Campus Read

Susan Jennings Lantz

Director of Campus Read for WVU, Teaching Associate Professor of Business Communication, WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics and Study Abroad Leader for Global Business Studies

In her roles, Susan Jennings Lantz works to advance critical thinking skills and interdisciplinary humanist inquiry at West Virginia University. Simply put, she wants students to think deeply about important things and communicate their ideas clearly.

Lantz’s involvement with the Campus Read started with its inception in 2016, and since that time she has organized and encouraged campus-wide discussions with and about thought leaders like Max Brooks, Tara Westover, Bryan Stevenson, Katherine Johnson, and Emily St. John Mandel. Every year Susan leads a committee that ultimately choose a really good book, and every year thousands of WVU students, faculty, staff, and community members read it and talk about it.

The Campus Read program at WVU sponsors and organizes lectures, seminars, art exhibitions, and other types of engagement activities. Students not only study the book in their classes, talk about it during adventure West Virginia programs, but also engage with it during the summer before their freshman year. Retired members of the WVU Community and members of the WVU Parents Club even meet for a virtual book clubs and classes to discuss the themes in the novel.

Read more about Susan on her Campus Read Bio page.

Cole Volman

Program Coordinator, Pre-Health Office

Cole Volman began working with the Pre-Health Office in 2020, serving as a graduate assistant and writing specialist before moving into a full-time role as a Program Coordinator in 2022. He has previously taught at WVU since 2016 and has served in a variety of advising capacities in the years since.

Originally from Virginia, Cole graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2014 with an undergraduate degree in History. He later earned his Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2016 and he is currently working towards earning his PhD in History, which he expects to complete in the Fall of 2022. His research and teaching interests include the history of the Renaissance and Reformation, Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, the Crusades, and Tudor England, as well as the history of medicine, education, and childhood.

Additionally, Cole’s hobbies include reading (he is currently - and always - rereading Frank Herbert’s Dune), writing, camping, hiking, and long-distance running, with a particular fondness for the marathon as his distance of choice. He is an avid fan of Boston sports (particularly the Celtics and Red Sox), as well as a supporter of Liverpool FC.