Happy New Year
The importance of community and human connection has been a persistent theme at ASU this 2023–2024 academic year. And, in my research as a psychologist and a professor, sharing who we are and what inspires us is one proven way to foster connectedness. In that spirit, I’m closing 2023 with inspiring works from ASU faculty, students and beyond that have fueled me creatively this past year. May they inspire your new year, spark your creativity, and encourage you to foster connection with others around shared joys and interests. Happy 2024!
Nancy Gonzales
Executive Vice President
and University Provost
Stories that inspire
Nonfiction reads
Poverty, by America
by Matthew Desmond (ASU alum, 2002)
Braiding Sweetgrass
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Humanly Possible
by Sarah Bakewell
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir
by Safiya Sinclair (ASU associate professor)
Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity
by Leah Myers (ASU alum, 2017)
Fly
by Mitchell Jackson (ASU professor)
Fiction reads
The Last Catastrophe
by Allegra Hyde
The Fraud
by Zadie Smith
The Bee Sting: A Novel
by Paul Murray
Tom Lake
by Anne Patchett
Hello Beautiful
by Ann Napolitano
Perspectives that engage
Poetry
To Mars from Arizona
by Alberto Rios (ASU professor)
The First Water is the Body
by Natalie Diaz (ASU professor)
To the Boy Who Was Night
by Rigoberto Gonzalez (ASU alum)
Podcasts
Zach Bush, MD, The future of human and planetary evolution
The Rich Roll podcast, episode #751
ReThinking
with Adam Grant
Classy
with Jonathan Menivar
Future Out Loud
with Andrew Maynard (ASU professor)
and co-host Heather Ross
Events & Presentations
"We are Made to Connect"
– U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy November 2023 visit to ASU
ASU Graduate Commencement Speech
– Veteran journalist Judy Woodruff
"Free Speech on Campus"
– The Frank Rhodes Scholar series presents Erwin Chemerinsky
President Biden's Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics
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