Crow Canyon Archaeological Center to Host Professional Development Institute for Educators

Summer Institute is Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities


CORTEZ, Colo., Jan. 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This summer, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colo., will host "Bridging Cultures: Diversity and Unity in the Pueblo World," a professional-development institute for K–12 educators and college graduate students. The three-week institute, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), will run from June 24 to July 14, 2012. NEH provides stipends to cover all expenses, including travel and living costs.

Institute scholars will lead 25 educators in an examination of human culture and society in the context of one of the oldest persistent cultural groups on the continent—the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. Educators from across the country will take home an understanding of how Pueblo culture formed and subsequently endured for thousands of years—and will return to their classrooms with curricula they developed in relation to the institute's theme.

Peggy Spurgeon, a Minnesota educator who attended the program last year, said, "The scholars taught us how to appreciate the very special place that archaeological sites have in the history of our country. The archaeologists, professors, instructors and writers taught us beyond what you'd read in a book."

This year's institute faculty will include Crow Canyon archaeologists and educators, as well as American Indian scholars. Dr. Elaine Franklin, executive director of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, will serve as director of the institute, and Marjorie Connolly, Crow Canyon director of American Indian initiatives, will be the codirector. The institute will be based at the Crow Canyon campus in southwestern Colorado, and teachers will also travel to a number of other locations in the Southwest.

Applications for the NEH program must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2012. For more information on the institute and workshops, visit http://www.crowcanyon.org/programs/campus/NEHsummer2012.asp, or call 800.422.8975. Prospective applicants can access information about all 2012 NEH Summer Institutes, as well as the online Participant Application Cover Sheet on the NEH Web site, http://www.neh.gov/.

Contact: Joyce Alexander
Communications Specialist
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
1-800-422-8975, ext. 162
jalexander@crowcanyon.org

About Crow Canyon

The not-for-profit Crow Canyon Archaeological Center conducts long-term, multidisciplinary research into the ancestral Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States and provides experiential education programs for adults and children. The Center also collaborates with American Indians on a wide variety of initiatives of mutual interest, including research projects, education curricula, and language- and cultural-preservation programs.

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The following pictures are available for download:

[Image] Educators at archaeological site.