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.
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.
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Preface Events Fall 2024
All events will take place at Campus Life Center in the CLC Ballroom, unless otherwise noted. Admission is free and open to the public.
September 12, 5 p.m.
Meet and Greet for Campus Strolls
September 18, 5 p.m.
Meet and Greet for Campus Strolls
September 25, 5 p.m.
Creative Writing with Aye, fam!
Meet African American Studies Director Dr. Marlon Smith
October 11, 10 a.m.
Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen
Preface Film and History Discussion
HPAC 120
October 22, 6 p.m.
Upstate Forever and Land Policy
Talk with Allie Martinsen and Michael Coleman (Upstate Alumnus)
October 24, 5 p.m.
Dr. Carmen Harris, History
Black Agricultural Organizations in the Upstate
November 4, 4 p.m.
Dr. Rian Bowie, Wake Forest University
Growing a Home Place in the Carolina’s and the Lower South
November 6, 6 p.m.
Preface Reading with Dr. Drew Lanham
Keynote Speaker: The Home Place
November 12, 6 p.m.
Dr Jennifer Gray, Psychology
Intergenerational Trauma and Southern Experience
November 15, 6 p.m.
Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen
Preface Film and History Discussion
The mission of South Carolina Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. This not-for-profit organization presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state.