BY JILL ELISH

Classes don't begin until the end of the month, but incoming Florida State University freshmen already have their first reading assignment: a 400-page book that will be discussed as part of a new initiative for first-year students.

The book, "A Hope in the Unseen" by Ron Suskind, was given to about 6,200 freshmen when they attended orientation events on campus earlier this summer. The students were instructed to read the book and prepare to discuss it with a faculty member, upper-class student and their peers at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Aug. 20, in Ruby Diamond Auditorium.

Called One Book/One Campus, the new "shared reading" initiative is intended to inject an academic focus into Seminole Sensation Week, a series of social and cultural events leading up to the start of the fall semester. The book also may be used this fall in certain classes geared toward freshmen. To cap the program, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Suskind will come to campus Sept. 24 to lead a discussion at a "town meeting" for freshmen.

"One Book/One Campus is an idea that I borrowed from other universities," said Assistant Dean of Students Patrick Heaton, who also serves as director of Orientation. "I wanted to do something that would remind our new students that this is a place of higher learning. This is an intellectual exercise that promotes critical thinking and supports college success."

The initiative will provide first-year students with a common reading experience to discuss as they adjust socially and academically to the FSU community and will allow them to share ideas with a faculty member in an informal setting.

"When students meet each other, if they have nothing else to talk about, they can always talk about the book, whether they loved it or hated it," Heaton said. "It also gives them a chance to talk to a faculty member outside of a classroom and begin to see them as real people."

The book was selected last year by a committee of faculty, students and administrators, who came up with a list of 100 titles for consideration before whittling the list down to six books, which they read before selecting "A Hope in the Unseen." The 1998 book, which chronicles the real-life struggle of an impoverished inner-city high school student to get accepted and succeed at an Ivy League college, was chosen in part because it has been used successfully at other institutions that have similar freshman reading programs, Heaton said.

In addition, the book has a number of themes that students can mine for discussion. Heaton said some students might be surprised to learn from the book that there is "another America" in which violence, crime and poverty are part of everyday life.

As part of the initiative, 56 students chose to participate in an essay contest in which the winner will have the cost of his or her textbooks paid for three semesters. Their essays ranged from critical reviews of "A Hope in the Unseen" to personal reflections relating their own struggles to those of the book's main character, Heaton said. The winner will be announced Aug. 20.

The costs associated with One Book/One Campus are covered by student orientation fees. So far, the reaction to the new initiative has been mostly positive.

"A few students were shocked that they would be expected to read something over the summer, but parents loved the idea, and we've encouraged them to read the book too," Heaton said. "Our faculty, especially those in disciplines that are particularly relevant to this book--sociology, education, and urban and regional planning--are really excited about the conversations that may come out of this."