News & Events > Coe Workshop for Teachers
The next William R. Coe Summer Workshop in American History will be offered in 2010.
Summer 2010: The William Robertson Coe Workshop in American History
"Revolutions in American Life"
July 12-23, 2010, Stanford University
Taught by Professors Caroline Winterer and James Campbell
Workshop Description
Since the 1950s, Stanford University has offered the Coe Fellowship for secondary school teachers in American history. Financial support for the program comes from an endowment bequeathed by William Robertson Coe, an English-born American businessman and philanthropist who during his career became deeply interested in the history of the United States. The workshop brings together a select group of teachers for intensive study of a major theme of topic in American history. The core of the program is a series of morning seminars conducted by senior professors in the Department of History; these focus on readings and group discussion. The seminar also includes guest lectures and field trips.
Theme of the 2010 Workshop
The 2010 William Robertson Coe Summer Workshop in American History will be organized around the theme of “Revolutions in American Life.” Participants will explore problems of historical change and continuity through a close examination of three watershed periods in American history: the American Revolution, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights era. Each period was marked by bitter conflict and momentous change, not only in the realm of politics but also in American social, cultural, and political life. Not surprisingly, each has generated intense debate among historians.
Participants in the Coe Workshop will examine these three periods, as well as the historiographical debates to which they have given rise. Salient themes include changing conceptions of citizenship and of the relationship between individuals and the state; struggles over the meaning of federalism; and the continuous struggles of women, African Americans, and other historically marginalized groups to claim their full portion as American citizens.
Instruction will include daily lectures by Stanford University historians, as well as group discussions of select primary and secondary sources. (Participants will receive a resource packet, including books, documents, and sample curricula, about one month before the workshop begins.) These lectures and discussions, convened daily from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, will be supplemented by evening movie screenings, as well as by occasional field trips to local museums, archives, and historical sites. While the primary focus is on content enrichment, the workshop will also include dedicated pedagogy sessions, enabling participants to debate and exchange effective teaching strategies. In addition, each participant will create a lesson examining one of the three historical periods under consideration, which he or she will then share with other workshop members.
Eligibility
Teachers interested in participating in the Coe workshop will find a link below directing them to a short application. The workshop is open to anyone who is now teaching U.S. history at the 11th and 12th grade levels in public or private secondary schools, and who has at least two to three years of experience teaching in that field. Admission will be based on intellectual interests, professional accomplishment, and dedication to the art of teaching. Fellows who wish to receive credit for participation in the workshop may request a certificate of completion (an equivalent of 3 units of graduate credit or 2 semester units).
Fellowship Support
The Coe bequest covers most of participants’ expenses, including tuition, books and supplies, and room and board in a university residence for the two week period of the workshop. Unfortunately, we are unable to cover the cost of travel to and from Stanford, which remains the responsibility of participants themselves.
Faculty Directors of the 2010 Workshop
Caroline Winterer a Professor of History at Stanford, where she specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America. She is the author of two books, The Mirror of Antiquity: American Women and the Classical Tradition, 1750-1900 (2007), and the prize-winning The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910 (2002; pb 2004). She has also published articles in the Journal of American History, American Quarterly, the Journal of the Early Republic, and Modern Intellectual History. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. She lectures frequently in programs for high school history and social science teachers, most recently at Mount Vernon, Virginia, and in Oakland, California.
James T Campbell is the Edgar E. Robinson Professor of U.S. History at Stanford His research focuses on African American history and the wider history of the Black Atlantic. His publications include Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005, Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa, and Race, Nation, and Empire in American History (co-edited with Robert Lee and Matthew Guterl). He is the recipient of the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize of the Organization of American Historians, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award for Nonfiction, and the Mark Lynton History Prize. His most recent book, Middle Passages, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He participates regularly in workshops for secondary school teachers, including N.E.H. Summer Seminars and Department of Education-sponsored Teaching American History programs.
Application Process
Applications are available as a PDF file on line via the Department of History’s website.
Mail completed applications to:
Coe Summer Workshop
c/o Department of History
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2024
(Any questions should be directed to spillman@stanford.edu)
Applications are due by Friday April 9. Notification of awards will be made by Monday April 19.
Last updated March 29, 2010