Yes, Rowling, as in J.K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter. As you might guess, it’s the Rowling class that fills up the fastest. “We can learn a lot from the Harry Potter books,” says Pugh, a voracious reader who knows a good literature lesson when he sees one. Pugh acknowledges that after he read the first novel in the series, The Sorcerer’s Stone, he had no idea he would one day be teaching Harry Potter courses to college students.

You could say I was late to the party.
Honestly, I thought of Harry Potter as a book for kids and teens. I finally picked it up to see what all the fuss was about. Any skepticism vanished after I read the very first line — “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” It’s one of the best opening lines in all of literature, and it’s my job to read a lot of literature.

No one knew Harry Potter would be such a big hit.
Scholastic won the U.S. rights to publish the books for about $100,000. The craze just snuck up on us. People like me opened that first book and were swept into this strange world of wizards. We were hooked.

Some might question why we have a Harry Potter class.
It’s just as meaningful as my literature classes on Chaucer or the King Arthur legends. The character development and trajectory of plots are so deep. I can use that to challenge students to become better thinkers. By the end of a semester, students have not only read books totaling 4,000 pages, they’ve analyzed them — and they’ve done a lot of analytical writing themselves.

Class time is not trivia time.
Many of my students have never read a Harry Potter book, even though they’ve grown up around the series from birth. But they take the course to be motivated to read all the books for the first time.

I’ve read the entire series eight times.
But students sometimes remind me of details that I’ve forgotten or missed. It’s like a student asking a history teacher about the specific date of an event. You learn not to be embarrassed if you don’t remember the answer. Again, our goal is to inspire critical thinking and analysis.

My favorite book is probably The Goblet of Fire.
The story has a plot you cannot leave. It took me about 16 hours to read 800 pages. The book really makes you think — and that makes it a great teaching tool.

We can learn a lot from the author, J.K. Rowling.
She isn’t just a fantasy novelist. She’s a voracious reader, and you can see her interest in British literature embedded into the Harry Potter stories. There are deep levels to the plots, yet they aren’t difficult to follow. Peeling back those layers, that’s the challenge for the class.

The students motivate me to think, too.
They’ll draw parallels between the details in the books to actual cultural issues of the day. Or they’ll suggest what Rowling might have been thinking during the train ride that supposedly inspired the books (which, if the legend is true, must have been a multi-year train ride considering the depth of the stories).

There’s often a waiting list for the class.
We have 100 seats and they’re usually full. Most English courses at the 300 level have 30-40 students. So this one is popular coming in. Hopefully, it’s popular going out.

Boredom has no place in a literature class.
To me, this is exciting. And remember, I have to engage 100 young adults, which would be impossible if I didn’t love the subject matter. I hope they would agree that my enthusiasm shows.

Then there’s the money.
There are so many students that I divide them into teams or Harry Potter “houses”: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. In each class I give them a challenge inspired by one of the books, such as coming up with as many connections to fairytales as they can in eight minutes. At the end of the semester, the winning house receives $100 to celebrate their victory. It gets their attention and makes them think. That’s what it’s all about. A little competition doesn’t hurt either.

The 6th Annual Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Book Festival will feature a Teen Zone specifically for adolescent and teen readers, giving young readers an opportunity to connect with authors, foster their own love of reading, and even participate in a writing workshop specifically for their age group.

“Give kids the opportunity to read, write, share, have fun, and explore their creativity, and they will find their inner voice,” says Dr. Elsie Olan, assistant professor of language arts education. “That’s what we try to offer as part of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Book Festival each year – a chance for teenagers to turn their love of reading and their enthusiasm for a good story into becoming writers themselves.”

Tweens and teens will also be invited to join Camp Half Blood where they will train and prepare for an epic quest, searching for objects that have gone missing from Mt. Olympus. The young readers and aspiring heroes in grades 5-12 will get to experience events from both the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series. The activity is free but spaces are limited.

“It is important for teens to immerse themselves in literature, especially when they are reading old favorites that they come back to again and again,” Dr. Yolanda Hood, Department Head of the Curriculum Materials Center, tells us. “Bringing books to life allows teens the opportunity to understand their favorite stories on a whole other level, to dig a little deeper. Becoming a character and experiencing what the characters do helps teens think more about the motivations of the character; teens have to work through the symbolism and metaphor in order to problem solve – all while having a whole lot of fun. And, kids or teens who have never read the books leave wanting to get their hands on those books as quickly as possible. It’s a great way to reach reluctant readers.”

The Teen Writing Workshop will be open to young readers and aspiring authors ages 13-18, and offers them a chance to work with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ faculty in small-group writing activities, get feedback from peers and published authors, and explore new genres with their own writing. The writing workshop is also free of charge, and teens can register now to reserve their spot.

The 2015 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ Book Festival takes place April 18th, 2015, on the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ campus. Festival activities will take place in all three buildings on the education campus – the Teaching Academy, , and Education Complex. There will also be food trucks for everyone to enjoy in between panels, readings, and activities.

Surya – as he’s called by his friends – ranked 21st among U.S. scientists.

“I am happy and humbled,” Suryanarayana said. “It means a lot to me because it is recognition from my peers.”

The 100 researchers named in the listing represent the very best in their fields based on the number of times their research publications have been cited by others, as well as the quality of their own publications.

Suryanarayana, who was fascinated by English literature during his undergraduate studies, almost became an English major. But a couple of science professors convinced him otherwise to the benefit of the science world.

“They convinced me that engineering had better prospects and that materials science was an upcoming area,” he said. “I am happy that I listened to them since I feel that I have a very fulfilling career. There is so much more to learn and discover that I have continued to stay fascinated by my work.”

Suryanarayana has had a distinguished career developing novel materials such as nanostructured monolithic and composite materials, improved intermetallics, and (bulk) metallic glasses. Many of these materials have potential applications in aerospace and other industries.

He has degrees in engineering, metallurgy, math, physics and chemistry. He has published more than 300 academic research papers and more than 20 technical books. Suryanarayana also is a popular educator, taking on several visiting professor invitations at such institutions as Oxford University, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and Helmut-Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany, among many others.

His proudest moment so far dates back to 1975. Indira Gandhi, the then-Prime Minister of India, gave him the Indian National Science Academy’s Young Scientists Medal, which was reserved for researchers under the age of 30 who have made significant contributions to science, technology, or medicine and hold much potential for the future.  Since then, he has earned several other awards including the National Metallurgists’ Day Award of the Government of India and fellowships including the ASM International and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in London.

Prior to joining Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ă˝ in 2001, Suryanarayana worked at the Colorado School of Mines, the Institute for Materials and Advanced Processes at the University of Idaho, as the Senior Associate of the National Research Council at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and at the Banaras Hindu University. Today he continues his research, teaches and sits on several scientific journals’ editorial committees.

His advice for young scientists is simple.

“I am of the opinion that it takes time for someone to make an impact in any scientific discipline,” he said. “It’s important to work hard and in a sustained manner in one’s own specialization.”