By Stephanie Ball
Editor-in-Chief

Government professor Ahad Hayaud-Din stood in front of a classroom and lectured on politics. He glanced at the students taking notes and noticed their textbooks were untouched and unopened.

Hayaud-Din said he was hesitant when asked to be involved with a reading improvement plan, but realized the need for change.

Hayaud-Din and Haven Abedin, English professor, are the co-chairs of the Reading Quality Enhancement Project at Brookhaven College.

The goal of the QEP is to improve reading skills and increase academic engagement.

The QEP plan is designed to focus on campus improvement through training and interaction. In Fall 2009, a committee with 10 members and two co-chairs launched the plan.

“This is a five-year commitment created out of an accreditation check that happens every 10 years,” Abedin said. “We hope to improve engagement related to reading and getting students to enjoy reading.”

Beverly Neu Menassa, student support services assistant dean and committee member, said the group formed surveys and discussion groups to narrow the topic.
The committee obtained feedback from faculty and staff to determine whether focusing on reading was the direction to go.

“Selecting a topic was a campus-wide process, which also included student groups,” Neu Menassa said. “Haven reviewed the literature for best practices and researched assessment tools for the QEP.”

The QEP will directly impact students and employees as they work together in training sessions and SkillsShops. Incoming freshmen will go through a reading initiative at new student orientation.

Hayaud-Din said mostly faculty, counselors and advisers will form The Read Succeed Groups, which will be trained to promote reading strategies.
They will be taught specific content and then train other groups of employees to help students.

“We want to teach reading techniques specific for textbooks,” Hayaud-Din said. “We are trying to fill in the gap.”

The committee had a campus-wide slogan contest to spread the word. Out of 213 ideas submitted, 45 employees chose one slogan.

Martha Leeper, administrative assistant to the radiology program, created the winning slogan: “Reading: the app for life.”

“We had so many good ones, it was hard to choose,” Abedin said. “We hope you won’t be able to avoid seeing the slogan.”

The Visual Communications program is currently creating the logo for the slogan. The committee plans to use social media and creative visual displays to draw attention.
Hayaud-Din said he hopes everyone will know about the QEP, especially by the time SACS auditors visit in the fall to determine accreditation.

“It is up to everyone, including the professors, to teach students the importance of reading,” Hayaud-Din said. “We are hoping we have data that shows improvement, but it will take a long time to master.”

Abedin and Hayuad-Din said it took a village to create the plan, and they hope the community will provide ongoing feedback and ideas to enhance the plan.

“Don’t assume your class has good study habits,” Hayuad-Din said. “You have to show them.”