UW Common Book

The Center for Curriculum Transformation collaborates each year with Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the sponsor of the UW Common Book. This program engages new students in a common reading each Autumn quarter. All entering freshmen receive a copy of the book.

Learn more about UW Common Book activities at the Undergraduate Academic Affairs web site at http://www.washington.edu/uaa/commonbook/

2009 Common Book:
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

2008 Common Book:
The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

In a widely praised piece of investigative reporting, award-winning author Luis Alberto Urrea follows 26 men who, in May 2001, attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona. Their path took them through the deadly region known as the Devil's Highway, some of the most remote and undeveloped desert in the United States. Only 12 of the men made it out. The Devil's Highway: A True Story reminds us that immigration is a pressing moral as well as socioeconomic and political issue.

2006 Common Book:
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

During the 2006-2007 school year, students read the UW Common Book selection Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. Explore study notes on topics raised by the book at the Center for Curriculum Transformation resource page at http://depts.washington.edu/ctcenter/farmer.shtml.