is president of Temple University.

Books on my nightstand right now: Charlie Wilson's War, by George Crile.

Favorite authors, fiction: Wallace Stegner and Herman Melville.

Favorite author, nonfiction: William James.

Favorite poets: Robert Frost and e.e. cummings.

Favorite beach reading: Mystery and crime novels.

Book or author other people praise but I never liked: Philip Roth.

Book that influenced how I live my life: The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon, by Colin Fletcher.

TV show I'm not ashamed to admit I watch: Frontline (PBS).

TV show I hate to admit I like: The Simpsons (Fox).

Favorite comic strip: Doonesbury, by Garry Trudeau.

Movies I love so much I've watched them more than twice: A Room With a View; The English Patient; The Lord of the Rings series; Casablanca; Star Wars (the old ones, not the prequels); anything produced by Woody Allen; Cars.

Web site I visit regularly: Amazon.com.

If you turned my car radio on right now, it would be tuned to: WHYY-FM (90.9) and WRTI-FM (90.1).

Magazines I read regularly: The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time.

Favorite type of music: Classic rock and jazz.

Last concert/performance attended: In Conflict, at Temple University's Randall Theater, fall 2007. Directed and adapted for the stage by Douglas Wager, artistic director for Temple Theaters, from a book by journalist Yvonne Latty, In Conflict addresses issues of war through vignettes adapted from real interviews with Iraq war Army veterans. The cast of In Conflict has been invited to perform for a month this summer in an off-Broadway production in New York.

Recording I play when my soul needs a lift: Pachelbel's "Canon in D"; James Taylor, "That Lonesome Road."

Person in my field I most admire: Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California.

Living person I'd most like to join for dinner and conversation: Maya Angelou.

Heroes from history: Barbara Jordan, Susan B. Anthony, Harry S Truman.

If I had the power to order all of the Philadelphia region to read one book, it would be: Refuge, by Terry Tempest Williams.

And here's why: Williams' book explores personal, political and environmental issues of our day in a way that appeals to the finest in the human spirit. The book speaks to each person at a very personal level, and its power does not require that the reader be tied emotionally to the settings important to the story - places one loves and the people one loves will resonate. When I read Refuge, I immediately wanted to send copies of it to everyone I loved. I felt emotionally and intellectually engaged and spurred to confront social and political questions that have intense personal impacts. One cannot be apathetic about life, the present or the future after reading Refuge.