Common Reader
About the Program
UHCL's Common Reader Program is an extension of the First-Year Seminar Program. The program, which began in 2014, aims to foster critical thinking and discussion around voice, civic engagement, and citizenship. A committee of students, staff, and faculty from all four colleges select the text that is studied throughout the academic year and plan events inspired by it.
As citizens of the Clear Lake area, we believe UHCL's educational reach goes beyond entrances of the campus proper. We hope community members will participate in a vibrant intellectual conversation with their UHCL counterparts.
UHCL Common Reader Program Learning Objectives
- To strengthen the academic community and creating opportunities for intellectual engagement and critical thinking;
- To encourage depth in learning through carefully selected common readings that pose multiple or differing perspectives and questions;
- To establish a stimulating environment that is both informal and structured, setting a tone for engagement among our faculty, staff, students, and community
Academic Year 2025-2026 Common Reader Selection
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Amanda Peters' novel, The Berry Pickers (2023), follows an indigenous Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia. Every summer they and other migrant workers travel to Maine to pick blueberries on commercial farms. In 1962, 4-year-old Ruthie disappears from the fields. She isn't seen again for 50 years. Peters raises important questions around topics such as agricultural labor conditions, food advocacy, adoption and foster care ethics, and Native American heritage and visibility. Join the Common Reader Program in Fall 2025-Spring 2026 as we hold events that discuss The Berry Pickers' relevance to many different disciplines, such as history, social work, education, and criminology.
Contact the planning committee chair, Dr. Anne Gessler, at Gessler@uhcl.edu, for more information.
Past Common Reader Selections
- 2024-2025: Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand (2022)
- 2023-2024: Alice Wong, ed., Disability Visibility (2020)
- 2022-2023: Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don't See (2018)
- 2021-2022: Amy Ellis Nutt, Becoming Nicole (2015)
- 2020-2021: Wes Moore, The Other Wes Moore (2010)
- 2019-2020: Joshua Davis, Spare Parts (2014)
- 2018-2019: Dave Isay, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work (2016)
- 2017-2018: Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures (2016)
- 2016-2017: Cristina Henríquez, The Unknown Americans (2014)
- 2014-2016: Anand Giridharadas, The True American (2014)
Special Accommodations
Any person needing an accommodation for a disability in order to participate should contact Dr. Anne Gessler at 281-283-3471 or Gessler@uhcl.edu at least one week prior to the event to arrange for the accommodation.