Teachers to come to IU for Audubon program

The Picturing John James Audubon Institute will be from July 6 to 30 at IU.

The institute is funded by National Endowment for the Humanities’ Picturing America summer seminar series, which is designed for high school teachers, and a $204,000 grant.

The grant is competitive and only a very small percentage of the applications are actually receive funded, IU English professor Christoph Irmscher said.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was excited. I was delighted. It is great for the University. It is great for the department especially to get a grant of that magnitude and being able to invite teachers to Bloomington.”

Twenty to 25 teachers will be invited to IU to attend daily sessions and learn from experts on Audubon, American art and natural history.

The teachers will receive a $3,300 stipend to cover expenses, Irmscher said.

“The main thing the institute is trying to do is help teachers improve their teaching and to study a topic in depth that they wouldn’t be able to do during the school year,” he said.

The first institute took place in 2009 and because of the success of that institute, Irmscher reapplied.

“There was success in the eyes of the participants and the committee,” said Scott Russell Sanders, IU distinguished professor emeritus of English.

Participants will travel to the Audubon Museum in Kentucky and the Field Museum in Chicago, Irmscher said.

IU is an ideal place, Sanders said, because of numerous factors.

“IU has a strong history of hosting such institutes,” he said. “The particular strengths include the Lilly Library with materials of Audubon and the location because much of his early work on research of birds was done in the Ohio Valley.”

Irmscher said they received thank you letters from the last institute’s participants, which was rewarding.

“Each time, we get letters from teachers who basically thank us for inspiring them to do more and some of them have actually gone back to graduate school to pursue their Ph.D. so it is very gratifying when you get that,” he said.

The institute is not open to the public because of the specific nature of the funding.

Irmscher said there will be some readings that students who are on campus during the summer will be able to take advantage of.

“We are giving the teachers something that they can take back home when they go back to their jobs,” Irmscher said.