From Beowulf to Postmodernism: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for Secondary School Teachers (6-12)
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce TX 75429
July 5 - August 6, 2004

Texas A&M University-Commerce will host a five-week Summer Institute for School Teachers sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Institute is designed to work as a bridge connecting school teachers with university professors and other experts in Tolkien studies. " From Beowulf to Postmodernism: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings" will explore the medieval and modern influences as well as the contemporary impact of Tolkien's epic novel.

Applications to participate in the Institute are welcome from any secondary school teacher of English or History. Teachers of other relevant humanities subjects who wish to use The Lord of the Rings in their classes are invited to apply as well. The thirty teachers selected to participate will each receive a stipend of $3250.00 from the N.E.H. which should pay for most of their expenses.

Through exposure to the ideas of some of the most important Tolkien scholars, guided research, and both live and electronic group discussion, the teachers participating in this Institute will analyze The Lord of the Rings and develop ways to use it in their classes to illustrate aspects of both history and literature from thee Middle Ages and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.