“The Reading Project”: A Humanities Center Research Collaborative
The idea for this research collaborative emerged out of conversations about the difficulties that our students have in completing the assigned reading for class. Students themselves offer a range of explanations: They cannot focus; they never developed the habit of reading; they have long struggled with reading; they are too busy to read; or they do not see the value in reading.
“The Reading Project” will explore these concerns and challenges by addressing three interrelated questions:
1. What value does reading (still) have?
2. Why do so many students find reading difficult and/or unimportant?
3. What can we, as university instructors, do about it?
These three questions will guide the Research Collaborative in its yearlong discussion of articles on the subjects of attention and reading; Zoom conversations with specialists in the field; and focus groups with Miami students about their reading practices. We will conclude with a panel in spring 2026. These events are open to the entire Miami community—you can come to all of them or just to one or two, depending on your schedule and interest. Just as importantly, “The Reading Project” creates a community of faculty who care about student reading and who will continue to explore, experiment, and share their experiences with each other outside of these scheduled events and beyond this academic year.
Our opening discussion takes place on Wednesday, September 10, 4:30-5:30, in Upham 243—accompanied by hummus and baba ganoush—in which we will talk about two recent articles on reading and attention:
· “What’s Happening to Reading? For many people, A.I. may be bringing the age of traditional text to an end,” Joshua Rothman, New Yorker (June 17, 2025).
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· “What if the Attention Crisis is all a Distraction? From the pianoforte to the smartphone, each wave of tech has sparked fears of brain rot. But the problem isn’t our ability to focus—it’s what we’re focusing on,” Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker (January 20, 2025).
We invite you to join us! For more information or to be put on the mailing list (and the Canvas site), please e-mail Erik Jensen (History Department) at: jensenen@miamioh.edu.
