Book Clubs

Faculty and staff book clubs are for academic enrichment and to foster communities of learning. Books are supplied by PACE. PACE organizes one club each academic year, and we also entertain ideas from SHSU faculty/staff-organized clubs.  If you want to propose a club, submit your idea to pace@shsu.edu. Clubs meet every other week over the semester and focus discussion on a book of their own choosing.  Example books from past clubs include The Eighth Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, and The College Administrator’s Survivor Guide by C. K. Gunsalus, Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance by Matthew Syed.

Fall 2023 Book Club

The Faculty & Staff Book Club for the Fall 2023 semester is From Conflict to Conversation: The Official Verbal Aikido Practitioner's Guide, by Luke A. Archer. This book "gives you a comprehensive body of text, activities and resources, empowering you to transform verbal aggressions into positive and harmonious outcomes". Join us from 11:30-1:00 on Fridays beginning September 8th. Lunch is provided.

If you want to join us, please sign up clicking this link by September 22nd!

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• Past Book Club Books Updated

  2022-2023 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for the current academic year is Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers, by award-winning author Morten T. Hansen. This book uses extensive research and unprecedented analysis to reveal the seven key habits that yield extraordinary individual performance. 

  

  2021-2022 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for the current academic year is Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance, by award-winning author Matthew Syed. This is a new approach to high performance, a means of finding an edge in a complex and fast-changing world. Syed tells the inside story of how success really happens.

  

  2019-2020 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for the current academic year is How We Learn, by award-winning NYT author and journalist Benedict Carey. Benedict has studied neurology and cognitive science for many years. Join us as we discuss how learning works, ways we can enhance our own learning, and practical ways to enhance the learning of others. 

  

  2018-2019 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for 2018-2019 discussed The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell. Maxwell is the author of more than 100 books focusing on how to be a more effective leader and is also a co-founder and former keynote speaker for Leadercast. We discussed ideas presented in the book and considered how to apply them to our personal and professional lives as an interdisciplinary learning community.

  

  2017-2018 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for 2017-2018 discussed Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport. Cal is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, and writes about work efficiency and learning skills, and publishes a blog called Study Hacks. 

  

  2016-2017 Book Club

  The Faculty & Staff Book Club for this academic year focused on The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor. The author is a psychology professor at Harvard, and in the book, discusses principles that his research on positive psychology has uncovered that connect attitude, motivation, creativity, and success. You can see his TED talk here.