Dear colleagues,

It is with great enthusiasm that I am announcing our selection for our 2024 – 2025 SPH Reads Series. This year, we have chosen Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, written by Arlie Russell Hochschild, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

For those new to the community, SPH Reads is an annual school-wide reading program hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. It aims to encourage critical thought and discussion among all members of the BUSPH community and is centered on a carefully chosen thought-provoking book.

This fall, we will be joined virtually by Arlie Russell Hochschild on September 12th for our SPH Reads Public Health Conversation, and all are encouraged to register for the Zoom webinar. Additionally, over the school year, we will be hosting a series of Public Health Conversation Starters focusing on the book’s themes of political divides, class, and race. These 30-minute conversations will be made available to our community throughout the year.

In conjunction with the Starters, we will host five PHC Starter Community Sessions. Each session will open with a viewing of a Starter, followed by an open discussion about the thoughts and ideas from the series. We hope that students, staff, and faculty will join us for these important conversations. In the coming weeks, we will send an additional message with links to sign up to join these conversations.

We encourage our full community to engage with this year’s SPH Reads selection by reading at least the first chapter of the book. The book will be available digitally to the Boston University Community. Click here to access the book through BU Libraries. Please note that a BU Kerberos username and password are needed. There will also be a limited supply of hard copies available in the Talbot Lobby.

We look forward to the thoughtful conversations our community will have surrounding this book.

Thank you,
Yvette

Yvette Cozier, DSc
Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
yvettec@bu.edu

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