President Tom Rochon has announced that “Ten Thousand Saints,” the debut novel by assistant professor of writing Eleanor Henderson, has been selected for the First-Year Reading Initiative for the 2012–13 academic year. The book has earned across-the-board praise for its sensitive portrayals of youthful rebellion and family dynamics.

Assistant Professor of Writing Eleanor Henderson's debut novel, Ten Thousand Saints, has been named as one of the ten best books of 2011 by the New York Times.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Fred Wilcox in the Department of Writing on the publication of Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam, recently released by Seven Stories Press. Scorched Earth is the first book to chronicle the effects of chemical warfare on the Vietnamese people and their environment, where, even today, more than 3 million people—including 500,000 children—are sick and dying from birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that can be directly traced to Agent Orange/dioxin exposure.