Before this year’s crop of first-year students even arrived on campus, they were given homework: to read the book “What the Eyes Do Not See” by Dr. Mona Hanna Attisha. And this week, during the College’s third annual Book Week, students have the opportunity to listen as six guest lecturers offer insights relative to the book.

“The speakers were selected because they could speak on the theme related to the summer reading book, ‘What Eyes Do Not See,’” said Dr. Karen Resendes, associate dean of assessment and the First-Year Experience. Attisha’s book provides a first-person account of the public health catastrophe that has become known as the Flint water crisis.

This year’s Book Week schedule is as follows:

Dr. George Garrow, chief executive officer at Primary Health Network, will present “Environmental Determinants of Health” at 11:40 a.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in Mueller Theater of McKelvey Campus Center.

Shannon Liposky ’02, a Westminster College alumna and resident of East Palestine, Ohio, will present “Derailed” at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in Mueller Theater in McKelvey Campus Center. As a resident of East Palestine—the site of the 2023 major train derailment that caused an environmental emergency—Liposky will speak on the impact of this event on her family and community.

At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, Tiffany Kindratt, director of Health Survey Research (HSR) Lab, University of Texas at Arlington, will present an online Teams lecture, “Middle Eastern and North African Americans: Unseen in Health Research.”

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, executive director of Women for a Healthy Environment, will discuss “Community Action, Improving Drinking Water in Pittsburgh” at 12:40 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in Mueller Theater in McKelvey Campus Center.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Berlin Lounge in McKelvey Campsu Center, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, director of creative writing and Liberal Arts Professor of English at Penn State University, will present “Taking Time: Documentary Poetry in Pennsylvania.”

The Book Week lectures are open to the entire campus community.

For more information about Book Week or our first-year summer reading program, contact Resendes at resendkk@westminster.edu or click here.

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