The English department is delighted to announce a new course specially designed for first-year students, starting this fall, ENGL 107: Words on Fire: Seven Books to Light Your Life.” Ace #5 approved, this course is designed to spark intellectual curiosity, with a study of literary texts that have had profound social, historical, or cultural influence while also serving as examples of riveting, highly effective literature—texts which stay with a person for a lifetime. The class is designed around big ideas and small stakes: students will read texts from a diverse range of historical and global contexts and discuss how they impacted the history of philosophical, political, social, and literary thought as well as how such works create(d) their own individual literary power. While there may be some short informal writing assignments, the focus is on reading, discussion, and inquiry.