Carolina Voices- The diverse history and cultures of the Tar Heel State

Posted on May 17, 2013 by lesleyr

North Carolina history teachers are invited to join the NC Civic Education Consortium and the NC Museum of History for two exciting days exploring the distinct character and rich cultural heritage of the Tar Heel State. Throughout this two day event, attending teachers will explore the history of groups such as Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos in our state, as well as examine the regional and social diversity that makes North Carolina so unique.

Participants will broaden their content knowledge during presentations from scholars from area universities, interacting with field experts on topics ranging from the dialects and languages of North Carolina (from Outer Banks Hoi Toider speech to the Smoky Mountains Highland speech), to the history and heritage of enslaved Africans and African Americans and their foodways, to how immigration is changing the face of North Carolina, and so much more!

Participants will also spend time touring “The Story of North Carolina,” the NC History Museum’s acclaimed exhibit that traces life in North Carolina from its earliest inhabitants through the 20th century. More than 14,000 years of the state’s history unfold through fascinating artifacts, multimedia presentations, dioramas, and hands-on interactive components.

Teachers will also participate in and receive sample lesson plans on the topics and themes covered throughout the two days, designed for easy implementation in 8th grade social studies, as well as dialogue with one another regarding ideas, resources and best practices for teaching North Carolina history.

In addition, teachers will learn about the wealth of resources available to them for teaching about North Carolina’s past and present from organizations such as LEARN NC and the NC Department of Cultural Resources (including the State Library, the Archives, NC State Historic Sites, National History Day, and the Freedom Roads project.)

For more information and to register for this exciting event, please visit the Program in the Humanities upcoming trainings page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill College of Arts and Sciences.

Opening doors to inclusion

Posted on May 9, 2013 by lesleyr

More than 400 people from multiple disciplines, agencies, and settings,
including teachers and families, are expected to attend Frank Porter Graham’s 13th
Inclusion Institute May 13-15, 2013 at UNC’s Friday Center. The Institute
has become the annual premier event for people from all early childhood
sectors to come together to learn, share, and problem-solve about
inclusion for young children with disabilities.

This year’s Institute includes a keynote address from Micah Fialka-Feldman, an adult with an intellectual disability, who is now attending college and has fought for inclusion his entire life. Internationally known experts and researchers will make presentations on key topics such as Family Partnerships, Autism, Early Childhood Systems Building, Interactional and Instructional Practices, and Professional Development.

The registration fee for the Inclusion Institute is $250. For any of the three concurrent Pre-Institute Workshops it is $35. To register, please visit the Institute’s registration page.

2013 summer biotechnology workshops for educators

Posted on April 24, 2013 by lesleyr

For the 27th consecutive year, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center will be sponsoring its extremely popular summer biotechnology workshops for educators around the state. The Center is offering introductory-level workshops and agricultural biotechnology workshops for middle and high schools teachers. Stem cells and antibiotic resistant pathogens are other workshop topics.

A non-refundable $75 registration fee is required. Workshop participants receive free tuition; free room and board (double-occupancy; two meals per day); CEUs, and a $50 per day stipend. Only educators teaching at institutions located in North Carolina are eligible for NCBiotech workshops and support programs.

For detailed information about each of the workshops and to register, please visit the Biotechnology Center website.

History Harvest Blitz Week

Posted on April 2, 2013 by lesleyr

History Harvest is an open, digital archive of historical artifacts gathered from communities across the United States. The University of Nebraska – Lincoln Department of History partners with institutions and individuals within highlighted communities to collect, preserve, and share their rich histories. Advanced undergraduates lead the History Harvest project and curate and digitize these artifacts and stories. The leaders of the History Harvest project believe that our collective history is more diverse and multi-faceted than most people give credit for and that most of the history is not found in archives, historical societies, museums or libraries, but rather in the stories that ordinary people have to tell from their own experience and in the things — the objects and artifacts — that people keep and collect to tell the stories of their lives.

History Harvest will have a History Harvest Blitz Week on April 8-12, 2013. The public is invited to share feedback, suggestions, ideas, and strategies for building The History Harvest. LEARN NC will be following by Twitter (#history_harvest) and giving feedback. On Thursday, April 11, there will be a Google Hangout at 4:00pm EDT to discuss best practices in teaching with the History Harvest. The link to the hangout will be operational on that day. On Friday, April 12, join the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) Seminar “Reflection and Planning the National History Harvest” with William G. Thomas and Patrick D. Jones at 3:00pm EDT. Register at http://www.nitle.org/live/events/165-history-harvest.

For more information, please contact William G. Thomas or Patrick D. Jones. You can also find information at http://historyharvest.wordpress.com/ and Facebook.

Biotechnology workshops for North Carolina educators

Posted on March 25, 2013 by lesleyr

For detailed information about each of the workshops and to register, please visit the Biotechnology Center website.

American Indian Center events

Posted on March 22, 2013 by lesleyr

The following are American Indian events happening on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus:

The Carolina Indian Circle will host is 26th annual Pow Wow this Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Fetzer Gym on the campus of UNC. The theme of this year’s powwow is “Keeping The Faith, Through Honoring Our Traditions,” to honor the life of Faith Hedgepeth, a fellow Tar Heel and Carolina Indian Circle Member. Doors will open at 11 am and free parking will be available in the Cobb deck off Manning Drive. The Celebration is free and open to the public. The UNC American Indian Center is co-sponsoring this event.
The UNC American Indian Center is pleased to announce that Senora Lynch will serve as this year’s 2013 Elder in Residence. Mrs. Lynch is a nationally known Haliwa-Saponi potter. She has work on a permanent display at the Museum of History in Raleigh and her work is also in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. In 2004, Mrs. Lynch created the public art, “The Gift,” a mosaic walkway of light colored brick which is the University’s campus monument to American Indians. The University has a history and special relationship with Mrs. Lynch. We are fortunate to have Chancellor Holden Thorp joining us for a public talk with Mrs. Lynch on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 6:00 pm at the UNC FedEx Global Education Cemter. A reception will follow. Parking is available in the McA=Cauley Deck.
Also, don’t miss your opportunity to tour “The Gift” with artist, Senora Lynch. Mrs. Lynch will be giving a walking tour of her work, which serves as a permanent monument to American Indians at UNC. The tour will take place on the south east corner of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on Wednesday, March 27 at 10:00 am. We hope to see you there!

For more information about these events, please send a message through the American Indian Center’s contact page.

Cherokee Study Abroad program application deadline is today

Posted on March 14, 2013 by lesleyr

Have you ever wanted to immerse yourself in the study of a Native American people? Join us on Cherokee Study Abroad! Over five weeks you’ll travel from North Carolina to Oklahoma with Cherokee professors studying culture, history, and the Cherokee language. You’ll spend two weeks of instruction with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina, visit multiple sites along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, and spend an additional two weeks among the Cherokees of northeastern Oklahoma. An innovative digital humanities course, Cherokee Study Abroad will have its own interactive website that you will use to post your course blog, reflections, and photos so that others may follow your physical and intellectual journey through Cherokee country.

Eligibility: All programs are open to all undergraduate and graduate students who have completed at least two semesters in residence and have a 3.0 GPA or higher.
Funding: Financial aid can be applied to the program and need-based scholarships are available.
Courses: Cherokee People: The East (3 credits)
Cherokee People: The West (3 credits)

The program runs from May 27 through June 28, 2013. The application deadline is March 14, 2013. Visit the Burch Field Research Seminar Study Abroad website to apply.

Third annual Sequoyah Lecture to be held March 21

Posted on March 6, 2013 by lesleyr

Two UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral graduates, representing the fields of history and biology, will be the featured speakers at the third annual Sequoyah Distinguished Lecture on March 21.

The free public event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Carolina Inn’s Hill Ballroom. A reception will follow.

Mikaëla Adams, who received her Ph.D. in history, is an assistant professor of Native American history at the University of Mississippi. Her research addresses questions of political identity and national belonging in southeastern American Indian tribes in the late 19th and 20th centuries. She examines how tribes repurposed older notions of kinship and culture to create new criteria of belonging that met the challenges of living in a world defined by racial classifications.

Jennifer Taylor, who received her Ph.D. in biology, is an assistant professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Her research centers on the diverse functions of the exoskeleton, including structural support, locomotion, body armor and sound production. She is especially interested in correlations among exoskeleton morphology and function, molting physiology, and environmental adaptations.

The Sequoyah Distinguished Lecture is connected with the Sequoyah Dissertation Fellowship, within the Royster Society of Fellows —The Graduate School’s most selective fellowship program.

Adams and Taylor both were recipients of fellowships within the Royster Society of Fellows. Both also served as president of the First Nations Graduate Circle, a graduate and professional student organization that provides advocacy, support, professional development, mentoring and other enrichment opportunities to American Indians campuswide.

The lecture event is part of The Graduate School’s American Indian Graduate Student Recruitment Event, which will take place March 21 and 22.

“One of the most compelling aspects of this annual lecture is that we bring together speakers who are Carolina alumni from very different research fields,” said Sandra Hoeflich, Ph.D., associate dean for interdisciplinary education, fellowships and communication at The Graduate School. “The speakers share fascinating information about their research—and also about the community that supported their success at Carolina. This promises to be a special evening.”

The event’s sponsors are The Graduate School and First Nations Graduate Circle. For more information, please contact Deb Saine at saine@email.unc.edu.

Statewide Experi-Minute: April 12, 2013

Posted on March 4, 2013 by lesleyr

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is producing the North Carolina Science Festival, a multi-day celebration showcasing science and technology April 5 – 21, 2013. To get all school students involved, they are encouraging North Carolinians to participate in the first-ever statewide Experi-Minute.

Experi-Minute is inspired by Kannapolis City Schools’ “Moment of Science” held during the 2012 North Carolina Science Festival. All students throughout the district participated in a science-related activity at the same time, even if they weren’t in a science class at the time.

On Friday, April 12, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. join your fellow teachers in a science activity. The possibilities are endless. Here are a few ideas.

Make sure to register your Experi-Minute with the Festival so they know that you’re participating! Just go to the Festival’s “Host an Event” section and enter your information. Indicate in the description that this is an “Experi-Minute” event. If you want to make your “Experi-Minute” a public event, put that in the description, too, and they’ll help promote your “Experi-Minute” through the Festival’s website.

Cherokee history, language, and culture: Study abroad through UNC

Posted on February 22, 2013 by lesleyr

Eligibility: All programs are open to all undergraduate and graduate students who have completed at least two semesters in residence and have a 3.0 GPA or higher.
Funding: Financial aid can be applied to the program and need-based scholarships are available.
Courses: Cherokee People: The East (3 credits)
Cherokee People: The West (3 credits)

The program runs from May 27 through June 28, 2013. The application deadline is February 28, 2013. Visit the Burch Field Research Seminar Study Abroad website to apply.