Ithaca College

Dear Colleagues,

As you may have read in Intercom, President Williams has selected The Life of Pi by Yann Martel as the 2006 selection for the First-Year Reading Initiative. I sincerely thank those of you who have already volunteered to be discussion leaders and invite those of you who have not yet volunteered to do so. For more information about the author and about The Life of Pi, please visit www.randomhouse.ca. Faculty teaching first-year courses during the Fall 2006 semester are encouraged to consider incorporating the text into their classes.

If you are interested in participating in the discussion groups with first-year students, please contact Rosalie Fitzgerald at fitzgera@ithaca.edu. An information session for all facilitators will be held on Thursday, August 17, from 10:00 a.m. to noon (location TBA), and the discussion groups with first-year students will meet on Tuesday, August 29, the day after Convocation, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, so please mark your calendars. In addition, please reserve Tuesday, September 5, at 7:00 p.m. for the First-Year Speaker presentation.

I hope you will join this effort to welcome new students to the Ithaca College community of learners. Please contact tsaunders@ithaca.edu should you have questions.

Tanya R. Saunders
Assistant Provost/Dean of
Interdisciplinary and International Studies