Zora Initiatives
Common Read: Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
The University of Central Florida Common Read selection for 2018-19 is Dust Tracks on a Road (1942) by renowned author Zora Neale Hurston. The selection hits home for the UCF community and takes place in Eatonville, Florida—the first incorporated all-black city in the United States. Dust Tracks on a Road will challenge UCF students to think outside the box and allow them to self-reflect upon issues related to social justice, diversity, participation in undergraduate research and community engagement. Through poetic imagery and stories, students will learn about the life story of Zora Neale Hurston and be challenged to critically identify and evaluate themes of the text. To download the study guide for Dust Tracks on a Road, click here.
All summer B 2018 and fall 2018 admitted freshman students received a copy of Dust Tracks on a Road at their respective orientation dates.
This initiative is hosted by Student Development and Enrollment Services: First Year Experience office. For more information, contact Dr. Jamil D. Johnson at jamil.johnson@ucf.edu.
“Dust Tracks should inspire students to think of how they’ll tell their personal story — no matter what their background might be.”
Read more about what Dr. Lillios had to say about the Common Read selection for 2018-2019.
Eatonville Mobile App and Digital Tour
Nicholson School of Communication and Media faculty member Dr. Christine Hanlon has received a grant from the Burnett Honors College to work with the Association to Preserve Eatonville Community-PEC (Dr. NY Nathiri, Executive Director) to create presentations for the community about structures, people, and events important to Eatonville’s history. Her Fundamentals of Oral Communication honors students will be working with Pec to curate the information that will be available via YouTube and a mobile application.
On Tuesday, August 28, Dr. Hanlon’s students will travel to Eatonville for a walking tour and have the opportunity to choose a research subject. The students will then create a poster and YouTube presentation about their subject to populate the mobile application and present at the Service Learning Showcase in November. The mobile application will geo-locate the user and provide them with information about the particular structure or area in their proximity through the students’ YouTube presentations about researched structures and people.