Convocation Book
Opening Statement
Reasons to Believe was chosen as the 2010 Convocation Book as a starting point for a discussion about belief. In no way will John Marks attempt to persuade others to embrace his conclusions; he has been welcomed by the Billy Graham Center in the Institute of Strategic Evangelism of Wheaton College, Abilene Christian University, Baylor University (the Southwest Baptist University), Davidson College (a Presbyterian private liberal arts college), and New York University. He has also been invited to read at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. He has always been interested in creating meaningful discussions in which everyone has a voice. The purpose of Convocation and Circles is to inspire dialogue and an exchange of ideas. There are no one way conversations.
History
Since 1998, GCSU’s Week of Welcome has introduced first-year students to the kinds of open-minded, adult, college-level (as distinct from high school) reading and discussions they will be having in their liberal arts classes by inviting freshman to
- read a book over the summer that introduces first-year students to the kinds of issues they will discuss in their liberal arts courses,
- discuss that book for an hour with fellow freshmen in a book circle,
- attend a question and answer session with the book's author,
- listen to the author's views on the value of liberal arts education at Convocation,
- and possibly complete a writing assignment
- (in recent years, approximately half of English 1101 Composition I courses assign the Convocation Book; therefore, the book is technically only required reading for some English classes).
Previous Convocation Books
1998 |
Fred Chappell's Brighten the Corner Where You Are: a comic novel set in 1946 and told by the son of an innovative rural North Carolina schoolteacher whose approach to the theory of evolution sets him at odds with the local school board |
1999 |
Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven: a historical novel tracing the pain of unionizing the coal mines of Kentucky and West Virginia in the early 20th century |
2000 |
Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord's The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: autobiographical tale of a Navaho torn between practicing the methods of medicine preferred by her culture versus the ways taught by her professional training at Dartmouth and Stanford |
2001 |
Lee Smith's Oral History: a novel that captures the folklore and the history of an Appalachian family from the late 19th century to the late-mid 20th century |
2002 |
Melissa Fay Greene's Praying for Sheetrock: a nonfiction story of the rise and fall of the first black commissioner of McIntosh County, Georgia |
2003 |
Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood: a memoir of growing up in a junkyard in South Georgia interlaced with Rachel Carson-like chapters that recount the history and the effects of the loss of the state’s native longleaf pine forests |
2004 |
J. Joaquín Fraxedas's The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera: a Hemingway-like novel of three Cubans who endure a hurricane as they flee on a small raft from their homeland to Florida |
2005 |
Ruben Martinez's Crossing Over: an ethnography of Mexican American immigrants, both legal and illegal, set in their homes in Mexico and in their adopted homes in the U.S. |
| 2006 | Silas House's Clay's Quilt: a debut novel about the piecing together of one's lost family history |
| 2007 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus: a debut novel focusing on a fifteen-year-old Nigerian girl whose family is controlled by a religious fanatic father |
| 2008 | Tayari Jones's Leaving Atlanta: a coming-of-age, debut novel set against the backdrop of the late 1970s Atlanta child murders that broaches questions of class, race, and family conflict from the point of view of three middle school children |
| 2009 | Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero: an existential portrait of a woman abused, imprisoned, and finally executed in body by her patriarchal culture even as her mind learns to speak truth to power. Teaching the Convocation Book |
General Liberal Arts Goals
The Convocation Book broaches some of these core GCSU values:
- Critical and analytical thinking skills
- A broad understanding of global issues
- An appreciation for diversity
- An ability to integrate information across disciplines
- Application of knowledge
- A foundation for making moral and ethical decisions
- Civic responsibility
Specific Outcomes of the 2010 Convocation Book
The 2010 Convocation Book, John Marks' Reasons to Believe,
- is not intended to change anyone's beliefs,
- does not represent the beliefs of the administration, faculty, or professional staff of GCSU, and
- is not intended to undermine any student's prior education or personal values.
The Convocation Book
- is intended to encourage students to express their own beliefs;
- is intended to teach students to examine, to research, and to critique more than one side of an issue, fostering an atmosphere of intellectual debate and respectful discussion; and
- is intended to create civic conversations and encourage tolerance.
While religion is the topic of the Convocation Book, neither the book, its author, the Committee, Circle Leaders, nor anyone associated with GCSU will proselytize to students or ask them to alter their belief. Rather, all discussions of the book will focus on analytical, moral, cultural, and civic questions regarding John Marks' book that are in keeping with our liberal arts mission.