Professor Lectures on Pine Barrens at William Paterson University in Conjunction with One Book New Jersey

As part of a statewide literacy program that recommends reading and discussing John McPhee’s 1967 classic “The Pine Barrens,” Union County College biology professor Bill Dunscome will present a lecture on the New Jersey Pinelands on April 14 at 2 p.m. in the David and Lorraine Cheng Library Auditorium at William Paterson University. Admission is free.

“The Pine Barrens” was recently chosen as the 2004 adult selection by One Book New Jersey, a program sponsored by the New Jersey Library Association in collaboration with the New Jersey State Library and the Secretary of State. The goal of One Book New Jersey is to bring people together through literature by encouraging them to read the same book and participate in discussions and other events centered on that book.

This book is an informative and insightful classic about a region that stretches across one million acres of land in central New Jersey. As this year’s selected book, “The Pine Barrens” will be featured in public libraries throughout the state, become the focus of reading groups and will be used as a source of educational forums within schools.

Bill Dunscome is chairperson of the biology department at Union County College, and is a charter member of the Educational Advisory Council of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, and a member of its speaker’s bureau lecturing across the state on New Jersey and the New Jersey Pinelands.

William Paterson University, one of the nine stage colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 30 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the University enrolls approximately 11,200 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution’s 358 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fullbright Program (30 scholars), the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.

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For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966

3/29/04