WHAT:            The 2010-11 Penn Reading Project at the University of Pennsylvania will examine the book “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters” by Penn alumna Rose George.

The discussion, a major part of New Student Orientation, is the first event of Penn’s Year of Water, an academic theme running through a number of activities across the University’s 12 schools and many of its resource centers, including Penn Museum, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Civic House.  Year of Water programming will feature lectures, symposiums, conferences, site visits and more.

WHO:              Incoming students will join with faculty leaders in small groups to discuss the book.

WHEN:            3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 5

WHERE:            Various sites across campus

DETAILS:            The Penn Reading Project, now in its 20th year, was created as an introduction for incoming freshmen to academic life at Penn.  Past discussion sessions have focused on Neil Shubin’s “Your Inner Fish,” Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography,” as well as Thomas Eakins’s painting “The Gross Clinic.”

Members of the media interested in attending a PRP event should contact Julie McWilliams at 267-216-5819 for the location.