The University of North Alabama’s One Book Committee announced the 2023-2024 One Book: “Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century.” Voting for the One Book opened on Feb. 2 and closed Feb. 17. The winning title was announced on Feb. 23 in the UNA digest.

The One Book program began in 2019 with the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. It started out as a requirement only for students in first-year experience (FYE), a required class for freshmen.

“It did start out in first-year experience only. In fall of 2021, the first-year composition committee and English department partnered with FYE and we now require all students coming into English 111 to read the One Book as well. The notion was that we can expand the places that students encounter the book,” said Professor Anissa Graham, head of the One Book committee. 

The book is also required by the Early College Program, a program in which local high schools partner with UNA to prepare students for college early. This way, the One Book is reaching as many prospective students as possible. The committee wants to broaden the range of students reading the One Book.

“The One Book program was created to choose a book for the UNA community that everyone could read and that supported UNA’s [diversity, equity and inclusion] goals,” said Assistant Professor Jennifer Pate, the former head of the One Book committee. 

According to Pate, the committee chooses three titles and then the entire campus – faculty, staff and students – votes for the final selection. Once the book is chosen, faculty plan programming and events around the themes in the book as well as integrate it into the curriculum, with a strong focus on the first year students. The One Book Committee is made up of faculty and staff from across campus

“We are trying to expand to include the campus community as much as possible. The notion is community building through shared reading, but also looking at different aspects of the world that [students] will be going out into through different lenses,” Graham said. 

She hopes to get more faculty and staff members involved and aware of the book. The committee even offers professors ideas on how to incorporate the book into their curriculums. Graham wants to increase the likelihood of students encountering the One Book during their time at UNA.

“The committee meets, we’re members of faculty and staff from varying departments and roles on campus. At least one of the representatives from each college serves on the committee, as well as people from the library and the Mitchell-West Center for Inclusion. In the future we’re hoping to include students as well,” Graham said regarding the One Book Committee. 

The committee begins meeting in Sept. to discuss the success of the current One Book and to brainstorm ideas for next year’s book. They then order around a dozen books from several different publishers and narrow it down from there. Over winter break, committee members take time to read the top choices and cast their final votes when they return after the break. The book is voted on by staff and students alike.

“Sometimes, the process has been like, what are books that you all feel our students need to interact with to feel like this is a college experience. Here’s college level reading, here’s ideas that you need to wrestle with because you are a college educated person. This year we tossed around the idea of having a particular theme so that all the books we presented to the university community would be centered on a particular theme,” Graham said. 

This year, each of the books on the ballot were about disability visibility. 

“This year we looked at, okay, what are the issues that we need to wrestle with more deeply that we don’t necessarily talk about? We started thinking about disabilities – both visible and invisible. Kind of, being aware of what limitations we all might eventually have or do have. How do we all interact in this world in the most productive way possible,” Graham said. 

The One Book Committee wants programming to be available to the entire campus community, not just the English department or FYE. The committee has been working with UNA’s Disability Support Services (DSS) and the Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion to make this happen. 

“Our office is extremely excited about the upcoming One Book and are looking forward to working with the One Book committee on this project. It brings me joy to see that an area so near and dear to my heart is being highlighted by the university for this year’s focus. We look forward to seeing and supporting the events and programs that this year’s book brings,” said DSS Director Jeremy Martin. 

According to the UNA website, the goal of the One Book program is to unite faculty, staff and students around a common theme and book. The book selected will be used to unify the campus and the greater Shoals community through educational opportunities, cultural programming and discussion groups.

For Graham, her goal is to engage students as much as she can. She wants them to feel connected on campus, and the One Book is a way to do that. The program is designed to help students think and experience things in new ways.

“We really want the campus community to feel comfortable in their journey, wherever they are. We want to cultivate this idea of, okay, we’re all coming into this space in similar ways – how do we bridge any gaps and create connections in respectable ways,” Graham said. “Everyone will have a need for accommodations at some point during their journey, and we want people to know they can ask for those. With this particular read, I want people thinking about how they can be better advocates for themselves and others.”