The First-Year Reading Experience at the University of South Carolina is a half-day event held each fall before the start of classes. The event is planned for Monday, August 18, 2008, during the University’s Welcome Week. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the program introduces students to academic life at the University of South Carolina. By bringing students together for a common reading experience even before classes begin, the University demonstrates that academics are the top priority at USC.

This year’s First-Year Reading Experience selection is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. All new students will receive a copy of the First-Year Reading Experience book during summer orientation with a discussion guide to aid in preparing for the event. On the morning of the First-Year Reading Experience, all first-year students will gather at the Carolina Coliseum at 8:30am for a keynote address from Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, an internationally-known bioethicist from the University of Minnesota. Afterwards, students will participate in faculty-led small group discussions about the text and have the opportunity to meet other students and share their ideas. In its 15th year, the First-Year Reading Experience has been well-received campus wide and we look forward to another outstanding event again this year.

The Student Reader's Guide can be downloaded here.
The full Discussion Guide can be downloaded here.

Past First-Year Reading Experience books include:

1994  The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy
1995  Rich in Love by Josephine Humphreys
1996  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1997  The Bear by William Faulkner
1998  Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
1999  The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
2000  The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
2001  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2002  The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
2003  Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2004  Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital
2005  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
2006  Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
2007  When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

For more information about the First-Year Reading Experience contact Jennifer Latino, Assistant Director of University 101, at (803) 777-8869 or latino@mailbox.sc.edu.