Preface First-Year Reading and Writing Program at USC Upstate

Preface

First-year Reading and Writing Program

Preface is a first-year reading program that introduces students to the joy of reading critically and using academic disciplines and methods to approach the complex issues in our communities, nation, and world. Preface combines guided reading of a common book with special events and discussions, in which students engage questions raised by the book with university, community and national experts. We read, think and talk together in order to see how concentrated, research-based attention to any subject can bring new solutions to light.

First-year students read the Preface text in English 101 and attend related events throughout the fall semester.

While Preface is geared primarily toward first-year students, it offers a calendar of events that are relevant to a wide range of university courses as well as the community. Events are planned in close cooperation with USC Upstate departments and organizations and are free and open to the public.

This fall, first-year writing students will read They Called Us Enemy by George Takei.

Preface Goals

The intent of this series of programs is to help USC Upstate first-year students make connections to each other and to the university and community, practice skills and explore ideas that contribute to success in college, and discuss how a deeper understanding of a shared reading can inform the way we make personal decisions and influence public policy today.

book cover They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

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Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Session Title: Recognizing Propaganda and Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II

Speaker Name: Dr. Matthew Placek, political science

Session Time: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Tukey Theater, Library Building

 Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Session Title: George Takei, Anti-Racism, and Science Fiction

Speaker Name: Dr. Peter Caster, English

Session Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Tuesday September 20, 2022

Session Title: Stop AAPI Hate

Speaker Name: Hao Wu, Asian American activist

Session Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Session Title: Film: To Be Takei

Session Time: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Tukey Theater, Library Building

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Session Title: Memories of Imprisonment

Speaker Name: Sam Mihara

Session Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Thursday, October 20, 2022 - Saturday, October 22, 2022

Session Title: Voices to Hear Staged Reading: A Question of Loyalty by Robert K. Maesaka, Directed by Allen Evans

Session Time: October 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. and October 22 at 3:30 p.m.
Location: Studio Theatre in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center, Room 129

Thursday October 27, 2022

Session Title: Activism and Social Media

Speaker Name: Dr. Allison Ellis, political science

Session Time: 10:50 a.m. - 12:05 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

 Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Session Title: Does Work Make One Free?: Japanese Internees and Agricultural Labor

Speaker Name: Dr. Carmen Harris, history

Session Time: 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

 Monday, November 14, 2022

Session Title: From Exclusion to Becoming the Model: The Complicated Identity Construction of Indian Immigrants in the US

Speaker Name: Dr. Renu Pariyadath, communication studies

Session Time: 2:30 - 3:50 p.m. 
Location: Health Education Complex, Room 2001

 Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Session Title: Alumni Panel: Immigrant Contributions to US Science and Technology

Speaker Names: Dr. Chris Bender, chemistry, and Dr. Alex Lorenz, German Studies

Session Time: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom