Release_1975-1976_1975-172.pdf
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Part of News Release (1975) Notice of Three-Year Grant Awarded to the Evergreen State College to Support Advanced Humanities Studies
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The Evergreen State College
N
Olympia, Washington 9 B 5 D 5
866-6128
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The National Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Education Programs has
announced the award
of a three-year $176,934 grant to support advanced-level humanities
studies at The Evergreen State College, it was announced this week in Washington, D.C.
The award, effective immediately, runs through the 1977-78 academic year.
Receipt of the grant will enable the college to strengthen advanced studies in and
among such academic fields as literature,, philosophy, political science, languages, speech,
history and criticism of the arts, according to project director, Dr. Charles B. Teske,
Evergreen faculty member.
Evergreen's award is one of only four of its kind made this ummer to institutions
throughout the nation, according to NEH officials.
Others receiving 'grants in the advanced-
level studies category of the Division of Education Programs were the University of Virginia,
University of Massachusetts Harbor Campus at Boston, and Portland State University.
21 colleges and universities
Some
submitted grant applications during the funding cycle in which
Evergreen received its award.
The grant will augment institutional funding in the design, operation, and evaluation
of advanced team-taught Coordinated Studies programs during each of the next three academic
years, Dr. Teske said.
Coordinated Studies involve the year-long examination of major
topics or problems from the perspectives of numerous academic disciplines as represented
by faculty assigned to the instructional teams.
instructors and about 80 students.
The programs normally include four
Programs specially designated for support under the
grant will operate with a slightly smaller student-faculty ratio.
The initial program supported by the large grant is a Coordinated Study entitled
-moreDick Nichols , Director
Information
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"Culture, Ideology and Social Change in America."
Already designed for inclusion in the
1975-76 curricula, the program will entail extensive reading and writing assignments,core
seminars, lectures and other presentations, research activities, special-topic workshops,
and individual projects and conferences.
Working around the relations between culture, ideology and social change in America
since 1775, the program will consist of a highly-structured series of five-week segments,
including group studies and individual research projects.
Major topical areas will include "The Culture, Ideology and Politics of the American
Revolution;" "The Renaissance in Literature and Social Thought on the American Frontier;"
"Culture and Society in the Slave South, and the War for Southern Independence;" "European
Immigration to the U.S. (1820-1920) and the Development of Local and Working Class Culture;"
"Debates and Movements on Behalf of a New American Culture and Society;" "The Rise of Mass
Culture;" and "Towards a New Populism."
Faculty assigned to the initial program include Coordinator David Marr
(American
studies), Dr. Eric Larson (anthropology), Dr. Priscilla Bowerman (economics), and Dr.
Teske (literature).
"Once the initial Coordinated Study ends next Spring, the NEH grant will support a
complete written evaluation, as well as assignment of another faculty team to design and
prepare a new program for 1976-77," Teske said.
"The same process will be followed in the
third year of the grant."
The NEH award also provides for engaging visiting lecturers and other resource
persons to add their expertise to the academic programs.
In addition, it will support
acquisitions to strengthen Evergreen's library resources in the humanities.
Commenting on the long-range value of the grant, Dr. Teske said, "Evergreen during
its first four years has employed Coordinated Studies as the largest part of its curriculum
and has had success in basic and intermediate programs involving the humanities.
Our own
research indicates the college has not realized the full potential of this kind of study
for truly advanced work centered in the humanities.
This grant will allow the college to
develop models and traditions of advanced humanistic study in its formative years which
will have a strong impact on the future curriculum."
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