TAMIU Professor Selected for National Humanities Institute

A Texas A&M International University faculty member has been selected as one of 19 national participants in the Fourth Biennial Summer Institute for College and University Teachers to be held at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va., this June.

Dr. Jaclyn Jeffrey, TAMIIU associate professor, College of Arts and Sciences, will attend the Summer Institute funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The Institute will examine Appalachian issues that link regional study to the liberal arts. The 19 teacher-scholars selected to receive stipends for travel and expenses to participate in the Institute represent colleges and universities from 13 U.S. states and Japan.

Dr. Jeffrey said she hopes to apply the model of Appalachian studies to studies of south Texas.

“I hope to gain ideas for ways to help our students to bridge the cultural gap that exists between border culture and mainstream American culture,” Jeffrey said.

Nationally known guest faculty will include poet Frank X. Walker, historian Gordon McKinney, feminist researcher Mary Anglin, book and CD producer Paul Kuzco, Appalachian musician Ron Short, and migration scholar Phillip Obermiller.

Ferrum College is part of a select group of institutions of higher education, including Harvard, SUNY Oswego and the University of Tennessee, to receive NEH awards this year.

It is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

For more information on Ferrum, visit ferrum.edu

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu