On March 31, 2025, the Penguin Random House First-Year Reading Advisory Board convened for their annual summit. The Board Members, representing a variety of public and private higher education institutions of varying sizes and geographic regions, came together to exchange ideas, discuss the complexity of the current common reading landscape, and provide feedback. The Advisory Board’s contributions are integral to PRH Education’s understanding of the opportunities and needs of common reading programs.
At a time when many schools are facing legislative obstacles, the needs of common reading programs across the country are more diverse than ever. The Board’s feedback emphasized the importance of PRH’s wide array of titles and authors that can help students succeed across all manner of academic disciplines by fostering community and engagement.
We welcomed two new Advisory Board Members:
Daniel Hill, University of Mississippi
Paula Patch, Elon University
2025 PRH First-Year Reading Advisory Board (in alphabetical order):
- Mathew Chetnik, Salem State University
- Bethany Chinedu Willig, University of Wisconsin – Madison
- Daniel Hill, University of Mississippi
- Aileen Liu, University of California – Berkeley
- Edwin Mayes, Case Western Reserve University
- Paula Patch, Elon University
- Katharine Pei, Washington University in St. Louis
- Bernie Savarese, University of Tennessee
- Dan Solworth, Northeastern University
As always, we are appreciative to those who have come before, and have helped lay the foundation for the Board:
PRH First-Year Reading Advisory Board Emeritus:
- Rebecca Campbell, Northern Arizona University
- Janet Casey, Skidmore College
- Tara Coleman, Kansas State University Libraries
- Susanna Eng-Ziskin, California State University – Northridge
- Liz Gales, Northern Iowa Area Community College
- Steven Girardot, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Jordan Hale, Duke University
- Jennifer Latino, Campbell University, Ellucian
- Marjorie Litchford, Smith College
- La’Tonya Rease Miles, University of California Los Angeles
- Erika Nielsen, Texas State University
- Abby Nobili, University of Central Florida, Valencia College
- Daphne Rankin, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Shelia Stoeckel, University of Wisconsin – Madison
- Jared Tippets, Purdue University, Southern Utah State University
- Jonathan Wynn, UMASS Amherst
