | Common Read | Life of the Party: Poems, by Olivia Gatwood |
| Southern Methodist University | Common Reading | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| St. Bonaventure University | All Bonaventure Reads | I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown |
| St. Edward’s University | Common Read | Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms, by Hannah Fry |
| St. Olaf College | Common Read | Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel |
| St. Petersburg College | SPC Reads | Becoming, by Michelle Obama |
| Stanford University | Three Books Program | Grit: The Power and Passion of Perserverance, by Angela Duckworth and Selected Readings on Race, Class, and Education, by Multiple authors and Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Stevens Institute of Technology | First Year Reading Program | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Stockton University | Freshman Common Reading | Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor |
| Stony Brook University | First-Year Reading | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| SUNY Binghamton | Common Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson and 13th (documentary) |
| SUNY Brockport | Freshman Summer Reading Program | Storytelling. Through various platforms, we will be sharing stories of community, perseverance, advocacy, and passion. |
| SUNY Geneseo | Common Summer Book Read | March: Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell |
| SUNY New Paltz | One Book, One New Paltz | Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman |
| SUNY Oneonta | Common Read | The 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater |
| SUNY Onondaga Community College | Common Read | Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines, by Jonathan Mooney |
| SUNY Oswego | Oswego Reading Initiative | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Susquehanna University | Common Reading Program | Curiosity: Susquehanna University Common Reading Anthology 2020-2021 |
| Sussex County Community College | Campus Novel | The Martian, by Andy Weir |
| Sweet Briar College | Common Read | The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse Reads Program | Program suspended |
| Tarrant County College-Northwest Campus | The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez | |
| Temple University | Freshman Summer Reading Project | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Texas A&M International University | Common Read | That’s That: A Memoir, by Colin Broderick |
| Texas A&M University – Galveston | Inferior, by Angela Saini | |
| Texas A&M University – San Antonio | Common Reading Experience | Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting, by Joshua A. Douglas |
| Texas A&M University – Texarkana | Common Reading Experience | “The Southern Experience,” collection of articles and chapters |
| Texas Christian University | TCU Common Reading | Suspended due to pandemic |
| Texas State University | Common Reading | American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, by America Ferrera |
| Texas Woman’s University | Book-in-Common | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Texas Woman’s University | Book-in-Common | Suspended due to pandemic |
| The Citadel | Summer Reading Program | A Few Good Men, by Aaron Sorkin |
| The College of New Jersey | Summer Reading | Sweat, by Lynn Nottage |
| The University of Akron | Common Reading Program | Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, by David Sheff |
| The University of Scranton | Royal Reads | Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, by Father Gregory Boyle |
| Thomas College | Common Read | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot |
| Tiffin University | Freshman Reading Program | The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore |
| Towson University – Honors College | Honors College Read | Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis |
| Trinity University | Reading TUgether | The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir, by Thi Bui |
| Trinity Washington University | Trinity Reads | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Tulane University | Tulane Reading Project | The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom |
| Tulsa Community College | Public Good Reads | Tulsa 1921: Reporting a Massacre, by Randy Krehbiel |
| Tuskegee University | Year-Long Common Reading Experience (YLCRE) | Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington |
| Union Theological Seminary | EDS at Union Community Read | Give Us The Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, by Ari Berman |
| United States Air Force Academy | Common Read | Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel |
| University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa | Common Book Read | White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo |
| University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa, Honors College | Common Book Experience | Copperhead, by Alexi Zentner |
| University of Alaska, Southeast | One Campus, One Book | If Our Bodies Could Talk: Operating and Maintaining a Human Body, by James Hamblin |
| University of Arizona, Honors Program | Common Reading Program | The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border, by Francisco Cantú |
| University of Arkansas, Fayetteville | One Book One Community | Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine, by Edward Lee |
| University of Arkansas, Fort Smith | Big Read | Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann |
| University of California, Berkeley | On the Same Page | Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| University of California, Davis | Campus Community Book Project | Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me, by Ellen Forney |
| University of California, Irvine | UCI Great Big Read | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| University of California, Los Angeles | Common Experience | “BoJack Horseman” (Netflix) |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | UCSB Reads | Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, by Elizabeth Rush |
| University of California, Santa Cruz | The Deep Read | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| University of California, Santa Cruz – Cowell College | Summer Reading | Island of a Thousand Mirrors, by Nayomi Munaweera and Unflattening, by Nick Sousanis and “The Moral Instinct”, by Steven Pinker (an essay) |
| University of California, Santa Cruz – Crown College | Summer Reading Assignment | Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds, by Mary Shelley |
| University of California, Santa Cruz – Kresge College | Summer Reading Assignment | Mortimer Adler, “How to Mark a Book” Purdue University Academic Success Center, “Improving note-taking skills” David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. “Introduction: Ways of Reading.” Eric Liu, “How to Get Power”, in We Humans Eric Liu, “Why Ordinary People Need to Understand Power” [~17” video lecture], in TED: Ideas Worth Spreading bell hooks, “Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education,” in Working-Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory Reyna Grande, excerpts from A Dream Called Home. New York: Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2018. pp. 3-47 [44 pages] |
| University of California, Santa Cruz – Merrill College | Summer Reading Assignment | • Read The New York Times • “Metacognition Is Not Cognition,” by Howard Tinberg • “Who Gets to Graduate?” by Paul Tough • “The Effort Effect,” by Marina Krakovsky |
| University of California, Santa Cruz – Oakes College | Summer Reading Project | The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander |
| University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus | One Book, One Campus | Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflection on Race and Medicine, by Damon Tweedy |
| University of Colorado, Boulder | One Read | So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo |
| University of Connecticut | UConn Reads | The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, by Amitav Ghosh |
| University of Chicago – Harris Public Policy | Common Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| University of Dallas | UD Reads | The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead |
| University of Delaware | First Year Common Reader | Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas |
| University of Denver | One Book, One DU | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| University of Evansville, Honors Program | Common Read Experience | Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and A Mother’s Will to Survive, by Stephanie Land |
| University of Georgia | Community Reading Program | In My Place, by Charlayne Hunter-Gault |
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | Common Read Program | The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry |
| University of Houston | Provost Summer Read Program | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| University of Houston – Clear Lake | Common Reader Program | The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore |
| University of Houston – Downtown | Freshman Common Reader Program | Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, by Sherry Turkle |
| University of Idaho | Common Read | The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez |
| University of Iowa | One Community, One Book | A Place for Us, by Fatima Farheen Mirza |
| University of Kansas | KU Common Books | Suspended |
| University of Kansas Medical Center | One Book | The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir, by Steffanie Strathdee |
| University of Kentucky – Lewis Honors College | HON 101 / Common Reading Experience | The Book of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay |
| University of La Verne | One Book, One University | Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, by Mira Jacob |
| University of Louisiana – Monroe | Summer Reading Program | This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman |
| University of Maine, Honors College | Honors Read | Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, by Eli Saslow |
| University of Mary Washington | Common Read | Podcasts that discuss a pandemic and the civil rights movement. |
| University of Maryland | First Year Book | Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O’Neil |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County | New Student Book Experience | Suspended |
| University of Miami | One Book, One U | So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo |
| University of Michigan – Dearborn | Community Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| University of Michigan – Flint | Common Read | Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, by Valeria Luiselli |
| University of Michigan, Engineering | Engineering Common Reading Experience | Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, by Kristen Iverson |
| University of Minnesota – Twin Cities | CEHD Reads | Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, by Jennifer Morton |
| University of Mississippi | Common Reading Experience | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| University of Missouri – Kansas City | First Semester Experience | Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood |
| University of Missouri – Kansas City | Social Justice Lecture Series | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| University of Missouri – St. Louis | Common Read | Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, by Angela Y. Davis |
| University of Missouri, Honors College | Honors College One Read | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| University of Missouri, Law School | Mizzou Law One Read | So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo |
| University of Missouri, School of Medicine | Common Read | Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care, by Augustus A. White |
| University of Montana | Griz Reads | Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear, by Bryce Andrews |
| University of Mount Olive | Common Reading | The Hundred Story Home, by Kathy Izard |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | Common Reader for COLA 100E | Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline |
| University of North Alabama | One Book Initiative | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| University of North Carolina – Asheville | Summer Reading | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| University of North Carolina – Charlotte | Common Reading Experience | The 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater |
| University of Northern Iowa | President’s Diversity Common Read | So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo |
| University of Notre Dame – Glynn Family Honors Program | Summer Reading | The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America, by Sarah Igo and |
| University of Oregon | Common Reading | 1619 Project, The New York Times |
| University of Pennsylvania | Penn Reading Project | ● “My Dungeon Shook (A Letter to My Nephew),” by James Baldwin (from A Fire Next Time)
● “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania,” by Benjamin Franklin ● “The Purpose of Education,” by Martin Luther King, Jr. ● “Home,” by Toni Morrison (from The Source of Self-Regard) ● “Song of Parkland” (directed by Amy Schatz) |
| University of Pittsburgh | Common Reading Program | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| University of Pittsburgh – Pitt Public Health | One Book One Community | Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth, by Dána-Ain Davis |
| University of Pittsburgh – Bradford | Common Read | The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead |
| University of Portland | ReadUP – One Book Together | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| University of Richmond | One Book, One Richmond | Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life, by Eric Klinenberg |
| University of Saint Joseph | Common Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| University of Saint Mary | Common Read | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| University of San Diego | Just Read! | Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America, by Conor Dougherty |
| University of South Alabama | Common Read | Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis |
| University of South Carolina | First-Year Reading Experience | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| University of South Carolina Upstate | PREFACE | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| University of South Dakota – Honors Program | Honors First-Year Reading Project | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| University of Tennessee – Martin | Common Read | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| University of Texas at Austin | Freshman Reading Round-Up | Multiple Books |
| University of Texas at Austin – Honors Program | Plan II Honors Program | Where We Come From, by Oscar Cásares |
| University of Texas at Tyler | Common Reading | Think Like a Freak, by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner |
| University of the District of Columbia | Freshman Book | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| University of Toledo | Common Read | Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, by Adam Alter |
| University of Vermont – Honors College | First-Year Summer Reading | • Honors College – The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic: And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson |
| University of Virginia – Curry School of Education | Curry Common Read | The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, by Anthony Jack |
| University of Virginia, Law School | Common Read | The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander |
| University of Wisconsin – Madison | Go Big Read | Parkland: Birth of a Movment, Dave Cullen |
| University of Wisconsin – Madison, Chadbourne Residential College | Common Read | American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, by America Ferrera |
| Utah State University | Common Literature Experience | Suspended |
| Utah Valley University | Freshman Reading Program | The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton |
| Vanderbilt University | Commons Reading | The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, by Dolly Chugh |
| Vassar College | Common Reading | Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid |
| Ventura College | One Book, One Campus | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds |
| Victor Valley College | One Book, One College | Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan |
| Villanova University | One Book | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Villanova University – School of Business | Read to Lead | Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, by Phil Knight |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | Common Reading | One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying our Democracy, by Carol Anderson |
| Viterbo University | First Year Student Common Read | When the Emperor Was Divine, by Juile Otsuka |
| Wagner College | Summer Reading Assignment | Non-Stop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Shapiro |
| Wallace State Community College | Common Read Initiative | The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead |
| Wartburg College | Knight Reading | Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, by Mary Robinson |
| Washburn University | iRead | A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican, by David Golland |
| Washington College | First Year Book Program | Suspended |
| Washington State University | WSU Common Reading | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Washington State University – Tri-Cities | Common Reading | Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noa |
| Washington State University – Vancouver | Freshman Common Read / Common Reading Program | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| Washington University in St. Louis | Common Reading Program | Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O’Neil |
| Wenatchee Valley College | One College, One Book | The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez |
| Wesleyan University | First Year Matters Common Experience | This Changes Everything, directed by Avi Lewis (documentary) |
| West Shore Community College | Common Read | Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate |
| West Texas A&M University | Readership WT | Suspened due to the pandemic ??? |
| West Virginia University | Campus Read | The Girl Who Smiled Beads, by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil |
| Western Carolina University | One Book | The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, by Charles Fishman |
| Western Kentucky Community and Technical College | One Book Read | The Gone Dead, by Chanelle Benz |
| Western Michigan Univeristy – School of Medicine | Common Read | The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness, by Kelli Harding |
| Western New England University | Summer Reading Assignment | What The Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Westfield State University | First-Year READ | Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World, by Justin Lee |
| Westminster College (MO) | One Read | A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles |
| Westminster College (PA) | The Next Chapter: First Year Program | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Westmont College | Westmont Summer Reads | The Book of Proverbs and “What No One Ever Tells you about Thriving in College,” Sruti Bandlamuri |
| Whitman College | Common Read | How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi |
| Wichita State University | WSU Reads | Some Were Paupers, Some Were Kings: Dispatches from Kansas, by Mark E. McCormick |
| William Woods University | One Read | A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles |
| Williams College | Williams Reads | Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation, edited by H. Melt |
| Winona State University | WSU Common Book Project | Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey From a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League, by Dan-El Padilla Peralta |
| Winthrop University | Common Book Project | The Girl Who Smiled Beads, by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil |
| Yavapai College | Rider’s Read | There There, by Tommy Orange |
