What is the Common Read?
Common Read is an essential piece of Evergreen's orientation as it brings students, staff, and faculty together around pressing topics and questions.
Reading and thinking about books is central at Evergreen. You’ll be reading texts like the ones presented in Common Read and discussing them with fellow students and faculty.
2026 Common Read:
"Claim Your Calling and Scale Your Action"
We will be reading the chapter “Claim Your Calling and Scale Your Action” from A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet as this year’s Orientation Common Read.
The chapter highlights the importance of showing up for each other and the planet. It stresses the importance of building the capacity for the energy and desire to engage with, not turn away from, the crises we face.
The author, Sarah Jaquette Ray, will join us for two events during Orientation as a part of our series on "Public Futures".
2026-2027
Academic Theme: "Public Futures"
Our 2026-2027 academic theme, “Public Futures” invites us to reflect on the role of public institutions in teaching and empowering students to collectively envision shared futures beyond the ones that are being wrought by today’s most pressing challenges.
How do we at Evergreen inspire the collaborative, interdisciplinary shared futures the world needs? How do we build the antidotes we need to address the challenges and anxieties of climate change, AI, shifts in democracy, and growing inequality? These are just a few of the big questions that students and the Evergreen community will contend with this academic year.