Helen Thorpe, author of “Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War,” will appear as the featured speaker at the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College Convocation tonight at 7:30 p.m. The public event will take place in the Cotillion Ballroom of the LSU Student Union.
Thorpe’s book is the final read for the Honors College’s topic “Why War?” chosen by Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle and the Honors College advisory board. First-year students in the Honors College are required to read the shared read for HNRS 2000.
“HNRS 2000 is a great books course,” Earle said. “A lot of honors colleges have them. What we’ve done with ours, as we try to modernize it and make it as relevant as possible for [our students] in the 21st century, is we have a three-year rolling topic.”
The University’s course catalog describes HNRS 2000 as a general education course which caters to first-year Honors College students. The course’s goals are to spark academic discussions and proper research methods, as well as to teach students about the specified topic.
For the current three-year rolling topic, the Honors College selected “Why War?” which asks questions surrounding the topic of war and its true meaning. The Honors College asks these questions while inviting students to look at historic literature and films and using the selected shared read book as a guide for discussion.
“[The college advisory board and I] pick a book on that topic,” Earle said. “We invite its author to visit campus and address [our students] as … the beginning of the new year at the Honors College.”
In addition to speaking at the Honors College Convocation, Thorpe will visit students during her stay at the University until Thursday afternoon. These visits will include meals with students, as well as a speech given to all groups of the HNRS 2000 class.
Earle notes that this is a significant book selection because, when looking at a list of previous shared reads in the Honors College, only nonfiction works written by men were selected. The selection of Thorpe’s nonfiction work marks the first time a piece written by a woman was chosen.
“Soldier Girls” is a highly regarded work telling the life stories of three women as they join the military and are submersed into the reality of being in the military.
“I want [students] to understand about this thing, war, that seems to be a part of humanity,” Earle said of the selection of Thorpe’s book. “Even though a lot of people think [war] doesn’t make a lot of sense, it costs a lot of money, it ruins people’s lives potentially … as depressing a topic it is, I want [students] to think about that.”
Helen Thorpe, author of Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War, will appear as the featured speaker at the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College Convocation tonight at 7:30. The public event will be held in the Cotillion Ballroom of the LSU Student Union.
Thorpe’s book is the final read of the Honors College’s topic of “Why War?” chosen by Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle and the Honors College advisory board. First-year students in the Honors College are required to read the chosen shared read for HNRS 2000.
“HNRS 2000 is a great books course,” Earle said. “A lot of honors colleges have them. What we’ve done with ours, as we try to modernize it and make it as relevant as possible for [our students] in the 21st century, is we have a 3-year rolling topic.”
The University’s course catalog describes HNRS 2000 as a general education course which caters to first-year Honors College students. The course’s goals are to spark academic discussions and proper research methods, as well as to teach students about the specified topic.
For the current three-year rolling topic, the Honors College selected “Why War?” which looks to ask questions surrounding the topic of war and its true meaning. These questions are asked while looking at historic literature and films and using the selected shared read book as a guide for discussion.
“[The college advisory board and I] pick a book on that topic,” Earle said. “We invite its author to visit campus and address [our students] as … the beginning of the new year at the Honors College.”
In addition to speaking at the Honors College Convocation, Thorpe will visit with students during her stay at the University until Thursday afternoon. These visits will include meals with students, as well as a speech given to all groups of the HNRS 2000 class.
Earle notes that this is a significant book selection because, when looking at a list of previous shared reads in the Honors College, only nonfiction works written by men were selected. The selection of Thorpe’s nonfiction work marks the first time a piece written by a woman was chosen.
Soldier Girls is a highly regarded work telling the life stories of three women as they join the military and are submersed into the reality of being in the military.
“I want [students] to understand about this thing, war, that seems to be a part of humanity,” Earle said of the selection of Thorpe’s book. “Even though a lot of people think [war] doesn’t make a lot of sense, it costs a lot of money, it ruins people’s lives potentially … as depressing a topic it is, I want [students] to think about that.”