From Common Reading
to a Common Experience
Fostering a Campus-wide Conversation
Twister Marquiss, MFA
Common Reading Program Director
Nancy Wilson, Ph.D.
Director of Lower-Division Studies in English
Edward Santos Garza
Graduate Student, Rhetoric and Composition
Quick Facts
Texas State University
Location
Mascot
San Marcos, Texas
Bobcats
Fall 2015 Enrollment (Total)
Fall 2015 Freshman Class
Fall 2015 Enrollment in US 1100
38,006 (4th in Texas)
5,727 (+7% over 2014)
5,214
Gender
Ethnicity
57% Female | 43% Male
49% Minorities
33% Hispanic (HSI)
10% African American
COMMON EXPERIENCE
at Texas State University
Affiliated Programs
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
Common Reading Program
University Seminar (US 1100)
First-Year English (ENG 1310 and 1320)
Annual Majors Fair
LBJ Distinguished Lecture Series
Philosophy Dialogue Series
Diversity Film Series
Business Leadership Week
Mass Communcation Week
COMMON READING PROGRAM
READ | DISCUSS | ENGAGE
2015-2016 Theme and Book
Common Experience Theme
Bridged through Stories
Shared Heritage of the United States and Mexico, an Homage to Dr. Tomás Rivera
COMMON READING BOOK
...y no se lo tragó la tierra
...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
by Tomás Rivera
New Edition. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2015
145 pp. Total | 71 pp. in Spanish | 71 pp. in English
COMMON EXPERIENCE
Summer and Fall Programs for 2015
» Common Reading Program distributed ~ 6,500 books
» University Seminar enrolled 5,214 students
» First-Year English used Common Reading Book
together with diagnostic essay prompt
» LBJ Distinguished Lecture Series
featuring film director Robert Rodriguez
» 20th Anniversary Celebration
of Tomás Rivera Children’s Book Award
» 50th Anniversary Commemoration
of LBJ’s Signing of the Higher Education Act
» 98 Common Experience events in Fall 2015
COMMON READING
— beyond the freshman seminar —
English 1310
College Writing I
English 1310
“I didn't use the novel in any formal way, but it
came up once or twice in discussions about
language / identity / bilingualism, and a few of
them compared an essay in Reading Culture to
it. I think it's handy to be able to refer to a text
that they all have in common (they had all read
it, I suppose because they had been told to).”
—Dorothy Lawrenson
Previous Common Reading Books
used in English 1310 and 1320 Courses
2015-2016
2014-2015
2006-2007
2005-2006
2004-2005
English 1310 Student Responses
1
English 1310 Student Responses
2
English 1310 Student Responses
3.1
English 1310 Student Responses
3.2
Common Reading, Fall 2015
US 1100 End-of-Course Evaluation Results
84.97%
Read the Book*
73.63%
Discussed Theme
85.98%
Attended an Event
0
0.225
Percent of Student Respondents
0.45
0.675
*
0.9
no data available regarding number of students who finished the book
Contact Information
Twister Marquiss, M.F.A.
Common Reading Program Director
[email protected] | 512.245.3579
Nancy Wilson, Ph.D.
Director of Lower Division Studies in English
[email protected] | 512.245.5273
Edward Santos Garza
Graduate Student in Rhetoric and Composition
[email protected] | 512.245.2163
»
»
»
txstate.edu/commonexperience
txstate.edu/bobcatbook
@bobcatbook and #bobcatbook