Welcome to the University of Mississippi Common Reading Experience

The Common Reading Experience began with the 2011-2012 school year, and continues in 2024-2025 with the selection of Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey’s Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. Every first-year student receives a copy of the selected text at orientation to finish before the school year begins in August. Instructors from the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, First-year Experience, and others then utilize the text in their classes. The program aspires for an enriched sense of academic community through a communal reading of the text.

Please use this site to locate information about events, the author, or how the book will be used in the university as well as in the community. If you have any questions or would like to get involved, please contact umreads@olemiss.edu