Summer Book Club

Summer Book Club

2026 No-Strings-Attached Summer Book Club: Relationship-Rich Education

 

This summer, the Faculty Center invites you to join a flexible, go-at-your-own-pace book club centered on Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert.

Why This Book?

We chose Relationship-Rich Education because it speaks directly to work many faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators at Rowan already do, often quietly and without much shared language: noticing when students are adrift, helping them make connections, creating classrooms where they can participate meaningfully, and building the kinds of support that make high expectations possible. The book does not ask us simply to “care more.” Instead, it invites us to ask better questions about the conditions we create:

  • Where do students encounter us as approachable and invested?
  • Where do they build webs of support rather than depend on a single mentor?
  • How do our courses, offices, programs, and routines make connection easier (or harder) for students who may not already know how college works?

Although the book focuses primarily on undergraduate education, these questions also matter across graduate and professional pathways — and the book offers useful ways to think about how students experience connection, support, and purpose wherever learning takes place.

And . . .  in an age of AI, Relationship-Rich Education offers a timely reminder that students need more than access to information; they need human relationships that help them interpret, persist, belong, and imagine what their education is for.

Learn more about the book from the Publisher.

About the Book Club

Designed to fit your summer rhythm, this no-pressure offering welcomes reflection, conversation, and connection. As part of a Communities of Practice approach, groups may range from 2 to 10 members and can include faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators engaged in teaching, learning, advising, mentoring, student support, and academic leadership.

Rowan Libraries provides access to the book:

You choose how to engage:

  • Find some colleagues and create a small discussion group of 2–10 people.
  • Choose a facilitator. This is the person who will register your group.
  • Choose a focus or decide to read the whole book.
  • Read at your own pace.
  • Schedule time(s) to meet. Just aim to finish by the end of summer.
  • Gather with colleagues in the format that works for you: asynchronous, synchronous in person, synchronous online, or a mix.

Optional Strings: Earn Up to 3 Certificates of Engagement

Looking to reflect more deeply, apply your learning, or share your insights? You can opt into earning up to three digital certificates through your participation in the book club.

  • Learn Certificate

    • Participate in at least 2 group meetings.
    • Submit a short plan for how you will apply insights from the book in Fall 2026 and/or Spring 2027.
    • Submit your plan through a short Google form (provided after registration).

  • Enact Certificate

    • Earn the Learn Certificate first.
    • Put your plan into action during the 2026–2027 academic year.
    • Share the results with the Faculty Center through a short Google form (provided after registration). 

  • Share Certificate

    • Earn the Learn Certificate first.
    • Share your plan or outcomes in a public venue outside your book group. Examples might include department professional development, a Faculty Center event, a conference proposal, a grant proposal, a manuscript draft, or another professional forum.
    • Complete a short dissemination report through a short Google form (provided after registration). 

What’s the Catch?

There isn’t one! 

This is a flexible summer opportunity to read, reflect, and connect with colleagues around a book that places relationships at the center of teaching, learning, mentoring, advising, and student success.

Facilitators, register your club by June 30.

Previous Summer Book Clubs

 

Updated 6/1/26