Dr. Kathleen Carter, History Professor

HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 8, 2005 - High Point University history professor Kathleen Carter joined with the grant-funded program Foundations First to conduct history workshops for local elementary, middle and high school teachers.

The grant-funded program "Foundations First: Teaching American History," is a 3-year United States Department of Education program for the Davidson County, Lexington and Thomasville school systems. The grant provides content development for teachers of social studies, including American History and North Carolina History, at the 5th, 8th and 11th grade levels.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Carter led a Foundations First workshop at Davidson Community College titled "The 1970s: From Smiley Faces to Hostages." The workshop offered teachers a framework for how to understand the 1970s as history.

On Tuesday, Oct. 24, Carter led two workshops at Old Salem for 8th grade teachers that followed themes of economic change and race relations in North Carolina history. The workshops were titled "Coastal Economic Development in Late 19th Century North Carolina" and "Jim Crow and Racial Violence in Late 19th and Early 20th Century North Carolina."

"Whenever possible the workshops are interactive and hands-on," Carter stated. "I offer a framework for pulling all of these separate ideas together into a unified concept that teaches about political, economic and social changes of the era."

On Wednesday, Nov. 2, Carter presented "The 1970s: From Smiley Faces to Hostages" to a different group of teachers in Kenansville at a one-day symposium for social studies teachers from several eastern North Carolina school districts.

"I have watched this group of teachers grow dramatically in knowledge and in scholarship since the grant began in 2003," said Carter. "I have been impressed by the participating teachers' dedication, their enthusiasm and their commitment to excellence. Teachers have truly benefited from it, as have the students they teach."

For further information on the content of Carter's presentations, please contact her at 841-9263.

High Point University is a liberal arts institution with approximately 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 52 countries and 36 states at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by U.S. News and World Report 12th among comprehensive universities in the South and in the top 100 nationally. The university offers 45 undergraduate majors and five graduate-degree programs. It is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference.