The Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II | Teacher Seminars In Person

The Great Depression, New Deal, and WWII is a weeklong PD event for up to 50 K–12 teachers at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The seminar will examine FDR’s overall response to the world crisis of 1933 to 1945 with a view toward gaining a greater understanding of how his policies transformed America and the world during these critical years. In exploring this watershed period of American history over the course of a week, attendees will seek to  gain answers to several critical questions: What were the key long-lasting elements of the New Deal that helped reshape the role of government in our society? What was the relationship between FDR’s domestic reform programs of the 1930s and the global economic crisis that was going on at the same time? How did the United States use its involvement in the Second World War as a catalyst for a restructuring of the world’s political, strategic, and economic makeup? What are the long-term consequences of these policies and how do they continue to fashion the world we live in today?

This unique approach will not look at the New Deal and WWII in isolation from one another, but rather looks at both FDR’s domestic and international policies as part of a continuum that ran from 1933 to 1945. A special feature of the event will be a visit to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum to meet the FDR Library’s education specialist and visit the permanent exhibit on the New Deal and WWII.

Offered in partnership with Marist College

Application Information

Interested K–12 teachers should complete an application to be considered. Applications will be reviewed by Gilder Lehrman Institute and Marist College staff. The deadline to submit an application is March 7, 2025. Selected teachers will be notified the week of April 7, 2025.

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David Woolner, Lead Scholar

David Woolner is a professor of history and Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation Fellow in Roosevelt Studies at Marist College; senior fellow and resident historian of the Roosevelt Institute, and senior fellow of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College. He is the author of The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace (Basic Books, 2017) and editor/co-editor of five books, including Progressivism in America: Past Present and Future (Oxford University Press 2016), FDR’s World: War, Peace, and Legacies (Palgrave, 2008), and FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America (Palgrave, 2003). He has been a member of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Scholarly Advisory Board since 2020 and served as historical consultant to the Ken Burns films The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and The US and the Holocaust and for numerous special exhibitions at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum. 

Lois MacMillan, Master Teacher

Lois MacMillan teaches American history and AP US Government and Politics at Grants Pass High School in Oregon. In 2024, she was honored as the Organization of American Historians’ Mary K. Tachau Teacher of the Year “in recognition of the contributions made by precollegiate teachers to improve history education within the field of American history” and as the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Outstanding Teacher of American History. Her tenure began with the Gilder Lehrman Institute when she was named the 2006 Oregon History Teacher of the Year. After being a master teacher for GLI for more than a decade, in 2018 she was the first senior education fellow for the Institute’s Hamilton Education Program. She serves on many national advisory teacher boards that include the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Constitution Center, Monticello, American Exchange Program, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.