February 7, 2005

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS TO ENCOUNTER THE WORKING POOR THROUGH BEST-SELLING BOOK

AUTHOR ALSO SPEAKS ON CAMPUS

DALLAS (SMU) — The author of a thought-provoking book on the nation’s poor will have an impact on issues discussed during two important programs at SMU, one for members of the community this semester and another for students entering in fall 2005.

Barbara Ehrenreich will speak at the 40^th anniversary program of the SMU Women’s Symposium February 22. In addition, her acclaimed book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, will be read by first-year SMU students as part of their introduction to college studies.

Students will be assigned to read the book over the summer. The book will be discussed during faculty-led sessions during Week of Welcome in August and will be a topic of study in first-year writing courses.

"The mission of SMU’s Week of Welcome is to introduce new students to the academic expectations of our community of scholars,” says Brandon Miller, director of New Student Programs at SMU. Giving students a common reading experience “is an ideal tool.”

The reading selection committee of the First-year Experience Task Force considered dozens of suggestions made by SMU faculty and staff. “We feel that Ehrenreich’s book is a good choice because it takes an inside look at an important subject and a significant part of the American experience with which many students may be relatively unfamiliar — the lives and struggles of the working poor,” said Tom Stone, SMU rhetoric instructor and member of the selection committee. “We were also drawn to the book because it is well written, managing to be engaging without trivializing the issues and provocative without being preachy or dogmatic. The reading should strengthen students’ sense that the University is a community where faculty and students engage together in exploration of provocative texts and ideas.”

A New York Times best-seller in 2001, Nickel and Dimed relates the writer’s experiences while attempting to live as an unskilled worker. In her research for the book, Ehrenreich worked as a waitress, nursing home aide, cleaning woman and retail store associate.

Michael Hogenmiller, a student serving on the First-Year Experience Task Force, says a common reading “provides incoming students with a common ground to begin questioning ideas, the world around them, and themselves."

Current members of the campus and Dallas community will have the same opportunity when Ehrenreich addresses the SMU Women’s Symposium at 12:30 Tuesday, February 22, in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom. Ehrenreich will speak on the topic, “Toward Full Participation: Successes, Failures and the Work Ahead.” Her lecture is jointly sponsored by the SMU Women’s Symposium, the University Honors Program Gartner Lecture Series and the Mrs. Jeanne Slobod Fund of the Women’s Studies Program. Tickets for the lecture and lunch are $50 each at the door.

“Over the past four decades, some women have done very well, but others still do not have many choices in their lives,” said Rebecca Bergstresser, coordinator of the Women’s Symposium. “Dr. Ehrenreich has covered and clarified the disparity between high and low-income people and is well qualified to talk about the successes and failures of women in pursuing their goals,” Bergstresser says.

In addition to Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich is the author of several other non-fiction books. She also has published numerous articles and essays in national publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and others.