September 14, 2009

Faculty incorporate Common Reading program selection into courses

Christopher Charles and Angelica Duran
caption below

Faculty members on campus are finding innovative ways to use this year's Common Reading book selection, "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" by Bich Minh Nguyen, associate professor of English, in their courses and interactions with students.

Nguyen came to the United States from Vietnam as a baby with her family in 1975, and they later settled in the Midwest. Nguyen's memoir, "Stealing Buddha's Dinner," shares her attempts growing up in the 1980s to "be more American" in Grand Rapids, Mich., through a fascination with American snack food.

Angelica Duran, associate professor of English and comparative literature and director of religious studies, is using the book in her course "English 232: Coming of Age in America," which is part of the identically named learning community.

In addition to reading the book as part of the course materials, students in this class will have the opportunity to meet with the family owners of the local Green Sprout Restaurant and Bakery to discuss the family's immigration from South Korea in 2006 and adjusting to life and work in the Midwest.

"The focus of this learning community is exploring how universal human experiences and concerns interact with social and cultural differences in the U.S.," Duran says. "Nguyen's collection of personal essays does so with sensitivity and wit."

Duran's syllabus also includes works by U.S. writers from diverse eras and with diverse backgrounds, such as Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Helen Keller, Tennessee Williams, and Annie Proulx. Each reading is accompanied by a unique assignment or field trip.

For example, Duran selected Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" to dovetail with the Purdue Theatre production of the drama in September and the short story "Brokeback Mountain" to prepare students for author Annie Proulx's guest appearance at Purdue for the 79th Annual Literary Awards.

"But the dinner and conversation with the family owners of Green Sprout Restaurant in relation to 'Stealing Buddha's Dinner' promises to be the most personal and engaging," Duran says. "I scheduled it for the week before Thanksgiving, so that the restaurant's yummy Bi-Bim-Bop and Rice Triangles will still be fresh on their tongues when -- or if -- they go home for a traditional dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce."

The Common Reading Program is funded by the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Student Access, Transition and Success Programs department and Purdue Libraries. "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" was selected from more than 100 titles by a campus-wide committee.

All incoming freshmen and transfer students received a free copy of "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" during STAR (Summer Transition, Advising, and Registration) in June, and participated in book discussions during Boiler Gold Rush.

The goal of the program is to give students a shared academic first-year experience at Purdue.

The campus committee is committed to assessing the program in its inaugural year, and faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to submit their uses of the book via an online form at www.purdue.edu/sats/commonreading. Events or programs that are open to the public also will be publicized on a calendar posted on the same Web page.

For more information about the program or to submit an event, visit www.purdue.edu/sats/commonreading. Questions about the program should be directed to Drew Koch, director of SATS, at akkoch@purdue.edu.

CAPTION: Angelica Duran, associate professor of English and comparative literature and director of religious studies, and Christopher Charles, graduate student in the Department of Communication, meet at Green Sprout Restaurant and Bakery to discuss integrating "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" into the COM 114 and ENG 232 courses they both teach with the "Coming of Age in America" learning community.