Talking Stick - July/August 2011 - 25

From the Shelf
The following selections are gleaned from a variety of reading programs. This isn’t, of course, the deﬁnitive list, but it does show the breadth of possibilities. Since housing departments deal with many aspects of campus life, from facilities to mental health and from academics to social justice, a broad range of texts can be relevant to the profession. For the Staff: Millennials in the Workplace Neil Howe with Reena Nadler Discover what the Millennial generation brings to their jobs and how their superiors and co-workers can best utilize their skills. The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You Mike Song, Vicki Halsey, and Tim Burress Strategies and techniques for keeping one’s inbox under control; writing effective, efﬁcient messages; and saving a great deal of time too. Includes a case study claiming that adopters have saved weeks of time by using these email methods. Fish!: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen Through a tale about Mary Jane Ramirez and her efforts to change the corporate culture, the authors point out ways an individual can change a workplace through positive attitude and practices. For Students or Staff: Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream Adam Shepard With only a sleeping bag, $25, and the clothes he’s wearing, Shepard (a former RA), attempts to make a living. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah Beah writes about his life of massive transitions from a refugee from Sierra Leone’s civil war at the age of 12 to graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio. Saints at the River Ron Rash In this ﬁctional account, a girl drowns in South Carolina’s Tamassee River. The griefstricken parents want to construct a dam in order to be able to recover her body, against the wishes of local environmentalists. Antigone Sophocles Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, wages a hopeless but passionate battle against the King of Thebes after she illegally buries her brother, a rebel against the state. The text encourages discussions about family loyalty versus patriotism and divine beliefs versus political ones. The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself Hannah Holmes Holmes embarks upon a natural history of humans: their diet, habitats, habits, and other characteristics, and by doing so introduces readers to scientiﬁc enquiry and disputes.

south area, and chair of the diversity action committee. Staff can read as an accompaniment for goal setting, program planning, or supervisory duties. For example, Kathy Hobgood, director of residential life at Clemson, says she and four colleagues are reading Neil Howe and Reena Nadler’s Millennials in the Workplace to prepare for six new employees arriving next year, none of whom has more than three years of professional experience. “[It’s] just to get our brains in the right place,” Hobgood explains. As with Hobgood’s example, a reading program doesn’t have to be large-scale or formal to be useful. More intimate, spontaneous efforts can be effective. If there’s something a person wants to read for professional development, chances are others in the department feel the same way. “The choice [of text] has generally been a more spontaneous one,” Hobgood says, “so we can choose something that folks are excited about and helps fulﬁll our goal of staying current.” Another option is for each staff member to read a different book and then report on the major themes; that way texts can be compared and contrasted during discussion. In the reading program at Southern Methodist, when a selected book turned out to be too long for some staff members to complete, the diversity action committee decided to break the discussions up chapter by chapter, so the material wasn’t as overwhelming, says Scouﬁeld. Last year, committee members sent monthly reminders about the topics raised by the book throughout the year to help everyone remember and apply the lessons learned. Looking at assessment results can also help in the selection of a book. As an example, Scouﬁeld remembers how, because a campus assessment reported that some students had concerns regarding socioeconomic disparities on campus, the housing staff decided to read two books that address those issues. Several institutions mentioned the importance of choosing a text that is appropriately thought-provoking, but not overwhelming. Scouﬁeld notes that since the staff also reads the common reading text in addition to their departmental materials, the length of the books read by residence life and student housing staff matters. “Page length comes into play,” Scouﬁeld says of selecting a book. “We look for really good substantive books that aren’t too long.” For inspiration, the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina in Columbia maintains a list of books and resources used for student reading programs (available online at http://sc.edu/fye/resources/fyr/srp/index.html) that can also apply to staff reading projects. Another source for ideas is the browsable lists of student reading texts that a number of publishers maintain. Books that can be combined with other materials are especially attractive choices, since this can aid discussion and

JULY + AUGUST 2011

http://www.sc.edu/fye/resources/fyr/srp/index.html

Talking Stick - July/August 2011

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