ACTC
The Association for Core Texts and Courses

"Supporting Liberal Arts Core Text Curricula Around the World"

ACTC Liberal Arts Institute at St. Mary’s College of California

Dear Colleague:

The Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC), in cooperation with the Cherokee Heritage Center (CHC) in Tahlequah Oklahoma, is proud to announce an opportunity for high school teachers (9-12) in social science, literature, and art to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) workshop: Wiping Away the Tears: Renewing Cherokee Culture and American History through the Cherokee Heritage Center and the Trail of Tears. Other educators – administrators, home school teachers, and those in other disciplines or grades – are also welcome to participate by demonstrating an interest in line with the design of this project. The workshop, under the NEH program, Landmarks of American History, will be held at the Center, the U.S. Park Service-designated terminus of the Trail of Tears. Both a painful and hopeful story of Cherokee-American history, “Wiping Away the Tears” will bring some of the Cherokee’s and America’s best scholars and discussion facilitators to selected high school teachers in two, one-week sessions, running from July 18th-July 22nd or July 25-July 29th, 2005 in Tahlequah. In addition to CEU’s for every participant, Northeastern State University will provide dormitory rooms, board, classrooms and transportation, including to and from airports, for all participants.

“Wiping Away the Tears” is one of only 15 such projects funded by NEH this year. You can be one of the participants, a select, small group of educators from across the nation who will be attending this Landmarks, NEH program. ACTC urges you to read the package carefully, to fill out the application completely, to provide a thoughtful essay written by you concerning your background, interests, and skills that would contribute to the project and the enhancement in teaching that you expect the project to provide. You are encouraged, as well, to make this letter and accompanying materials available to interested colleagues.

The project makes available to participants a unique set of educational resources. ACTC is a professional liberal arts association composed of over 100 universities, colleges, community colleges particularly concerned with using core texts (primary sources) in liberal education curricula. Founded at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1994, ACTC now has its headquarters in its Liberal Arts Institute at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California. ACTC advocates close reading of original sources that are either “world classics” or texts of “major cultural significance.” The Cherokee Heritage Center, established in 1965, is a cultural historical center including an amphitheatre that seats 1800, replications of two historical Cherokee villages, a museum of Cherokee art, and a historical archives center. The CHC is operated by the Cherokee National Historical Society and its mission is to preserve and promote Cherokee culture. Over the years, the CHC has developed a widespread network of scholars devoted to Cherokee culture, as well as several years of development in humanities-based courses on Cherokee culture and heritage within a U.S. history context. Northeastern University will also be providing scholars and materials for this project. ACTC has initiated efforts to blend the use of core texts and this network of scholar-teachers in both its curricular and pedagogical efforts.

Accompanying this introductory letter through links on the sidebar on the left you will find:

"Wiping Away the Tears: Renewing Cherokee Culture and American History through the Cherokee Heritage Center and the Trail of Tears" Description Scope, Content and Approach;
Specific Content and an Introduction to our Specialist Lecturers and Discussion Facilitators;
Stipend;
Housing, Board, and Transportation;
The Tahlequah Area
Application Information and Instructions Supplied for Participation in “Wiping Away the Tears.”
List of Readings and Description of Activities of the Workshop

Please explore the ACTC website, www.coretexts.org and the links to the Cherokee Heritage Center’s website at www.cherokeeheritage.org to learn more about the project’s activities, readings, site, and the cultural and historical resources available to participants at and near the CHC site in Tahlequah.

If you have any questions, you are encouraged, first, to contact Rosa Grundig, administrative assistant of ACTC. Should she be unable to answer any question, she will forward your inquiry to J. Scott Lee, Executive Director and Project Director, at ACTC. Contacts numbers are: 925 631 8597 and rgrundig@stmarys-ca.edu. If you use email, be sure to include in the subject heading, “Wiping Away the Tears, Inquiry About.”

Looking forward to meeting you at the Wiping Away the Tears workshop in Tahlequah, this summer.

Yours,

J. Scott Lee
Project Director, Wiping Away the Tears
Executive Director
Association for Core Texts and Courses
925 631 8597