Community Engagement

I believe academia should not be limited to the space of the college. Rather, I seek to blur the lines between the college and the community. Including the community in the work done by the English department can create a space that generates a deeper literary engagement.

College of DuPage

The Great Read Series

In the academic year of 2023-2024 I created the College of DuPage’s Great Read Series.

This program is reflective of other one book, one community programs but is adapted for a community college setting (something not many colleges of this size often have access to). This program seeks to extend the college to offer more active learning opportunities for students outside the classroom and provide further access to our resources to the community. You can read more about this program here: https://www.cod.edu/academics/academic_opportunities/great-read-series/index.html

2025-2026 Academic Year

Among our events and college offerings included:

• 24 sections of linked courses across the college (for 2 semesters)
  • We expanded to include options for novel links and thematic focus links
• Connections made with learning communities
• 4 Faculty talks at local libraries
• Workshop event for the Mukden Incident and ethics in research
• Book club events
• Film Studies movie night
• A student showcase featuring displays and lightening talks by students and performance readings by theatre students

Fall 2024

Among our events and college offerings included:

• 13 sections of linked courses across the college. 7 sections officially linked in history, political science, humanities, philosophy, and English (1 section is honors course)
• Field trip to the Newberry Library to view an original manuscript of the Popol Vuh
• 2 Faculty talks at local libraries
• Mexican horror movie night hosted by our film co-chair
• Book club events
• A student showcase featuring works by students from the linked courses, as well as garments made by the fashion club inspired by the book, and performance readings by theatre students

The Page Turners

I am an adviser for the student book club the Page Turners. We have meetings where we read short stories, discuss 4-5 selected books for the semester, and engage in a variety of bookish activities. Chap Life: https://cod.presence.io/organization/the-page-turners Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codpageturners/

Purdue University

I have been fortunate to be a part of Purdue’s Big Read program. Purdue’s Big Read selects a book each year, creates a calendar of events (while being mindful to include all ages), and provides copies of books to Purdue students, high school students, public libraries, and others within the community. I have organized, led, and participated in events for the 2018-2019 (Colson Whitehead), 2019-2020 (Emily Wilson), 2020-2021 (Nnedi Okorafor), and 2021-2022 (Naomi Novik) academic years. With these events we encourage reading for all ages and generate discussions between community members and academics on social and political issues.

Other Community Events

• Comics Workshop: Avalon High by Meg Cabot (Content Developer), University of Rochester Archival Event.