Molloy College students, faculty, and staff participate in the College's Common Reading Program. 

The Common Reading Program:

• Involves students, faculty, administrators, staff, and local residents in reading and discussing a book chosen by a college committee because of its important theme and its relevance to contemporary life.  
• Revolves around a book that is required reading for FST 101, The College Experience, a course all freshmen take during their first semester.  
• Serves as the subject of the College's Opening Convocation each fall.  A prominent speaker (usually the book's author) comes to campus to talk about the book and explain the writing process involved.
• Is associated with various campus lectures and events corresponding to the book's subject matter.   
• Is the catalyst for Inspired Works, a contest sponsored by the Common Reading Program Committee to reward creativity in student writers, artists, and musicians.
  
  

· The Common Reading Program Committee includes:
· Linda Albanese, M.A., Vice President of Enrollment Management
Normadeane Armstrong, Ph.D.,  Professor, Barbara H. Hagen School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Susan Bloom, MLIS, MS,  Associate Librarian, Head of Instructional Services, James E. Tobin Library
Noelle Cutter, Ph.D., Chair of the Common Read Committee & Director of First-Year Learning Communities, Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Studies Department
Janice Kelly, Ed.D., Chairperson, Communications Department
Linda Kraemer, Ed.D., Associate Dean and Program Director Undergraduate Education Programs
Patricia Mason, Ed.D., Associate Professor, School of Education and Human Services
Barbara Schmidt, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty
Nafeeza Uddin-Schmidt, M.P.A.,  Student Success Specialist

Common Reading Selections

This is a novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream-the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy.  It was overwhelmingly selected by our Common Read committee. The common read unites our First Year Experience with our Molloy community. I hope you find it enjoyable and relatable to the Mission of Molloy College: study, spirituality, service, and community

PREVIOUS COMMON READ AUTHOR VISITS
Common Read 2020 Author Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, "What the Eyes Don't See"
      

Fall 2019, "We Are Called to Rise" by Laura McBride

Fall 2016: Drew Magary, author of the dystopian novel "The Postmortal", addresses the freshman class and then signs students' copies of the novel.
Fall 2015:  The graphic memoir, March, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell.

Fall 2014: One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni

Chitra Divakaruni, author of One Amazing Thing, shares her thoughts about story telling and writing with the class of 2018.

 
 Fall 2013: Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

Author Ernest Cline addresses Molloy College's 2013 Opening Convocation, left, and signs autographs, right, for students.
His futuristic book, "Ready Player One," was the  Common Reading selection this year.

Fall 2012: Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder

Pulitzer Prize winning author, Tracy Kidder, addresses the freshman class at Molloy College's 2012 Opening Convocation. His book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, was the year's Common Reading selection.

Past Common Reading Program selections

• Fall 2014, One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni
• Fall 2013: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  Fall 2012: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
• Fall 2011: Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference, by Warren St. John
• Fall 2010: Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
• Fall 2009: Hurry Down Sunshine, by Michel Greenberg