Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve the teaching of American history in the public schools, Department of History Professor Bill Rowley and Washoe County School District Social Studies Director, Sue Davis, will participate in a teachers institute at Great Basin College, June 13-18 in Elko.
The institute brings together 21 teachers of American history from eight rural communities across Nevada (Yerington, Lovelock, Winnemucca, Owyhee, Carlin, Elko, Wells and Ely). Professor Cyd McMullan of Great Basin College, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno Department of History, will serve as local director of the Institute at the college and at Elko’s new California Trail Museum constructed and managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
An additional feature of the institute is a colloquium and lecture by Professor Elliott West of the University of Arkansas-Lafayette. West is a major authority in the history of the overland trails with many published works including “The Contest Plains,” which depicts the challenges of overland travel across the Great Plains in the mid-19th century. At the institute, teachers will develop new lesson plans for their classes, write research papers on aspects of “Trails West,” and earn graduate credits.
