From June 3-29,2004, Ferrum College will host its second National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Teachers. For four weeks, twenty-five scholars from throughout the country will discuss “Regional Study and the Liberal Arts: Appalachia Up Close,” focusing on scholarly and pedagogical issues related to using regional material in undergraduate classes.

Among the guest speakers are novelists Lee Smith and Robert Morgan, as well as acclaimed scholars of the region Crandall Shifflett, Altina Waller, Stephen Fisher, and Anita Puckett. Appalachian-related writings of these six form much of the core reading for the institute. In addition to discussing on the Ferrum campus the importance of regional material to liberal arts learning, using Appalachia as an exemplar, the institute will spend a week doing fieldwork in Caretta, West Virginia.

Scholars from regions outside Appalachia will contribute their own regional perspectives and apply what they learn of Appalachian issues to their areas. Faculty in fields such as literature, history, political science, sociology, religion, philosophy, or the arts are eligible to apply. Successful candidates receive stipends of $2,800. The institute director is Ferrum English professor Peter Crow (pcrow@ferrum.edu). Application deadline: March 1.

More information as well as application materials are available at our website.