The BAAC Book Club provides IUB advisors with a space to select, read and discuss books of professional interest to them. We select one book per semester and meet once or twice during that semester to discuss the book. The interests of the group drive our book selections; our discussions are intended to challenge our thinking and evoke critical questions that will help to evolve our work as advisors.
All IUB academic advisors are welcome in this group and are invited to participate! To get involved, please contact Emily McCord at eimccord@indiana.edu or Jennifer Watson at watsjenn@iu.edu.
In the 2021-2022 academic year, we will read:
- Fall 2021 - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (available as an eBook through the IU Library System)
- Spring 2022 - Get Real: 49 Challenges Confronting Higher Education by William Tierney (available as an eBook through the IU Library System)
Two discussions will take place in fall 2021 and spring 2022. The fall discussions will occur on Zoom. The modality of the spring discussions will be hybrid: in-person in Wells 009 and via zoom. These discussions count as “events” toward earning the BAAC Professional Development certificate.
In addition, we have a new Canvas site for the BAAC Book Club! This Canvas site is a place for participants to chat about the book in-between meetings, suggest questions/topics for discussion at our meetings, and recommend other books to their colleagues. It is a space for connecting around books, building our community, and deepening our thinking.
Past BAAC Book Club selections include:
- Elizabeth A. Armstrong & Laura T. Hamilton's Paying for the Party (fall 2019)
- Cia Verschelden's Bandwidth Recovery (spring 2020)
- Richard Light's Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds (fall 2020)
- Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (fall 2021)
Other books nominated by the BAAC Book Club (and that may become future selections):
- Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz
- Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
- The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack
- Hand To Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado
- Ebony and Ivory: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Steven Wilder
Critical Questions Generated by BAAC Book Club Members