Gilder Lehrman Institute Holds Inaugural Teacher Symposium at Gettysburg College Summer of 2022
NEW YORK, New York, February 15, 2022 – The Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to announce our return to large-scale, in-person programming with our upcoming special event, the Gilder Lehrman Teacher Symposium at Gettysburg College.
In July 2022, teachers from across the United States will be able to learn, network, and grow together as they work closely with renowned scholars in various fields of American history.
This Symposium will take place Saturday, July 9 through Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. We are offering eight different courses that run concurrently during the Symposium, led by prominent scholars. Participants will choose one of the courses to attend, as each course is a multi-day, intensive experience.
Opening remarks by Manisha Sinha along with a discussion of her book The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition will kick off the event for all attendees. Thereafter, each course will feature the following:
- 12 hours of in-person lectures/discussions with a prominent scholar on a specific topic
- Pedagogy sessions led by a Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher
- Program-wide book talks with participating scholars
- Networking opportunities with teachers from across the country
- A certificate confirming completed hours/CEUs for the Symposium
- Access to the GLI Exhibition Hall, where teachers can learn all about the programs and offerings the Gilder Lehrman Institute has available to them, including our Traveling Exhibitions, Affiliate School offers, and the Gilder Lehrman MA in American History Program
- Special events that include an American history trivia night, scholar Q&As, and a field trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
Gilder Lehrman Institute President James Basker, announcing the new summer program, said, “Top historians, committed teachers, enjoying seminars and workshops, in the historic setting of Gettysburg—this Symposium brings it all together as we turn the corner from the pandemic and gather to recharge our intellectual batteries over the summer. The Symposium promises to be an exciting and professionally valuable experience for all who attend.”
Robert Iuliano, President of Gettysburg College, agreed, saying, “I’m thrilled that Gettysburg College will be hosting the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Symposium for history teachers this summer. The breadth and depth of the topics that the Symposium will cover reflect the commitment to excellence that defines the GLI’s work. Most importantly, teachers from around the country and the world will have the opportunity to come together in a place that helped shape American history and to learn from each other and from remarkable faculty. The ultimate beneficiaries will be high school students, whose teachers will return to their classrooms with more tools to help nurture the essential understanding of how the past continues to inform the present and the future.”
Courses offered at the Symposium are as follows:
The Making of America with Denver Brunsman, George Washington University, will explore the people, ideas, and events that shaped America from the colonial era through Reconstruction.
American Indian History and Westward Expansion with Elliott West, University of Arkansas, will follow the history of Indian peoples in the American West from the coming of Europeans to the era of reservations at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Unlikely History of the New United States: 1810 to 1860 with Edward Ayers, University of Richmond, will track the development of the United States as it emerged in the tumultuous half-century between 1810 and 1860.
The American Civil War with Gary Gallagher, University of Virginia, will examine the era of the American Civil War, with emphasis on its origins, scope, and consequences.
American Immigration: History and Life with Mae Ngai, Columbia University, will focus on the history of immigration and citizenship in the United States, with attention to law and policy on the one hand and the lived experience of immigrants and their communities on the other.
US Civil Rights Movement with Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ohio State University, will examine the US Civil Rights Movement, beginning by looking at Black life in the early twentieth century—the height of the Jim Crow era—to establish critical context for the Black activism to come.
US Presidential History with Barbara Perry, University of Virginia, will focus on historic crossroads faced by presidents from the nation’s founding, to expansion of democracy and the Civil War, through the Great Depression, World War II and its Cold War aftermath, and the Watergate Era, to the War on Terror and pandemic politics.
The Vietnam War with Robert K. Brigham, Vassar College, will examine the origins, course, and impact of America’s involvement in Vietnam, emphasizing the evolution of US diplomacy, the formulation of military strategy, the domestic impact of the war, and the perspective of Vietnamese revolutionaries.
Professor Mansiha Sinha, who will give the opening remarks, noted, “The Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Teacher Symposium offers an extraordinary opportunity for teachers to hear leading historians and incorporate cutting-edge scholarship on various topics in their school lessons. It will be an enriching, immersive experience for scholars, writers, and teachers.”
Professor Denver Brunsman said, “The Gilder Lehrman Teacher Symposium offers an unparalleled opportunity to engage with some of the leading historians and social studies educators in the country. I expect that every participant will not only come away with lots of new content and pedagogy but feeling rejuvenated for the coming year!”
“It’s hard to imagine a more evocative location to study presidential leadership than Gettysburg, especially with its ties to Lincoln and Eisenhower,” said Professor Barbara Perry, about leading her US Presidential History course. “I am so looking forward to collaborating with teachers.”
The Gilder Lehrman Teacher Symposium is open exclusively to participants in the Institute’s free Affiliate School Program. Teachers can check here to see if their school is in the Affiliate School Program, or to sign up here for free and receive all the benefits of becoming an Affiliate School teacher.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute will follow all CDC guidelines for COVID safety. All GLI staff, scholars, and participants will need to be fully vaccinated in order to attend.
To learn more and register for the Gilder Lehrman Teacher Symposium at Gettysburg College, go here.
About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Founded in 1994 by Lewis E. Lehrman and the late Richard Gilder, visionaries and lifelong supporters of American history education, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. The Institute’s mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is supported through the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Organization of American Historians, and the Council of Independent Colleges, and the National Daughters of the American Revolution.
About Gettysburg College
Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
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