Introducing the 2025-26 First Year Book

Dear Colleagues,

Every year, the University of Maryland invites all first-year students to read and engage with a work that sparks thoughtful conversation, explores big questions, and connects ideas across disciplines. I am pleased to share that next year’s First Year Book will be the Constitution of the United States. With the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this selection offers our community a timely opportunity to examine the foundations of our democracy.

Exploring the Constitution allows our community to engage in meaningful discussion, to analyze government actions and policies, and to derive meaning from the laws that govern us.

The First Year Book selection will be announced to the broader campus community as we approach the fall semester. We wanted to give faculty advance notice so as to have time to plan for how we may collectively engage with this text. In addition to integrating the First Year Book into courses, past events have included colloquia, guest speakers, and partnerships with local nonprofit organizations.

If you have questions about the First Year Book program or programming suggestions, please contact Leeanne Dunsmore ldunsmor@umd.edu, Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

I am grateful to the First Year Book committee for selecting a text that speaks to our role as members of a public institution dedicated to the public good. I look forward to the conversations this text will spark across the campus during the 2025–26 academic year.

Sincerely,
William Cohen
Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies