Welcome to the LSU community. We are excited to offer you the opportunity to participate in LSU's Summer Reading Program, a program designed to introduce you to the academic and intellectual culture of the University through a common reading experience. LSU provides the book and sponsors the Academic Convocation, which is the academic kick-off for the new school year. The program will also give you a chance to meet faculty members and other new students as well as the opportunity to discuss the common text.

The book selected for this year is Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. Both Mr. Kidder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and Dr. Farmer, the subject of the book, will speak at the Academic Convocation on Friday, August 19, 2005. All freshmen are required to attend the Academic Convocation and the faculty-led discussion groups that follow. Attendance will be taken, which will enter your name in the drawing for one of the ten $250 gift certificates from the LSU Bookstore. Locations to be announced.

We are proud to sponsor the LSU Summer Reading Program and know that this book will stimulate discussion during the coming year. It may even alter your career plans as you vicariously experience the profound effects that one man's life has had in corners of the globe as distant as Haiti, Peru, and Russia.