Integration Of Freshman Engineering Program Into The All University Freshman Reading Initiative

In the fall of 2005, the University of Wyoming initiated a Freshman READ program for all incoming freshmen. The book selected for the inaugural READ program was Dava Sobel’s Longitude. The University objective was to explore how the book could be used across the curriculum in all colleges and to provide the first year students with a common reading experience. This paper explores how the College of Engineering incorporated the University READ program into the freshman introduction to engineering course. Included in the paper is a discussion of how the annual design challenge was adapted to a Longitude theme, how information literacy questions were structured around the theme, and how the university library system supported the student research and assessment papers required for the course. A critical component of the project was assessing the student papers and the student’s ability to evaluate and comment on their research papers. A summary of this assessment is included. The paper concludes with a summary of the overall assessment of the integrated program including suggestions on how other engineering colleges might be able to capitalize on first year reading programs.