There are a couple of reasons we hope you'll be excited to participate in our book club:

1. Connect with Fellow Lehigh University Alumni: Participating in the book club discussions will introduce you to fellow alumni and friends across industries, generations and geographies. While you may not get to return to an actual classroom here in Bethlehem, you'll get to experience similar intellectual dialogues with other smart people.
2. Advance Your Career: A book club can enhance your career on two fronts. First, the books you read may make you more effective in areas critical to success like leadership, communication and productivity. Second, the network you'll be building may help you with career advice, introduce you to new people and find your next job.

How often will books be read, what is the time commitment and what are the expectations?

We plan to start the group by reading one book every two months. The texts selected will be professional development, lifelong learning, personal growth, social justice and other books and take an average of nine hours to read cover to cover. If you have between 30 and 60 minutes a week to read you should be fine. There are no strict expectations on members for this virtual community; if you are particularly busy with work, family or other obligations and can't read one of the books, that's okay. If you can only read part of a book and contribute a little to the online discussion then that's okay too. The goal of this program is to connect Lehigh University alumni, faculty, staff and friends through reading, so participate as much as makes sense for you.

Will there be any in-person meetings of the book club?

No, the book club will be entirely online. You can participate anywhere you have Internet access and on days and times that are convenient to you.

Is there any cost to participate?

Participation is free for Lehigh University alumni, faculty, staff and friends! You are responsible only for obtaining a copy of the book.

How do I get the books?

Participants can get books for free at their local library or purchase them.

How do book club discussions work?

The book club will have a moderator from PBC Guru who manages the forum where discussions occur online. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for readers to connect with each other through the forum.

How do I make a forum profile?

We're using a private forum to host the virtual book club so it's easy to connect with fellow alumni and friends. During our sign up process, you will enter the information to auto-generate your free profile. After you complete the sign up, we'll send you a link to the forum and you can begin to post right away!

What exactly is PBC Guru and what do they have to do with the Lehigh University book club?

Professional Book Club (PBC) Guru is a book club management company that works with businesses, alumni associations and professional societies. Lehigh University is teaming up with PBC to put this program in place for Lehigh University alumni, faculty, staff and friends. You can check out their website at www.pbc.guru if you want to see more of what they do.

I've already signed up. How do I log in?

If you are already a member, you can click here to log in.

What if my question isn't answered?

Feel free to send an email to info@pbc.guru and we'll be happy to help.