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This summer, Humanities Texas will conduct in-person professional development programs for social studies and English language arts teachers. Programs include "Teaching U.S. History, 1980–2008" (Lubbock, June 3–6), "Teaching Writing: Best Practices and New Resources" (Austin, June 9–12), "Teaching Texas History, 1900–1950" (Denton, June 16–18), and "Teaching Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature" (Houston, June 24–27).

Program partners include Texas Tech University, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, and the University of North Texas.

All programs will emphasize close interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources and texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Stay tuned for an announcement about July webinars!

Teaching U.S. History, 1980–2008

"Teaching U.S. History, 1980–2008" will take place in Lubbock at Texas Tech University from June 3–6, 2025. The three-day institute will address topics including the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush; the end of the Cold War; the Middle East; the AIDS epidemic and public health; immigration; economics from NAFTA to the Great Recession; 9/11 and the War on Terror; teaching foreign relations through film; civil rights; and advances in communication and technology.

Justin Hart (Texas Tech University) will serve as the faculty director for the institute. Jeremi Suri (The University of Texas at Austin) will deliver the keynote lecture. Presenters include Michael Brandl (The University of Texas at Austin), Nathan J. Citino (Rice University), Salem Elzway (University of Southern California), Jennifer L. Holland (The University of Oklahoma), Kyle Longley (Chapman University), Chase Untermeyer (former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar), and Emily Skidmore, Miguel A. Levario, and Sabrina C. Thomas of Texas Tech University.

Teaching Writing: Best Practices and New Resources

"Teaching Writing: Best Practices and New Resources" will take place in Austin at The University of Texas at Austin from June 9–12, 2025. Topics to be addressed include understanding and engaging student writers; analysis, argumentation, and evaluation; and using AI and digital tools.

Coleman Hutchison (The University of Texas at Austin) will serve as the faculty director for the institute. Presenters include Amanda Licastro (Swarthmore College) and Casey Boyle, Alice L. Batt, Bret Anthony Johnston, and Susan Schorn of The University of Texas at Austin.

Teaching Texas History, 1900–1950

"Teaching Texas History, 1900–1950" will take place in Denton at the University of North Texas from June 16–18, 2025. Topics to be addressed include the age of oil, progressivism, women's suffrage, World War I, the Mexican Revolution, social and cultural conflicts of the 1920s, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about teaching resources from the Portal to Texas History and Texas History for Teachers.

Andrew J. Torget (University of North Texas) will serve as the faculty director for the institute. Presenters include Courtney Abubakar (Texas History for Teachers), Jessica Brannon-Wranosky (East Texas A&M University), Sean P. Cunningham (Texas Tech University), Russell Gold (Texas Monthly), Sonia Hernández (Texas A&M University), Joseph L. Locke (University of North Texas), and Jake Mangum (Portal to Texas History).

Teaching Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature

"Teaching Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature" will take place at the University of Houston from June 24–27, 2025. Topics to be addressed include modernism; the Harlem Renaissance; mid-century confessional poetry; literature of the civil rights movement; and commonly taught texts such as The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Crucible, The Bluest Eye, and The House on Mango Street.

Greg Barnhisel (Duquesne University) will serve as the faculty director for the institute. Presenters include Amanda Golden (New York Institute of Technology), Jennifer Freeman Marshall (Purdue University), Jonna Perrillo (The University of Texas at El Paso), Mona Choucair and Ryan Sharp of Baylor University, and Patricia M. García and David Kornhaber of The University of Texas at Austin.

These workshops and webinars are open to all middle and high school humanities teachers and will focus on topics and skills central to the state's secondary-level U.S. history, Texas history, and English language arts curricula. Priority consideration will be given to early-career teachers in low-performing schools and districts.

More information about each program is available in the Education section of the Humanities Texas website. Teachers interested in attending should submit an online application as soon as possible, as admissions are rolling and space is limited.

Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. CPE hours will be based on attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program.

Please note that, due to space limitations, you must be a registered participant to attend any of the in-person workshops.

These programs are made possible with major funding from the State of Texas with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Andrew J. Torget (University of North Texas) leads a discussion on Texas from the Republic era to secession at a 2019 teacher institute in San Antonio.
President George W. Bush with retired New York City fireman Bob Beckwith at Ground Zero, September 14, 2001. National Archives and Records Administration.
Teachers participate in the 2023 "Teaching Writing" summer institute in College Station.
Goose Creek Oil Field by Frank J. Schlueter, 1919. Gelatin silver print. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Cover of the first edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, published in 1937.