Summer 2004 Reading Project

All incoming first-year students will read Jim Fergus's One Thousand White Women over the summer and write two essays in response to the novel. The essay assignments are handed out and discussed during Eagle View Orientation and are linked below. These two essays will then be turned in to Styles and Ways of Learning and Composition 1 on the first day of classes in the Fall.

Download the MS Word Version of One Thousand White Women [.doc - 55kb]

Download the Adobe Acrobat Version of One Thousand White Women [.pdf - 109kb]

Fergus's One Thousand White Women will help incoming first year students explore the learning goal of Community Awareness and Involvement, one of the nine undergraduate learning outcomes at Florida Gulf Coast University. The novel includes many descriptions of the relationship between individuals and their communities, and of different types of communities. We will explore the socio-political make up of Native American tribes in order to experience a different culture and enrich our understanding of our own culture.Not all of these descriptions are positive; some of them reflect typical stereotypes. We will explore all of this, asking difficult questions and engaging difficult issues. We ask that students read the book with an open-minded attitude and come prepared to think, to learn, and to expand their minds.

Contact Information
Linda Rowland (for the composition 1 assignment)
Email: lrowland@fgcu.edu
Phone: (239)590-7254

Maria Roca (for the Styles and Ways of Learning assignment)
Email: mroca@fgcu.edu
Phone: (239)590-7185