Each year since 1993, the University has selected a book for all first year students. The goal of the First Year Book Program (FYB) is to provide a shared intellectual experience for all new students along with the opportunity to discuss the book from a variety of disciplines. Courses, departmental lectures, living/learning programs and student groups all sponsor events that complement a major address by the author and/or other important visitors to campus.

The Student Learning Outcomes for the First Year Book program include:

The Office of Undergraduate Studies is pleased to present all new students with a copy of The Ravaging Tide by Mike Tidwell. The author and filmaker predicted in vivid detail the Katrina hurricane disaster in his 2003 book, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. He has written five books centered on the themes of travel and nature. These include Amazon Stranger (detailing efforts to save the Ecuadorian rain forest) and In the Mountains of Heaven (recounting travels to exotic lands across the globe). Tidwell has won four Lowell Thomas awards, the highest prize in American travel journalism, and is a former grantee of the National Endowment for the Arts. His articles have appeared in many national publications. Tidwell is also founder and director of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council, based in Takoma Park, Maryland.

New students to the University will have the opportunity to investigate the science of global warming, to consider how human behavior affects the planet, to examine the effect of lifestyle choices on the use of natural resources, and to debate the implications for our society of environmental public policy. The book raises fundamental questions about our responsibilities to future generations. Finally, from our particular vantage point in College Park, the book raises critical questions about the implications of global warming for the Chesapeake Bay, and for the broader Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.