The Unlikely Disciple
Dear Students,
Welcome to the University of Northern Colorado! As Dean of University College, it is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you to an exciting new stage of your life as you become a UNC Bear. For 120 years, Northern Colorado has been providing a life-changing educational experience to generations of students, many of whom have gone on to be leaders throughout the nation and the world, enlivening our communities and carrying on our legacy to future generations.
As part of your introduction to university life, I am pleased to give you this copy of the book that has been chosen by our campus community as the 2011-12 First-Year Common Book: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University, by Kevin Roose, who was a sophomore in college when he wrote it. Every first-year student will be reading this book in preparation for arrival on campus and the beginning of Fall semester.
UNC is well known for transforming the lives of our students and community, and this book recounts a transformative experience of encountering and engaging with people of different outlooks and beliefs. There is a medieval rhyme that goes “Omnis mundi creatura/quasi liber et pictura/nobis est, et speculum”: “Every creature in the world is as a book and a picture to us, and also a mirror.” In encountering others during your college years, you will learn a great deal about the world and other people, but most importantly you will learn about yourselves: your preconceptions, your passions, and your deepest values.
Many of your first-year instructors will be incorporating The Unlikely Disciple into their classes; the UNIV 101 and MIND 100 courses, among others, will require this book. A series of activities around themes in the book will take place during the academic year. The author, Kevin Roose, will be joining us on campus on October 12 for a lecture and seminars with students.
So please accept and read The Unlikely Disciple as a first step in launching your college career. And please accept my most sincere welcome and congratulations on joining UNC’s incomparable community of teaching and learning.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Smith
, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Studies
Dean of University College
The University of Northern Colorado
