Welcome to One Book One University
The PNW One Book One University Committee is excited to announce that it has chosen the following book as the 2023 selection:
“What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing”
BY DR. BRUCE PERRY & OPRAH WINFREY
Macmillan Publisher Overview
This book is going to change the way you see your life.
Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road, and “What Happened to You?” provides powerful scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns many of us struggle to understand.
Have you ever wondered, “Why did I do that?” or “Why can’t I just control my behavior?” Others may judge our reactions and think, “What’s wrong with that person?” When questioning our emotions, it’s easy to place the blame on ourselves, holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It’s time we started asking a different question.
Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
Purdue Northwest brings community together with its annual ‘One Book, One University’ program
PNW’s “One Book, One University” program read and discussed “What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing” by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D., and Oprah Winfrey. PNW hosted Bruce Perry for a lecture on October 16.
One Book One University On Campus
Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, classes in all disciplines will feature What Happened to You in discussions and impactful assignments.
The university is sponsoring numerous events, including an author visit by Dr. Bruce Perry to both Hammond and Westville campuses.
This webpage will be updated throughout the year, including learning resources, discussion guides, and videos.
- Sinai Form – Dr. Bruce Perry, “What Happened to You? A Conversation on Trauma, Resilience and Healing” | Sunday, October 15 | 4 p.m. | DSAC, Westville
- Author Visit – Dr. Bruce Perry, Co-Author of What Happened to You? | Monday, October 16 | 9 a.m. | Alumni Hall, Hammond
- Student Faculty Presentation – “Fostering Resilience: Developing Supportive Relationships with the Children in Your Life” | Thursday, November 16 | 3:30 p.m.| Room: TBA
- Speech Contest – Scholarship Prize Money! | Monday, December 4 | 4 p.m. | Room TBA
- All incoming PNW first-year students will receive a copy during the 2023 New Student Orientation
- All PNW faculty members will receive a copy and are encouraged to incorporate the book into their 2023-2024 courses
- The One Book One University Committee will be working with campus groups and the community to provide the following:
- book club facilitation
- discussion guides
- course integration ideas and workshops
- community events
Supporting Documents and Resources
Documents
- PNW Trauma Support Resource
- Children’s Trust Fund Alliance: A Book Club for Parents – Journey to Resilience: From Trauma to Healing
- Children’s Trust Fund Alliance: A Map for Leading A Journey to Resilience: From Trauma to Healing
Video and Other Resources
- What Happened to You? Book By Oprah Winfrey and Bruce. D. Perry (Video)
- “What Happened to You?” A Conversation with Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey (Video)
- Dr. Bruce Perry: Children Act Out Because of Trauma | Super Soul | Oprah Winfrey Network (Video)
- PPE 5: Building Resilience: Understanding Patterns of Stress to Design Doses of Meaningful Support (Video)
Please send your questions or comments regarding One Book One University to the Office of Partnerships and Outreach at opo@pnw.edu, attn: Richard Rupp.
Past Book Selections
In 2022-23, PNW read and discussed “The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power” by Deirdre Mask.
In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask explores the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. She also reveals what not having an address means for millions of people worldwide, whether in the slums of Kolkata or the parks of London.
Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the often hidden stories behind street addresses and their power to decide who counts, who doesn’t – and why.
In 2021, we read and reflected on “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom and Justice” by Anthony Ray Hinton. Mr. Hinton spent thirty years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative defended Mr. Hinton.
For his work, Mr. Hinton received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Since his release, Mr. Hinton has devoted himself to criminal justice reform.
For the 2021-22 “One Book, One University” program, PNW read and discussed “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City” by Mona Hanna-Attisha.
“What the Eyes Don’t See” is an inspiring story of how Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, first discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water—and then battled her government and a brutal backlash to tell that truth to the world.
Paced like a scientific thriller, “What the Eyes Don’t See” veals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. At the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice.