By Jana Cunningham, communications specialist, University Marketing & Communications

The Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah has received a $160,000 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for Landmarks of American Culture and History: Workshops for School Teachers. The workshops will be held in the summer of 2017 and will be co-directed by U professors of history Bob Goldberg and Paul Reeve.

Titled, Manifest Destiny Reconsidered: The Utah Experience, the course aims to enrich the curriculum of teachers nationwide by helping them develop a more complex understanding of western expansion. Under the direction of a diverse team of national and local scholars, teachers will investigate ways religion, race, gender and class impacted the Utah migration and challenged standard interpretations of Manifest Destiny and American citizenship. The workshop also will provide teachers with a historical framework for analyzing current conflicts over freedom of religion, equality, immigration and federal vs. state rights.

“We are honored to receive funding from the NEH for this timely and significant workshop,” said Bob Goldberg, director of the Tanner Humanities Center. “It provides a wonderful opportunity to bring teachers from across the nation to Utah to understand its place in the story of the American West. It also enables local teachers to expand their knowledge base and introduce new techniques to make that story come alive for their students. Our state’s and our country’s past is our opening to its present and future. Without knowing who we were, we will never learn who we are or all that we can accomplish.”

About the Tanner Humanities Center

For 28 years, the Tanner Humanities Center has promoted humanities inquiry and engagement by supporting innovative scholarly projects and creating opportunities for interaction among scholars, students and lifelong learners. In particular, they offer research support, public lectures and programs and faculty outreach. Activities reflect a vision of the humanities as not only relevant, timely, stimulating and cutting-edge, but also essential for developing critical thinking, tolerance and respect at the University of Utah and in the community. More information is available at thc.utah.edu.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.