Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

Chronicle of child soldier chosen as Syracuse University’s 2008 Shared Reading title

Wednesday, October 31, 2007, By News Staff
Share

Chronicle of child soldier chosen as Syracuse University’s 2008 Shared Reading titleOctober 31, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah has been selected as the title for the 2008 Syracuse University Shared Reading Program.

The book was selected by Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina on the recommendation of a review committee of faculty and staff members. Beah will visit campus Sept. 22-23, 2008; he will deliver the Milton First-Year Lecture on Sept. 22 and a lecture on Sept. 23 in a joint presentation of The University Lectures and the 2008 Syracuse Symposium, presented by The College of Arts and Sciences.

“Next year’s shared reading selection opens a window onto a world rife with unspeakable violence and hardship brought on by civil war,” says Spina. “Ishmael Beah’s journey, from a boy soldier to an advocate for global humanity, brings a powerful message to our students on the resilience of the human spirit. We hope Beah will inspire our students to be advocates for humanity in their own right.”

In the book, a story of redemption and hope, Beah chronicles his life during the early and mid-1990s, as civil war ravaged his homeland, the West African nation of Sierra Leone. At age 12, Beah fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By age 13, he’d been picked up by the government army and made into a boy soldier. A gentle boy at heart, Beah found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, Beah struggled to regain his humanity and to re-enter the world of civilians.

Beah moved to the United States in 1998 and finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School in New York City. He graduated from Oberlin College in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Now 26, he is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and many other non-governmental organization panels on children affected by war. His work has appeared in Vespertine Press and LIT magazine. He currently lives in New York City.

The Syracuse University Shared Reading Program was created to give new and first-year students a common, memorable first-year experience. Now in its sixth year, the program has evolved to become an opportunity for students new to Syracuse University to experience the core values of Scholarship in Action: academic excellence, interdisciplinary inquiry and engagement with the world.

The SU Bookstore will mail copies of the book to all new and first-year students, who are expected to read the book before their arrival and to participate in lectures, discussions and related assignments as part of Syracuse Welcome 2008 and throughout the academic year. The shared reading program, led by the Office of Academic Affairs, is part of Syracuse Welcome, the University’s signature program for new students.

All faculty members are encouraged to integrate the book and its themes into courses for first-year students. The SU Library staff will gather research materials and locate them on their website to assist instructors and students in exploring topics and themes related to the book.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • 2023-24 Parking Rates Announced
    Friday, May 26, 2023, By News Staff
  • Lutheran Chaplain Announces Retirement
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By Dara Harper
  • SyracuseCoE Awards $180,000 for 9 Faculty Fellow Projects Supporting Research and Innovation
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By News Staff
  • From Generation to Generation: Doing Well by Doing Good
    Thursday, May 25, 2023, By Eileen Korey
  • Office of Veteran and Military Affairs Celebrates Graduating Military-Connected Students
    Wednesday, May 24, 2023, By Charlie Poag

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Spring 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Awards of Excellence Honoree: Maxwell has Been ‘a Guiding Hand’ in Public Service Career

Standing before an audience of fellow Maxwell School alumni gathered in Washington, D.C., for the second annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez ’09 shared the motivation behind his work as a journalist. Sanchez emigrated from Cuba as…

NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts

Sean O’Keefe, University Professor in the Maxwell School, was interviewed for the USA Today article “Twenty years later, loss of space shuttle Columbia still teaches us lessons.” The article emphasizes how NASA’s Memorial Grove is used to honor late astronauts,…

NFL, Eagles and Chiefs All Set To Win The Economics Game In Super Bowl LVII

Rodney Paul, director and professor of sport analytics in the Falk School, was quoted in the Washington Examiner story “The economics of the Super Bowl: Hosting, gambling, ads, and more.” The article talks in-depth about all of the economics that…

CEOs Requiring In Person Work Is Hurting Diversity

Arlene Kanter, director of the Disability and Policy Program and professor in the College of Law, was interviewed for the Business Insider article “Some CEOs are pushing workers to return to the office, but it could come with a cost:…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.