USD’s Just Read Presents Thought-Provoking Book

Inside USD -- The enjoyment of reading a book and tying it together with an educational approach has resulted in a successfully collaborative program on the University of San Diego campus this fall.

The USD Just Read Program encourages literacy and dialogue on social themes through a selected book. This fall, the university’s program is doing a reading project connected to the La Jolla-based Center for Ethics in Science and Technology and other universities and community colleges in San Diego County.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a book by Rebecca Skloot, “chronicles the true story of how cervical cancer cells taken from Lacks were used, without her knowledge or consent, to produce a human cell line for research purposes. … Lacks’ cell line was so resilient and bountiful that it is still being used for medical research 60 years after her death in 1951,” according to a brief account on USD’s Center for Educational Excellence (CEE) website. (Full Story)