For Immediate Release

Dec. 1, 2004

CONTACT: Pam Joseph at (419) 995-8284

1^st History In the Heartland teachers ready for inaugural seminar on American politics

2004 National Book Award winner Boyle will speak

Local middle school and high school history students can take comfort in the idea that they aren’t the only ones with homework this academic year. At least 10 of their American history teachers do too.

Those 10 are participating in the History in the Heartland program that brings history teachers from the four areas surrounding Ohio State University’s regional campuses together with faculty from Ohio State’s history department, the Ohio Historical Society and local historical societies. The first seminar will be held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, December 4, 2004, at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus.

The advanced reading for this session is on the topic “Of Campaigns and Conventions: American Political History.” The keynote lecture on the 1968 presidential campaign will be delivered by Kevin Boyle, the recently named winner of the 2004 National Book Award for nonfiction for his book Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age. Boyle is an associate professor of History at Ohio State who teaches 20^th century American history with an emphasis on class, race and politics.

The local teachers follow:

Brenda Beach, Bath Middle School

Harmony Brenneman, Lima Senior High School

Maureen Gannon, Findlay High School

Betsy Griffo, Shawnee Middle School

Elisha LeMar, Allen County Alternative School

Tim Montgomery, Allen East High School

Will Roush, Lima Senior High School

Chad Spencer, Shawnee High School

Kevin Talbert, Shawnee High School

Annette Zell, Lima South Middle School

The History in the Heartland project is funded by a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History program. The program is designed to improve the quality of training and instruction of history teachers from 60 school districts in 12 Ohio counties. During each of the three years of the grant, 40 teachers will participate in the program.

Teachers were chosen through a competitive process that gave priority to those currently teaching American history in middle and high school. More than 75 teachers applied for the 40 slots available this year. The project will establish an ongoing professional development program to increase teachers’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of traditional American history. It will also focus on the issues and themes that are included in the social studies content standards for the State of Ohio.

Participating teachers will attend four school-year seminars at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus and summer institutes in local history and have access to a web-based resource center with primary and secondary teaching materials. They can earn up to five hours of graduate credit at no cost to the teachers or the school district.

The schedule for the school-year seminars and corresponding visits to local history sites follow:

Of Campaigns and Conventions: American Political History

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2004, at the Ohio Historical Center, Columbus

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004, at the Warren G. Harding home, Marion

The Cold War: America’s Long Race for Security and Predominance

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center, Columbus

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, Wapakoneta

Histories of the West: Native American and Borderlands History

Saturday, April 16, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center

Tuesday, April 19, 2005, at the Newark Earthworks

The Country and the City: Nature and Neighborhood as Themes in American Life

Saturday, May 7, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center

Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at the Malabar Farm State Park

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