News

DEI Book Club sets two discussions for spring semester

The Chat & Chew Virtual Book Club returns this semester with two thought-provoking new selections to be discussed virtually on Microsoft Teams. The hour-long book discussions are moderated by UA-PTC librarian Carita Alexander.

Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to participate at no charge. To access the meeting link and for more information, visit www.uaptc.edu/bookclub.

Feb 23 - noon
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out?

April 13 - noon
Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang
In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.