Vol. 28 No.

3 Spring 2008

The Community College

HUMANIST
A Tri-Annual Publication of the Community College Humanities Association

Humanities Organizations Gather CCHA Divisions Prepare for Regional Conferences

to Consider Upcoming Challenges
On Tuesday, March 4, 2008, CCHA
Executive Director David Berry once
again joined ninety-three supporters of
the Humanities to participate in Hum-
anities Advocacy Day, an annual
event sponsored by the National Hum-
anities Alliance, of which the CCHA
is a sponsor. In visits to 127 House
and Senate officials, representing
twenty-three states and the District of
Columbia, Humanities advocates
stressed the importance of studying
and disseminating the humanities
throughout the United States, and
urged crucial support for such organi-
zations at the National Endowment for
the Humanities and the National
Archives National Historical Publica-
tions and Records Commission.
Humanities Advocacy Day was the
culmination of a two-day conference
sponsored by the National Humanities
Alliance, a unique coalition of cultur-
al, academic, and state-funded organi-
zations. Members spent March 3 at
preparatory roundtables and briefings,
considering the challenges the human-
ities face in an era of new technolo-
See Advocacy p. 9
An Advocacy Day attendee views a presen-
tation board on Humanities rubrics.
Jacob Agatucci, Editor Central Oregon Community College Emily Sohmer Tai, Contributing Editor Queensborough Community College David A. Berry, Executive Director
Community College Humanities Association c/o Essex County College 303 University Avenue Newark, NJ 07102 Phone: (973) 877-3577 Fax: (973) 877-3578 berry@essex.edu
etai@ccha-assoc.org jagatucci@cocc.edu Website: www.ccha-assoc.org ISSN: 0739-473X
All Five Divisions are in the Process of Putting the Finishing
Touches on Exciting Fall Professional Development Opportunities
From Visions, Quests, and Fish artists; the Walters Art Museum,
Tales to The Humanities at Center widely known for its extensive
Stage, the conference themes for each collection which spans more than 50
of the Community College Humanities centuries and all areas of the globe
Associations five Divisions will yield but especially praised for one of the
rewarding professional development finest collections of rare books and
opportunities this fall. For more manuscripts in the world; and many
information on the CCHA division popular and highly acclaimed films
conference in your region, read on. and television shows, including the
work of John Waters, Homicide: Life
on the Street, The Wire, The Corner,
Eastern Division Conference, Red Dragon, and believe it or not
October 30th-November 1 Sleepless in Seattle. Baltimores
Baltimore, MA
many exciting offerings will be
included in the tours planned for
The Eastern Division Regional Thursday and Saturday of the
Conference, hosted by Community conference, thanks to the
College of Baltimore County with wonderfully dedicated work of the
support from Hostos Community local arrangements chairperson,
College of the City University of New Bernadette Low.
York, will be held October 30- Mark Reutter, former reporter for
November 1, 2008 at the Tremont Plaza the Baltimore Sun and author of
Hotel in Baltimore, MD. The hotels Making Steel: Sparrows Point and
central location allows easy access to the Rise and Ruin of American
the Inner Harbor where restaurants, Industrial Might will be our first
recreational activities, and colorful speaker. The Friday speaker is
characters abound. Baltimore, with its See Divisions p. 4
many neighborhoods, is an ideal setting
for our theme Spirits in the Streets. It Inside The Humanist
is the site of Edgar Allen Poes house, Faculty Profile p. 2
museum, and gravesite; the Banneker-
Douglas Museum for the preservation CCHA Research Project p. 3
of Marylands African-American
heritage; Fort Mc Henry, the inspiration Spellings Commission p. 6
for Francis Scott Keys poem the Star-
Spangled Banner that became the CC Research Programs p. 7
National Anthem; Babe Ruths
birthplace; the first ice cream; the Online Textbooks p. 8
American Visionary Art Museum, the
nations premiere exhibit space for the Teaching the Alamo p. 12
work of unique and largely self-taught
Spring 2008
Finding the Big Ideas
Jeff Clausen, Professor of Philosophy, Green River Community College,
Auburn, Washington
By Emily Tai
Queensborough Community College (NY)
In thirty-five years of teaching nearly
twenty different courses at Green River
Community College in Auburn,
Washington, Jeffrey Clausen has
dedicated his career to showing students
how the abstractions of philosophy can
have concrete, practical application to
their daily lives. Philosophy courses,
Clausen explained to The Community
College Humanist, engage questions
that arent raised in other classes.
What is the Good Life? Whats Right?
Whats Wrong? These are the
questions that help students recognize
universal valuesand can serve as a
particularly good tool for dealing with
current social problems. Clausens
enormously proud of Green Rivers
Department of Philosophy, widely
recognized as one of the nations
strongest in a two-year college. At
Green River Community College,
students in Philosophy can select
courses in everything from Ancient,
Medieval, and Modern philosophy to
Ethics in the Workplace, and Social and
Philosophical Issues in Law, Sex, and
Genderand many of these courses
were designed by Clausen himself.
Clausens no less proud of the results
hes seen in the classroomlearning
outcomes that follow his students into a
variety of careers, including elementary
and secondary education. All of us, as
teachers, have something we want
students to learn, asserts Clausen
We want to be cognizant of whether
students are learning it. For Clausen,
the end goal of philosophical study has
always been good citizenship. And
so, as Chair, and later, co-Chair, of
Green Rivers Student Learning
Outcomes Committee, and Liaison to
the Outcomes Assessment Office of the
Faculty Profile
Jeffrey Clausen
Washington State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges,
Clausen developed his Big Ideas
curriculum, both as a model for the
organization of his own philosophy
courses, and as a paradigm for the way
in which instructors might derive
assessment strategies from the best of
what they already taught.
Instructors, Clausen explained to The
Community College Humanist, should
ask themselves What are the five (or
sixor seven!) big ideas that they
would like non-majors to get in an
introductory required course? After
asking himself that same question,
Clausen developed a series of reading
selections that prodded students to
consider thorny problems of human
rights, such as the contemporary debate
over same-sex marriage, or Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM, or Female
circumcision). Such readings, which
Clausen has used in his classes ever
2
since, compel students to confront the
shortcomings of both moral relativism
and moral absolutism, as they puzzle
over when societal norms collide with
the rights of individuals. Students
need to reason things out and come to a
conclusion that makes the most sense to
them, but they have to see both sides
first, Clausen went on. Assessment is,
moreover, built solidly into the
philosophy curriculum Clausen created.
On the first day of the quarter, students
read the materials and write a short
paper, explaining who they agree with
and why. Ten weeks later, students
repeat the exercise. Whether they
discover--as many do-- that theyve
changed their minds, or affirm their
earlier opinion, Clausen requires them
to justify their choice in a final paper.
And along the way, students find that
they have learned to think critically
about thinkingand that, in so doing,
they have engaged in the self-aware
epistemological inquiry that constitutes
the bedrock of philosophy as a
discipline.
Clausens conviction that philosophy is
central to preparation for citizenship led
him to partner with the National
Endowment for the Humanities and Phi
Theta Kappa as a visiting scholar in A
National Conversation on Political
Pluralism. Between 2001 and 2003,
Clausen teamed with Nassau
Community Colleges Anna Katsavos
in launching several initiatives at Green
River Community College under the
aegis of another NEH project,
Advancing the Humanities in Future
Teacher Preparation, sponsored by the
Community College Humanities
Association. Green River went on to
win an award for its Project Link
program reaching out to prospective
See Clausen p. 9
Spring 2008 3

Community College Teacher-Scholars Can

Take Advantage of CCHA Research Program
Following several previous highly
successful projects for community
college teacher-scholars at the Library
of Congress, sponsored by CCHA and
funded by the Ford Foundation and
NEH, CCHA once again is planning a
project that would bring selected
community college faculty to
Washington, D.C. for three periods of
residence to undertake individual
research on an individually chosen topic
within the general subject area of
American Cities and Public Spaces.
The proposed project would bring
participant fellows to Washington, D.C.
for three periods of residence: May 24,
2009 June 6, 2009; January 10, 2010
January 16, 2010; and May 23, 2010
May 29, 2010. The grant would provide
lodging for 25 nights in Washington,
and a total of twenty-three days of
research time at the nations premiere
library, under the prestigious
sponsorship of the Kluge Center for
Scholarly Research at the Library of
Congress. A small stipend will
contribute to participants
transportation expense.
The project includes formal
orientation by professional Library staff
to undertaking research at the Library
of Congress and to individual
components of the collection, such as
Newspapers and Current Periodicals;
Prints and Photographs; and Maps and
Geography. In addition visiting
scholars, such as Mary Ryan (professor
of history, Johns Hopkins), Thomas
Bender (professor of history, NYU) and
Clement Price (professor of history,
Rutgers University-Newark), who have
specialized in research on American
cities, will offer seminars at the Library
for the group and provide mentoring for
individual projects. Successfully
completed research projects will be
published in a special issue of the
Community College Humanities
Review.
In their application letter, participants
should outline as clearly as possible the
project of proposed research
(understanding that this may evolve or
change as research gets underway), and
the opportunity for incorporating the
material into classes taught. In addition
the application letter should make a
firm commitment of availability to
participate in the full schedule of the
Institute according to the dates listed.
The application letter must be
accompanied by an up-to-date C.V. and
two reference letters of support,
including one from an administrator
verifying the candidates availability for
the project (applicants can request that
their reference letters be sent
separately). Twelve competitively
selected faculty-scholars will be chosen
to participate pending funding.
Notification will be made in early
October 2008.
Applications should be mailed by
August 30th to: David A. Berry,
Executive Director, Community
College Humanities Association, C/0
Essex County College, 303 University
Ave., Newark, NJ, 07102-1798. CCHA

Reflection Piece
Program Brings Teacher Closer to Understanding Causes of Anger
By Janet Farrell Leontiou earlier that morning. I arrived at some peace realizing that I
Nassau Community College (NY) was choosing to make my anger my foreground.
If I just moved it to background, it has no power over me.
I arrived at school on Friday morning to attend a program
The second exercise was for us to focus our minds. The last
called Imaging Peace. On the way there, I was angry with
thing I remember before I closed my eyes was that the
a situation at school. When I arrived at the conference, I
professor said to think of someone we love. I thought about
greeted the key note speaker who teaches at the same college
my son immediately and I started to cry. My son has cerebral
as some friends of mine from graduate school I talked with
palsy and he is always at the forefront of my mind. Part of
someone at the college with whom I am friendly. I asked her
me was grateful for the immediacy of my feeling and part of
advice about my situation within my department. When the
me could not believe that I was crying in front of colleagues.
conference began, I was present. I listened and spoke. I felt
I spoke of my experiences both times to the group.
that I said what needed to said.
The professor spoke about the cause of violence being
What happened during the conference defied expectations.
anger and underneath the anger is fear. Doing practices like
The first breakout session was on meditation. The professor
the one I discussed above helps us understand how anger
who led the group taught us about ancient Indian mediation
works within ourselves and allows us to have some capacity
and the work of Krishnamurti. The professor talked about
to make a difference in the culture. Wow! I am a microcosm
encountering this thinker in her 20s.
of the larger macrocosm. I got it and I got it quickly. I was
She had us do two exercises similar to ones I had done
angry but right underneath my anger was my fear and
before. In the first exercise, the professor asked us to
sadness. I have studied some of these ideas before but never
observe our own minds. My mind went to ideas of
background and foreground noise. I remembered my anger See Peace p. 15
Spring 2008
Divisions cont. from p. 1
Manil Suri, mathematics professor at
University of Maryland Baltimore
County and author of The Death of
Vishnu and The Age of Shiva. Dr. Suri
was noted by Time Magazine as a
person to watch in 2000 and won a
Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction in
2004. Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis, President
of Community College of Baltimore
County will speak on Saturday. Dr.
Kurtinitis is renowned for her
exemplary 30 year career in community
colleges.
Carl Grindley of Hostos Community
College is Program Chair. The very
attractive Call for Proposals was printed
and mailed by Hostos Community
College.
Judy Tavers, Eastern Division Vice-
president, is chairing the Awards
Committee. This committee will
nominate and select a Regional
Distinguished Humanities Educator
Award recipient and an Exemplary
Service Humanities Award recipient.
We promise an interesting, engaging,
and enjoyable conference as we all
participate in the exploration of the
Spirits in the Streets.
Central Division Conference,
November 13-15
Omaha, NE
For the first time ever, the Central
Divisions 2008 conference will be held
in Omaha, NE, hosted by the
Humanities Department of
Metropolitan Community College. The
conference will be held on November
13-15, 2008, at the Hilton-Omaha Hotel
next to the new Q-West Center in
downtown Omaha near the Old Market
section with its cafes, restaurants, and
bookstores. Other colleges supporting
the conference thus far are College of
CCHA Divisions Prepare
DuPage and Kirkwood Community
College. The airport is a mere fifteen-
minute cab ride to the hotel.
The theme of the Omaha conference
is The Humanities at Center Stage.
The intent is to highlight the pivotal
importance of the humanities for all
higher education as well as the vibrant
theatre community in Omaha. Our new
dean, Dr. Susann Suprenant, is herself a
theatre director and has infused new life
into the Humanities Department.
The Local Arrangements Committee
at MCC is well underway and headed
by Cindy Stover (Speech). Members of
the committee include Jan Vierk
(English), Dalanya Bowman (English),
Rebecca Orsini (Humanities), Pat Smith
(English), Tricia Hollins (Art), Andrea
Lang (Humanities), Rajka Rush
(Philosophy), Janet McCarthy
(Philosophy), and Frank Edler
(Philosophy). We were also pleased to
have Laura Cruse (Humanities) from
Northwest Iowa Community College
join the committee by conference call.
Laura will be moving to the Omaha
area over the summer. The Local
Arrangements Committee is planning
Saturday afternoon excursions that
include a tour of the wonderful
Orpheum Theatre and the Joslyn Art
Museum, among others. One of the
goals of the Omaha conference is to
include more student participation and
include more of the arts in the range of
presentations.
We are very proud to announce that
one of our keynote speakers will be
Michael Brub, noted author of Whats
Liberal about Liberal Arts?: Classroom
Politics and Bias in Higher
Education (Norton, 2006) and professor
of English at the Pennsylvania State
University. Brub is considered a
leading critic among a new generation
of intellectuals who cross the divide
between academic and popular
4
Coast-to-Coast, CCHA
Fall with a Stimulating Ar
spheres (The Minnesota Review).
The Program Committee for the Call
for Proposals, sent out in the first week
of February, includes Julia DiLiberti
and Helen Feng (both from College of
DuPage), Bridget Malone (Kirkwood
Community College), and Frank Edler
(Metropolitan Community College).
The visually striking Call for Proposals
was designed, printed, and mailed by
Metropolitan Community College.
Southern Division Conference,
October 30-November 1
Chattanooga, TN
The Southern Division of CCHA will
hold its conference at the historic Read
House Hotel in Chattanooga, TN, from
October 30 through November 1. Focus
-ing on "Bridges in Humanities: Span-
ning the Divide," the conference will
offer "practical applications in a pedago
-gical environment" and "personal en-
richment subjects...inspiring for edu-
cators. The program committee ex-
pects to include presentations on a wide
range of topics, from critical race
theory and globalization of American
history, to eco-criticism and sacred arts.
In addition to our Associations
traditionally rich lineup of insightful
guest speakers and thought-provoking
presenters and panelists, Chattanooga
offers a wide variety of artistic, cultural,
and historic attractions.
Chattanoogas rich arts scene is
second to none. Attendees may take in
one of the nations largest collections of
American art at the Hunter Museum or
the collection of decorative art at the
Houston Museum. They can also dis-
cover emerging artists in the citys
numerous galleries, including the Bluff
View Art District, the Galleries at
Southside, Ignis Glass Studio, and the
River Gallery.
 Spring 2008
Regional Conferences
Divisions Get Ready for
ray of Conference Themes
Conference participants may visit and
hear incredible stories at Chattanoogas
abundant historical sites and museums,
including a number of Civil War
battlefields and sites such as the
Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military
Park (scene of the last major
Confederate victory), Point Park
Battlefield, and Cravens House. The
African-American History Museum and
the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
afford attendees further opportunities
for historical exploration.
Chattanooga is also well-known for
several distinctive attractions. If
attendees have always wanted to See
Rock City or visit Ruby Falls, there
will be opportunity for that as well. For
relaxation, the downtown area
surrounding the conference hotel is
home to a wide array of both elegant
and relaxed restaurants, eclectic
shopping, pedestrian-friendly
thoroughfares, and lively
entertainment.
Arts or entertainment, museums or
music, battlefields or bars
Chattanooga has it all. The Southern
Division of CCHA warmly invites all of
you to join us for a thought-provoking
conference in the beautiful Tennessee
Mountains.
Southwest Division
Conference, November 6-8
Tulsa, OK
The Southwest Division Regional
Conference, hosted by Tulsa
Community College, will be held Nov 6
-8 at the Holiday Inn at 150 Aquarium
Drive (918-296-7000) on the Arkansas
River next door to the Oklahoma
Aquarium and popular Riverwalk
Crossing. The conference theme is
Visions, Quests and Fish Tales.
The conference will begin Thursday
night with a reception and a Western
Swing Band led by a member of the
Country Music Hall of Fame. The first
keynote speaker, Dr. Vivian Clark-
Adams, will address the provocative
topic of "The Tulsa Race Riots: The
Rest of the Story." In addition, the
Oklahoma Humanities Council will join
the conference to help celebrate the
Oklahoma Centennial with Chautauqua
historian Doug Watson, who will
present Will Rogers at the Gilcrease
Museum of American Art for lunch and
tours on Friday. The final keynote
address will be by author Wilma
Mankiller, recipient of the Oklahoma
Humanities Award, and the first woman
principal chief of the Cherokee
nation. She will be introduced by
Teresa Miller, founder of the Oklahoma
Center for Poets and Writers and
executive producer and host for the
television interview program, Writing
Out Loud. Both Mankiller and Miller
will have book signings after the
luncheon.
The Southwest Division members are
looking forward to joining colleagues to
explore visionary quests for knowledge,
innovation, and understanding through
the humanities. On this journey, the
conference may offer opportunities to
investigate a few tall tales along the
way. The conference is designed to
provoke, celebrate, and inspire
colleagues in the humanities to share
scholarship and teaching in higher
education.
Pacific-Western Division
Conference, November 6-8
Portland, OR
This November 6-8, the Pacific-
Western Division will hold its
conference in beautiful downtown
Portland, Oregon at the Embassy Suites
5
Hotel. This year's theme is
Transformations: Our Classes, Our
Students, Ourselves. Faculty will
explore the transformations that they
observe and create in humanities
education. Presenters will focus on
topics such as "Technological
Transformations in the Humanities
Classroom" and "Transforming
Communities Through Service
Learning."
Our conference leadership team this
year includes Program Co-Chairs
Marcie Sims and Will Scott from
Greenriver Community College (WA)
and Local Arrangements Co-Chairs
Kristin Bryant and Cherie Maas from
Portland Community College
(OR). The sponsoring colleges this
year are Greenriver Community
College (WA), Portland Community
College (OR), and the San Diego
Community College District (CA).
Conference participants will enjoy all
that Portland has to offer. The Embassy
Suites Hotel sits right in the heart of
downtown, providing walking access to
all of the major sites, including Powell's
Bookstore, the Suzhou style Classical
Chinese Garden, and the art galleries
and boutiques of the Pearl District. The
hotel is just three blocks from the
Willamette River waterfront.
2008 is an important year for the
Pacific-Western Division. At the
luncheon on Friday, the 2008 Nadine
Hata Distinguished Faculty award will
be presented, and the election of new
officers for all positions will be held on
Saturday at the breakfast meeting. The
conference will also feature dynamic
speakers, a downtown walking tour,
and an art museum tour. Please join us!
For more info on each conference
visit the CCHA website: http://
www.ccha-assoc.org/
 Spring 2008
Reflections on the Spellings Commission
CCHAs Central Division President Offers Critical Perspective
On the Commissions Underlying Assumptions About the Humanities
By Frank H.W. Edler
Metropolitan Community College (NE)
In September of 2005, U.S. Secretary
of Education Margaret Spellings
announced the creation of the National
Commission on the Future of Higher
Education. The commissions purpose,
according to Secretary Spellings, would
be to develop a comprehensive
national strategy of postsecondary
education (Robert Zemsky, The Rise
and Fall of the Spellings Commission).
It was to offer a blueprint for higher
education in the 21st century. This
essay will argue, however, that the
findings of the Spellings Commission
are flawed from a humanities
perspective.
The most fundamental flaw in the
Spellings Commission report is that it is
biased and partisan in its underlying
assumption that higher education is
nothing but technical skills training and
acquisition. This assumption is
ideological because the view that higher
education is nothing but technical skills
acquisition is based on market
fundamentalism. Although the
reports preamble called for
institutions and programs that are more
nimble, more efficient, and more
effective, allowing Americans to
gaina heightened capacity to
compete in the global marketplace
[and].full access to educational
opportunities that allow them to be life-
long learners, productive workers and
engaged citizens (Commission
Report, Preamble, XIII), the
commission report makes no mention of
the importance of core competencies,
general education, or the humanities,
nor does it mention how significant
these are for a healthy participatory
democracy.
The most jarring consequence of this
bias towards market fundamentalism
and technical skills acquisition is that
the teaching and learning process at the
heart of education is hardly discussed.
The commission had a perfect
opportunity to include reading, writing,
public speaking, and critical reasoning
skills along with the other more
technical skills emphasized in the report
such as medical technology, but chose
not to do so. Even though the
commission report on two separate
occasions pointedly refers to the lack of
writing, reading, critical thinking and
problem-solving skills of recent
graduates (Commission Report, X, 3), it
makes no recommendations on how to
improve these skills. Apparently,
producing skilled technicians and
If we tilt higher education
primarily toward technical
skills acquisition, how will
our students ever learn to
engage the fundamental
questions of life? Edler
scientists for global competition is more
important than producing graduates
who are also informed citizens with
good communication and critical
thinking skills, including the know-
ledges of the humanities disciplines.
The Spellings Commissions
approach is a disquieting reflection of
trends that can be discerned in general
education courses tailored for the
corporate world. Why teach a general
writing course where students may have
to read a variety of essays, short stories,
and editorials as well as learn to master
a variety of forms of writing when we
can teach a writing course tailored to
business practices? Why teach a
general critical reasoning course which
may focus on inductive and deductive
reasoning in a variety of contexts when
we can teach a critical reasoning course
tailored to address corporate problems?
Rather than expanding the students
6
horizons to encompass of a variety of
forms of writing and critical reasoning
applications, the respective
competencies are narrowed down to the
business world as though the only
world of importance is business and
global competition. Yet, how do
students become life-long learners and
engaged citizens if the skills they learn
are always work specific?
When Thoreau took his students out
into nature, what they learned was to
see and hear with different eyes and
ears. They learned to look beyond the
surface of habitual perception to
discover the unique, the singular, and
the unexpected in nature. I would
venture to say that every community
college includes in its values and
mission statements the desire for
students to become life-long learners,
but how do they learn the desire for
wonder, exploration, and discovery as
essential aspects of what it means to be
human? Isnt this same desire at the
root of creativity and scientific inquiry?
And isnt this precisely what
humanities courses engage, that is,
those abilities that mark us as human as
opposed to practices that are done
merely by mechanical repetition?
If we tilt higher education primarily
toward technical skills acquisition, how
will our students ever learn to engage
the fundamental questions of life?
Every student indeed every one of us
must engage the question of how we
ought to live, individually and
collectively, along with the questions,
who am I? and who are we? Isnt it
the hallmark of higher education to
explore the most important answers to
these questions historically,
philosophically, and artistically? And
isnt it the purpose of the humanities to
develop the students ability to think
and feel through these questions, to
explore and articulate creative
See Spellings p. 14
 Spring 2008
Professor Argues that Community Colleges Need
Authentic Undergraduate Research Programs
By Michael McDonough
Monroe Community College (NY)
In the past two decades, the community college has
experienced tremendous growth. By providing affordable,
accessible, and rigorous academic programs, the community
college has come to occupy a significant place in American
higher education. For those of us who teach and administer
programs in the humanities, two issues deserve our immediate
attention: the ever-increasing numbers of diverse, new learners
enrolling in our classes and the urgent need to reassert the
value of a humanities-based education. Id like to propose that
by establishing an authentic undergraduate research program
in the humanities we can address both of these compelling
realities.
Any undergraduate research/creative program shares a
familiar core of essential features. Whether the program is
designed as a capstone experience or embedded throughout
the curriculum and whether the program is administered
within a single academic department or directed by a
humanities-wide alliance of stakeholders, those defining
characteristics remain stable and ever-present. We might
identify those commonalities in the following way: a
collaborative student-faculty relationship; a student-managed
independent research/creative activity; an active learning
environment; an effort to create new knowledge; a public
sharing of results; and an evaluative process that measures
quality. Any undergraduate research program in the
humanities in the community college, then, must address
and promote each of these individual features.
The benefits of independent research or creative activity
are well-documented. These opportunities strengthen
communication skills, develop essential critical and analyt-
ical strategies, nurture an appreciation for diversity, and
promote the integration of knowledge from several discip-
lines. In addition, such an initiative demands applied learning,
champions ethical behaviors, and demonstrates the need for
collaboration. In short, such an opportunity should help to
better shape the student who will succeed in this newer, more
competitive, and globally-oriented world.
I think that most of us were attracted to the humanities
because of its transformative pedagogy. Regardless of our
discipline or departmental affiliation, we all share a pedagogy
in very real and daily ways that embraces active learning,
that delights in interdisciplinary methodologies, and that
ultimately empowers our students. If we are to effectively
educate the next generation of engaged and active citizens,
we must consider the ways in which we can incorporate these
research/creative opportunities into the curriculum. As we
transition from one century to the next and from one model
of teaching and learning to the next, we should make certain
that the humanities occupies a central role in that change.
7
By keeping this opportunity before us, we help to define our
ever-evolving disciplines and to promote our continuing
vitality and relevance.
In an effort to begin this conversation, the Community
College Humanities Review will soon publish my article
Promoting Undergraduate Research and Creative
Opportunities at the Community College. In the article, I try
to offer some practical advice to those faculty and
administrators interested in establishing such a program.
Because the emergence of undergraduate research initiatives
in the 1960s were tied to the sciences, in part as a response to
perceived Soviet advances, the opportunities for under-
graduate research in the humanities have always been more
difficult. It is even more difficult to establish a robust and
meaningful undergraduate research program at the community
college. Indeed, there are many significant obstacles to
overcome in promoting such curricula revision at the
community college.
In some departments, faculty, for a variety of reasons, may
not chose to support such an initiative. Some faculty may
harbor the belief that because of the wide ranging abilities of
students such an initiative remains beyond the grasp of the
majority of these students. In short, some faculty and staff
will argue that community college students are not able to
participate in this kind of activity. Other obstacles include a
lack of institutional support and the lack of adequate resources
to operate such a program. My approach is to imagine a
partnership between key faculty and administrators and to
plot a series of essential tasks: inventory of current practices,
humanities-wide workshop, development of potential
curricular models, strategic planning, and implementation.
Hopefully the article will provoke further discussion and
more comprehensive design and assessment strategies.
As representatives of the diverse disciplines housed in the
humanities, we are in an ideal position to influence curricula
reform. As critical and reflective teachers, we know best how
to prepare students for the ethical and intellectual challenges
of this century. Over 170 years ago, Emerson, in his now
iconic The American Scholar, dismissed the graduating
student-scholar as the parrot of other mens thinking. By
allowing our students the opportunity to participate in such a
research/creative initiative, we begin to rescue them from such
sere remains. Such a program champions the fundamental
values of a humanities curriculum: to integrate knowledge
and information across disciplinary boundaries; to promote
a global perspective; to develop strong communication skills;
to highlight moral and ethical responsibilities; and to
encourage applied learning. These opportunities will only
enhance intellectual development, creating a life-long passion
for learning. CCHA
 Spring 2008
Are Online Textbooks a Viable Alternative?
By Elia Powers
Staff Writer, Insider Higher Ed
Plenty of professors are thinking
about ways of introducing alternatives
to traditional textbooks that they or
their students deem too pricey. Some
are involved in efforts to create
material that is online, free and open
source in design. A new effort
announced Monday aims to help this
movement grow at community
colleges.
As Judy Baker, dean of the distance
learning program at the Foothill-De
Anza Community College District,
sees it, not enough people are focusing
on compiling content tailored to two-
year college students.
We have more economic and racial
diversity than the normal population,
so its even more important for content
to be culturally relevant and
meaningful, Baker said. Its
important for faculty to be able to
localize the information, and because
our students are not always as prepared
for a college-level textbook that comes
from the publishers, we need to
provide supplemental information.
And then theres the issue of cost.
Community college students dont
have a lot of discretionary income, and
were always looking at ways to cut
their expenses, Baker added.
This week, dozens of professors
from colleges across the country are
meeting with representatives from
nonprofit groups and for-profit
companies that are in the digital
textbook market to talk about ways of
developing and promoting online
content.
The first phase of the Community
College Open Textbook Project is
being funded by a one-year, $500,000-
plus grant to the Foothill-De Anza
Community College District from the
William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation.
As part of the project, community
college professors will receive training
on how to find and customize material.
One objective is for participants to
create online textbooks, largely culled
from existing resources, in high-
demand courses such as statistics.
Baker, director of the project, is also
bringing together professors to review
the academic quality of the material,
with the idea of coming away with
peer-reviewed textbooks. These are
faculty members who are part of the
Community College Consortium for
Open Educational Resources, a group
that has met since last summer and
operates a web site for faculty looking
to get information about open access
textbooks.
One of the drawbacks to open
textbooks is that no one has ever
reviewed the material, and in some
cases you dont know if a student can
use the course to transfer to the
university level, said Baker, who
spent more than a decade teaching at a
doctoral granting university.
Part of the project involves
developing a research design to
measure students learning outcomes.
For instance, how do students in the
statistics course using an online
textbook fare when measured against
peers using traditional material?
The goal is for participants to
discuss several models for developing
and producing the material, and by
next year produce a report that outlines
the financial viability of the various
methods.
No one knows at this point what
will work and what wont work,
Baker said.
Bruce Hildebrand, executive director
for higher education at the Association
of American Publishers, said in an
interview earlier this month that he
applauds any faculty member or
group that is willing to make that level
of commitment to provide a free
textbook.
But he said that content creators
need to think about how to keep
information current, offer suppl-
emental educational tools and make
sure that the cost of instruction doesnt
See Textbooks p. 14
8
NHA Presidents Testimony
Argues for Key Increases to
Important NEH Programs
On April 3, Phi Beta Kappa Society
Secretary and National Humanities
Alliance President John Churchill
testified on the proposed fiscal year 2009
budget for the National Endowment for
the Humanities before the US House
Appropriations Subcommittee on
Interior, Environment & Related
Agencies . Speaking on behalf of the
Alliance, Dr. Churchill urged the Sub-
committee to support funding of $177
million for NEH, an increase of $32
million, which would restore NEH
funding to 1994 levels.
As outlined by Churchill, the
President's budget seeks to offset
increases for overhead costs and
Administration priorities with nearly
$7 million in cuts to two of NEH's core
programs, Preservation & Access and
Challenge Grants. The President's FY
2009 Budget would decrease funding for
the Preservation & Access Division by
25% ($4.5 million) from the FY 2008
level. Within Preservation, the
Administration proposes to eliminate an
important grant competition, Stabilizing
Humanities Collections-a program
funded at a level of $3.6 million in FY
2007.
Dr. Churchill also voiced NHA's
opposition to cuts for the NEH
Challenge Grants program, which the
President's FY 2009 Budget would
decrease by 24% ($2.2 million) from the
FY 2008 level. In FY 2009, the agency
plans to decrease both the number
(reduced to 10) and size of challenge
grants, particularly de-emphasizing
endowment grants. Churchill argued that
Endowment building allows institutions
to realize return in perpetuity on an
initial investment, also citing the fact that
historically, NEH Challenge Grants have
leveraged more than $1.5 billion in
nonfederal support. CCHA
The written testimony of the National
Humanities Alliance is available
at: http://www.nhalliance.org/testi-
mony/2008/nehfy2009.pdf.
Spring 2008
Advocacy cont. from p. 1
(From left to right) David A. Berry, executive director, CCHA, Jessica Jones Irons, executive director,
NHA, and Ember Farber, American Museums Assoc., in the Russell Building Rotunda on Advocacy Day.
Clausen cont. from p. 2
teachers in their final years of
secondary school, and to see more
felicitous results through Project Teach
(Teacher Education of Colleges and
High Schools), a Green River College
curriculum designed to hone the skills
of prospective teachers as they earned
their associate degrees.
From 2000-2003, Clausen served as
site director for yet another successful
NEH grant that allowed Green River
Community College to participate in
NEHs Faces of America, an initiative
dedicated to the collection of historic
photographs that capture the diverse
family histories of Americans across
the country. Faces of Green River: A
Photographic History and Competition
(http://www.greenriver.edu/faces/
main.htm) married the resources of
Clausens home institution to another
local cultural center, the White River
Historical Museum, to preserve and
catalogue photographs documenting the
family backgrounds of faculty, staff,
and students throughout the Green
River Community College district. The
project brought together immigrants
and U.S. citizens of many generations;
Washington State residents with family
backgrounds from regions as diverse as
Africa, Scandinavia, China, Korea,
Japan and the Philippines. What
struck me, Clausen told The
Community College Humanist, and
what I came to value most about the
project was the opportunity to learn
more about my colleaguesit helped
bring us closer to the community and to
one another.
Clausens commitment to
disseminating his vision of philosophy,
human rights, and community has also
sustained his involvement with the
CCHA has been a fabulous
opportunity Clausen
Community College Humanities
Association, in which he has been
active since the organizations national
conference in San Francisco in 1983.
The CCHA has been a fabulous
opportunity, Clausen told The
Community College Humanist, offering
conferences with richer and more
diverse presentations than he finds at
the American Philosophical
Association, where Clausen chaired a
committee on the teaching of
philosophy at two-year colleges
between 1985 and 1987. At the
CCHA, its not just philosophy,
Clausen told The Community College
9
gies and fiscal austerity. Two awards
were presented: a formal recognition of
National Humanities Alliance member
Duane Webster, who is retiring; and the
Sidney R. Yates Award for Distin-
guished Public Service to the Human-
ities to Representative Norman D.
Dicks of Washington State. CCHA
Interested in Participating?
If you, or a faculty or
administrative colleague would
be interested in participating in
CCHAs delegation to next years
Humanities Advocacy Day,
please contact Executive
Director David Berry at
berry@essex.edu.
Humanist, its art, music, and good
colleagues! As President for the
Pacific-Western Division and member
of the CCHA Board between 1992-
1996, Clausen can take credit for
several of the CCHAs most successful
conferences, where hes delighted in
making things workworking with
the hotel staff behind the scenes to
make everything run smoothly. The
CCHA, in its turn, has awarded Clausen
several honors that have recognized his
extraordinary contribution, including a
Distinguished Service Award for his
work as Program Chair in 1991, another
for his service as President of the
Pacific-Western Division, in 1996, and
most recently, a Distinguished Regional
Educator Award in 2006.
Although now officially retired,
Clausen continues to serve as an
invaluable member of the Community
College Humanities Association in a
new role as coordinator of the CCHAs
campus liaison program. And, when
not playing the fiddle or enjoying
photography, Clausen continues to
teach as an adjunct professor of philos-
ophy at his beloved Green River Com-
munity College, helping a new gen-
eration of students to think about think-
ing, and discover the big ideas. CCHA
 Spring 2008
Conference and Scholarship Opportunities
British Marshall Scholarship Offers
Study Opportunities in United Kingdom
The British Marshall Scholarship offers full tuition and living
expenses for study at any accredited university within the United
Kingdom. Application is open to American citizens who either
already possess or will possess a four-year degree from an accredited
college or university in the United States before the start of their
award. Prospective applicants must have at least a 3.7 GPA. For
more information visit www.marshallscholarship.org. Anyone
giving serious consideration to applying can also contact Marshall
Scholarship alumnus Lionel Foster at
lionel@urbanitebaltimore.com.
Education Dept. Announces
Teaching American History Grants
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently
announced the award of $114.7 million for 121 new grants under the
Teaching American History Grants program. The grants are being
awarded to school districts in 40 states nationwide.
The Teaching American History grant program is designed to
improve student achievement by enhancing teachers knowledge of
traditional American history through intensive ongoing professional
development in both content and research-based teaching strategies.
Grants fund projects for up to five years, and grantees must partner
with one or more organizations that have extensive knowledge of
American history, including libraries, museums, nonprofit history or
humanities organizations and higher education institutions.
Student Magazine Editors Sought
For New Student-Centered Conference
The 2008 Mid-Atlantic College Student Literary Magazine
Conference proudly announces this exciting, new student-centered
conference for college student magazine editors, student writers,
artists, and faculty advisors. Co-hosted by Community College of
Philadelphia and Ocean County College, this one-day conference
will take place October 3, 2008, at Community College of
Philadelphia .
The conference co-chairs invite proposal abstracts of 250-300
words from students and faculty advisors (group proposals are
limited to 3 people). We will give preference to proposals which
clearly exemplify a student-centered focus, student-faculty
collaborations, and engaging approaches to editing, publishing,
financing, and promoting a student literary magazine, as well as
ways in which student magazines motivate student success, writing
skills, and involvement in the academic experience.
Also being sought are enthusiastic faculty who can provide
workshops in developing and teaching a literary magazine
production course, copyright and legal issues, graphic design and
layout.
Please submit abstract with a title, names of all presenters, email
addresses, name of student literary magazine, and college affiliation.
Indicate student or faculty status, along with brief credentials (i.e.,
Managing Editor or Faculty Advisor) for each presenter.
Deadline for proposals is July 1, 2008.
Abstracts MUST be sent to all four conference co-chairs: Leslye
Friedberg, lfriedberg@ ccp.edu; Dana Lauro, dlauro@ocean.edu; Dr.
10
Michelle Myers, mmyers@ccp.edu; Heidi Sheridan,
hsheridan@ocean.edu.
South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Prepares for Fall Convention in Louisville
The South Atlantic Modern Language Association is seeking
proposals for sessions at its upcoming convention in Louisville,
Kentucky, at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, November 7-9, 2008.
Plenary Speakers include distinguished playwright Romulus
Linneyand and widely published literary critic, poet, and
Hemingway scholar H. R. Stoneback. In addition, Silas House,
Kentucky author and musician, will read from his work and
participate in a session entitled Music and Poetry.
There will also be sessions focusing on Drama and Creative
Writing featuring scholars, writers, poets, and dramatic readings. The
full convention program will be available in August. For more
information on the SMLA convention visit www.samla.gsu.edu.
Professors Seek Proposals for Collection
on Human Rights and Literature
Professors Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg and Alexandra
Schultheis are seeking proposals for two edited collections on human
rights and literature, one focusing on pedagogical and the other on
theoretical approaches. As evidenced by scholarly production, major
conferences, and course offerings, the interdisciplinary pairing of
human rights and literature has gained necessary momentum since
2001. The authors have had initial interest from publishers and are
seeking essays to develop full book proposals for these presses.
If there is a danger that, in Upendra Baxis words, human
rightsis a moral language (like those of social justice, equality,
and redistribution) that is simply exhausted, how might literary
discourses reinvigorate it? Topics might include considerations of
ethics, historicization, genre, critical methodology, and central texts.
Please send a 500-word proposal and c.v. to both editors by May 1,
2008. Specify the volume to which you are submitting; multiple
submissions and general inquiries are also welcome.
Contact: Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg, Associate Professor,
English Babson College (egoldberg@babson.edu); Alexandra
Schultheis, Assistant Professor, English, The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro (tanagerlodge@yahoo.com).
A Room of Her Own Foundation
Offers $50,000 Grant to Women Writers
A Room Of Her Own Foundation is dedicated to helping women
artists achieve the privacy and financial support necessary to pursue
their art. Toward this end, the foundation annually provides an award
of $50,000 to a woman writer.
The foundation's 2009 Literary Gift of Freedom Award will be
given to an American woman writer who is a U.S. citizen and will be
living in the U.S. during the grant period.
Acceptable genres for this grant are poetry, playwriting, creative
nonfiction, and fiction.
Visit the foundation's Web site for complete program guidelines:
http://www.aroomofherown.org/
giftfreedom_application.php. (Please note: The program requires an
application fee.)
Spring 2008
NEH News
Newly Created NEH Office of Digital Humanities
Announces Recent Grant Recipients
On March 26, 2008, the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) newly created Office of Digital Humanities
announced the first JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization
Collaboration Grant award recipients on behalf of the NEH and the
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). A total of five
projects received over $600,000 in funding.
Inaugurated last year as part of the Endowments Digital
Humanities Initiative, the JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization
Collaboration Grant program is supported by both the NEH and the
Higher Education Funding Council for England acting through the
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). These grants provide
combined funding of up to $240,000 for one year of development
in the following areas: new digitization projects and pilot projects,
the addition of important materials to existing digitization projects,
or the development of infrastructure (either technical
middleware, tools, or knowledge-sharing) to support U.S.-
England digitization work. Each project is sponsored by both an
American and an English institution, whose activities will be
funded by NEH and JISC respectively.
The formation of the Endowments Office of Digital Humanities
(ODH) also was announced during the event. In 2006, the NEH
launched the Digital Humanities Initiative, a program encouraging
and supporting projects that utilize or study the impact of digital
technology on research, education, preservation, and public
programming in the humanities. With the creation of ODH, the
initiative is being made permanent as an office within the NEH.
ODH will continue the work of the initiative and will help to
coordinate the Endowments efforts in the area of digital
scholarship.
NEH Facing Slight Funding Decrease for FY2009
The administration's budget proposal calls for $144.4 million in
FY 2009 funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH), a slight decrease ($352,000) over the previous year. A
clear priority within the budget is expansion of the agency's 'We the
People' program, which would receive a $5 million
increase. During 2008, the agency will celebrate the five-year
anniversary of the programstarted in 2002 to encourage study of
American history and culture. The budget suggests that a
significant portion of the increase for 'We the People' will support
full implementation of the agency's new special initiative, Picturing
America (a program launched by the NEH in 2007 to distribute sets
of posters and course materials on American art to libraries and
schools across the country).
Within the budget, program funds are cut by approximately $1.7
million, largely to offset administrative increases. The
administrative offset is taken from two core program divisions,
Preservation & Access, and Challenge Grants. These two line
items are further decreased by an additional $5.1 million, for a total
(combined) decrease in funding of approximately $6.8
million. The Research, Education, and Public Program divisions
would receive the same level of funding as enacted in FY 2008.
11
The Federal/State Partnership, a vehicle within NEH for
distributing formula-based grants to the 56 state humanities
councils, would also receive level funding under the president's
budget proposal.
NEH Unveils Picturing America Program
On February 26, at White House ceremony presided over by
President George W. Bush, the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) launched its new Picturing America program.
Picturing America is composed of forty works of art spanning
several centuriesall by American painters, sculptors,
photographers, and architects. The NEH will distribute large, high-
quality reproductions of these images, along with a teachers
resource book, lesson plans, and materials, to schools and libraries
nationwide. A Picturing America website was also unveiled.
Public, private, parochial, and charter and home school consortia
(K-12), as well as public libraries in the United States and its
territories, are eligible to receive Picturing America materials.
Interested schools and public libraries can apply through the NEH,
with an application deadline of April 15, 2008, for receipt of
materials in the fall. Detailed instructions for submitting an
application can be found in the Apply Now section of the
Picturing America Web site.
New Members Join NEH Council on the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced
this week that six new members have joined the National Council
on the Humanities, the Endowments 26-member advisory council.
The new members were nominated by President George W. Bush
and confirmed by the U.S. Senate earlier this year. The National
Council on the Humanities convened this week for its quarterly
meeting to review grant applications and to advise the NEH
Chairman Bruce Cole.
National Council members serve staggered six-year terms.
Departing the Council are Jewel Spears Brooker, Dario Fernandez-
Morera, Larry Okamura, and Stephan Thernstrom.
The following six new council members begin terms that will
expire on January 26, 2014: Professor Jamsheed K. Choksy
(Greenwood, Ind.); Adjunct Professor Dawn Ho Delbanco (New
York, N.Y.); Professor Emeritus Gary D. Glenn (DeKalb, Ill.);
Professor David Michael Hertz (Bloomington, Ind.); Professor
Marvin B. Scott (Indianapolis, Ind.); and Professor Carol M. Swain
(Nashville, Tenn.).
NEH Convenes 2008 Conference
The National Humanities Alliances 2008 Conference was held
March 3-4, 2008 in Washington, DC.
Dr. Charles Vest, President of the National Academy of
Engineering and President Emeritus of MIT, spoke to a crowd of
over 100 participants at a luncheon co-sponsored by The George
Washington Universitys Columbian College of Arts & Sciences
and the Office of the Chief Research Officer.
At the conclusion of the afternoons policy briefings and
advocacy training, attendees enjoyed an evening reception and
address by Professor Anthony Grafton of Princeton University
entitled, Into Thin Air: Libraries & Archives in a New Age.
 Spring 2008
Lesson Plan for an online class assignment in the Survey of Art History: Renaissance to
By Ann Marie Malloy
Tulsa Community College (OK)
Introduction
Because of a promise made to her
dying grandmother, Mary agreed to join
the Daughters of the Republic of Texas
in 1986 when she was a 22 year old
college student. To do this she had to
research her family history in order to
prove that her ancestors were
landowners in the Texas Republic
before statehood. With the help of the
DRT, she was able to identify five
ancestors in her fathers family who
met the criteria, tracing the earliest back
to the third round of settlers to come
with Steve Austin to the San Antonio
area. Among these ancestors of
European descent were settlers who
fought in the battle of San Jacinto for
Texas independence. The DRT was
very helpful and delighted to have a
member who was so young. But when
Mary asked for help in researching her
mothers family members who were
Mexicans living in Texas as far back as
anyone could remember, the Daughters
were less helpful saying that she had
provided all the information she needed
for membership and that the Mexican
side of her family probably consisted of
very poor peasants barely surviving in
the harsh climate of Texas when it was
a province of Mexico. They declared
that the Mexicans certainly would not
have been able to read and write in
English, so their history would be
difficult, if not impossible, to discover.
Mary was not satisfied to dismiss half
her family heritage so easily and
wanted to understand the story of her
matrilineal Texas ancestors. As the
Daughters had predicted, however, she
found very little. Mary also knew that
she would not be able to document
anything specific about her Apache
heritage since they too kept no written
records. What she did discover was
how the native Mexicans and Apaches
were treated in the 1800s when settlers
from the U.S came to colonize Texas.
The Apaches were driven south when
they resisted the settlers. The Tejanos
were torn between loyalty to Mexico
and the Texas settlers who brought
opportunities to the region.
After hearing Marys story, I traveled
to the Alamo as an NEH fellow and
participant in the CCHA sponsored
workshop Remembering the Alamo. I
interviewed the first DRT member I
met. Her name was Annie Burney, and
she was manning the information desk
on a very busy Sunday in the Alamo
mission church. She told me she had
been a proud member of the Daughters
for 31 years. When I told her Marys
story, she pulled out a book published
by the DRT in 1986 and turned to pages
10-12 where she showed me three
paragraphs on Veramendi, Seguin,
Ruiz, and Navarro. She then invited me
to view the exhibits in the Long
Barrack Museum saying, Look at how
it was then and how it is now. I found
that the story of the Mexican
involvement in the history of Texas has
become a focus of research, especially
in the last eleven years.
Annie pointed out, Documentation
has been developed over 100 years.
She commented that the Alamo is a
reflection of cultural values through
time and that each subsequent reading
of history shows what was important in
the various periods of the Alamos
story. When I asked her about the DRT
membership, she told me there were
approximately 6,700 members
currently. She said, We have Indian
and African-American members. These
have increased since the 1960s. Tejana
women have always been members
since one of the two founding members
of the DRT in 1891 was Tejana. But
as young Mary discovered in her
research about her Tejano ancestors:
Tejanos, who comprised virtually all the
people of this broad region, would
12
Teaching
of American History and
suffer loss of their possessions,
livelihood, and liberty so that the
Revolution might be furthered.Most
who remained and suffered from this
forced evacuation had been loyal to the
Texas Revolution. (Paul Lack in The
Texas Revolutionary Experience: A
Lack argued that the Tejanos were
despoiled by the revolutionary army so
they would not be able to collude with
the Mexican enemy. Even though
caught in the middle of political and
social forces that challenged their sense
of self, many Mexican Texans fought
with and brought needed skills to the
rebel army.
How history is presented can impact
student identity in profound ways, and
because each of the renderings over the
decades is a reflection of the cultural
history of its time, it is important to
consider how we story ourselves into
existence. The recent focus on the
Mexican legacy in the history of Texas
does help form the identities of Tejano
students today because the authoring of
oneself through story provides a place
for understanding the relationship
between self and culture ( Petra Munro
in Subject to Fiction, Open University
Press, 1998, p. 5). Understanding the
history of Texas may not only influence
the development of identity in our
students, but may also affect our
national identity as a whole as we re-
member ourselves throughout time.
Thus, an exercise on the realities behind
the myths of the American frontier, and
the Alamo in particular, is an excellent
way for my online art history students
to learn important lessons about
themselves, art, and history.
The Realities Behind the Myths of the
Alamo as Depicted in Art History
The more we study the Alamo, the
more complicated the story becomes.
The heroic, patriotic fight for freedom
is not as clear-cut as that portrayed in
 Spring 2008
the Alamo
Modern for the CCHA Sponsored NEH workshop, Remembering the Alamo: Landmarks
Culture, June 24-30, 2007
U.S. visual art, pop culture, and movies.
As Paul Andrew Hutton wrote, There
have always been two Alamos the
Alamo of historical fact and the Alamo
of our collective imagination mo of
our collective imagination
(Schoelwer & Glaser, eds. Alamo
Images: Changing Perceptions of a
Texas Experience, Dallas: DeGolyer
Library and Southern Methodist
University Press, 1985, p. 3).
Before 1836, Texas was part of
Mexico. The Mexican government
allowed settlers to come from the
United States as long as they were
willing to live as Mexican citizens
under Mexican law. When the Texans
began rebelling, Santa Anna, who was
the president of Mexico and leader of
the army, called them pirates, and
marched to quell their uprisings. Santa
Anna was successful at the Alamo but
was later defeated at the battle of San
Jacinto. The battle of San Jacinto gave
birth to the independent Republic of
Texas. Nine years later, Texas became
part of the United States of America.
So, the U.S. sees the story from one
perspective, the Mexicans from another.
It is important to challenge the
students to operate within the
frameworks of history. In order to
better identify the obstacles to student
learning, the history professors at
Indiana University identified the
bottlenecks to historical thinking
(Middendorf, Pace, Shopkow & Diaz,
The National Teaching and Learning
Forum, February, 2007). I found their
list of challenges to be very appropriate
to the discipline of art history and
relevant to the issues surrounding the
Alamo as well:
1. Misunderstanding the role of facts:
Students fail to recognize that history is not
about an accumulation of facts but about
interpreting sources to explain and seek
answers to problems in the past because
they influence how we think about
ourselves in the present and while building
our future. In the case of the Alamo, facts
need to be interpreted from many viewpoints:
the Texans who came from the U.S, the
Mexicans living in Texas, the U.S.
government, and the Mexican government.
2. Interpreting primary sources as the main
methodological task in history: This
involves posing questions common to all
and distinctive to each about the nature, the
origin, and the intended audience for the
source (Middendorf, p. 2). This is
especially important when evaluating art
because the patronage and intended audience
are behind the creative process.
Maintaining appropriate emotional distance:
Some issues (like the Alamo) are very
emotionally charged. Texans are particularly
attached to the myths that helped create their
state.
3. Understanding the limits of knowledge
of historical actors: Because students often
impose hindsight onto people in the past, it is
important to remind them of the difference
between what we know now and what they
knew then. The Alamo is an excellent
example because we all want to know why
those at the Alamo stayed when they were so
outnumbered. How much did they know
about their situation?
4. Identifying the people in another time
and place: This involves considering the
assumptions, perceptions, and experiences of
the people in earlier eras. The Daughters of
the Republic of Texas are a great example of
how people have remembered the Alamo
during past decades. The DRT was charged
by the state of Texas with maintaining a
shrine. It is interesting to consider how
this has impacted the historical research at
the mission fort.
5. Constructing and evaluating arguments:
the key question is How does an argument
from the evidence? For example, after
considering the evidence, should the Battle
of the Alamo have been fought at all?
Learning Activity:
In this online class in art history, the
students consider art as evidence. The
13
visual arts reflect history and create it.
Therefore, each student will seek out an
appropriate work of art, describe it,
analyze it, and evaluate its role in
history.
Assignment:
In order to pry open the realities behind
the myths of the American frontier
experience, please choose a work of art
relating to the Alamo and write about it
in the following way:
Analyze and describe one work of
visual art including the following:
What do you see? (medium, line, color,
lighting, size, scale, and other
compositional elements)
What do you know? (artist, date,
nationality, historical background,
patronage, intended audience, etc.)
What is the function of the artwork?
(historical, mythical, realistic,
illustrative, expressionistic, abstract,
etc.)
How does the form serve the function?
(the relationship between how it is
made and why it is made)
What is the relationship between the
perception/expression of the artwork
and the historical realities of the
Alamo?
Helpful External Links posted in the
Blackboard learning architecture:
Alamo Images, Changing Percep-
tions of Texas Experience, a project of
the Texas Council for the Humanities,
is very helpful in finding images to
explore and analyze: http://www.human
-ities-interactive.org/texas/alamo/
index.html. One image that is particul-
arly helpful is the Fall of the Alamo by
See Alamo p. 15
 Spring 2008
Textbooks cont. from p. 8
rise with the use of the online material. students with alternative textbooks is
Last summer, Foothill-De Anzas acceptable. CCHA
Board of Trustees adopted a resolution
supporting the use of online, open
Republished with permission from the
source textbooks. Baker said that means author. This article was originally published
that if youre a professor going up for in the April 29th online edition of Inside
Higher Ed.
tenure, colleagues who are evaluating
you will understand that providing
Spellings cont. from p. 6
alternatives to past responses, and to project new possibilities
for the future? Only in this context does work itself become
meaningful.
Stanley Fishs recent columns in the New York Times have
disputed this view of the humanities, arguing, in Will the
Humanities Save Us? that the activities that take place in
humanities courses are not instrumental to some larger good.
The humanities are their own good (New York Times, January
6, 2008). The problem with Fishs claim is that it is dependent
on a definition that reduces all humanities courses to courses
in philology. According to Fish, a humanist is someone
employed in a college to teach literary, philosophical, and
historical texts (Uses of the Humanities, Part Two, New
York Times, January 13, 2008). While textual exegesis is
certainly an important aspect of any good humanities course,
especially upper-level humanities courses, Fishs definition of
academic humanities courses is far too narrow. Humanities
courses are not just about textual explication. In an
introductory critical reasoning course, the subject matter is
critical reasoning, not the explication of Aristotles texts on
categorical logic. Students learn what an argument is, how to
identify unstated premises, and, most importantly, how to
evaluate deductive and inductive arguments. In the critical
reasoning courses I teach, students must identify the argument
structure of newspaper editorials from a wide variety of
subjects and evaluate those arguments. This is a skill they take
with them beyond the classroom, one that will serve them well
not only in other classes but also in their professional fields as
well as in their service to the community. However compelling
Fishs notion of the importance of analyzing and interpreting
primary sources in literature, philosophy, and history might be,
humanities courses contribute far more than this to a students
education. The humanities provide essential training in
reading, writing, public speaking, and critical thinking. The
humanities are a crucial means to developing an informed
citizenry who can think and communicate well. They enable
students to move past the limitations that painful pasts or poor
preparation may have imposed upon them. They enable
colleges to become places where more than mere technical
skills are mastered; teaching the humanities transforms
colleges into sites for humanizing growth.
If you want to graduate students who arent just practitioners
but who are also reflective practitioners, then make your
colleges places of humanizing growth. It is not necessary to
14
What do you think?
What are the pros and cons of using online
textbooks, for both students and instructors?
Voice your opinion in the next issue of
The Community College Humanist. Send
reaction pieces of 400-700 words to the
editors: Jacob Agatucci, jagatucci@cocc.edu;
Emily Tai, ETai@qcc.cuny.edu
wait for the next commission on higher education. There are
many ways to get started now: if a college has a low number
of general education credit requirements, increase the required
number of writing, critical thinking, reading, or public
speaking courses. Ethics can be connected to technical skills.
Capstone courses can become interdisciplinary. Indeed, the
concept of work can be developed into a core course that
explores the concept of work in history, in philosophy and
through literature.
In its push to emphasize higher education merely as
technical skills acquisition, the Spellings commission report
took yet another step in the trend toward disconnecting
training from education and skills from fully human decision-
making. Yet history is full of nations and societiessuch as
Nazi Germanythat lost their way as they came to value
efficiency divorced from its human context. The more one
disconnects the efficiency of technical skills from the larger
context of being human, the more one contributes to an
inhuman world.
The terminology of the report leaves no doubt that for the
Commission the most important dimension of value in higher
education is the marketplace. New knowledge is important
only insofar as it contributes to American competitiveness in
the global market, that is, the knowledge economy. Yet I have
argued that this view of higher education can be faulted as too
reductive and one-dimensional. Economic values and
economic vitality, clearly, are determinants in shaping higher
education. There are other values, however, that are just as
important if not more so, and these cannot be reduced simply
to forms of intellectual capital in the service of a global
economy. The idea of freedom, for example, would suffer a
considerable loss of meaning if it were to be reduced to
liberty-capital and only that. On the other hand, the
humanities or liberal arts cannot be taught in a vacuum. Only
by relating the humanities or liberal arts fully to the
transformations occurring in our world do they achieve their
true and relevant meaning. Thus, the dilemma that higher
education must choose between the humanities or liberal arts
on the one hand and market fundamentalism on the other is a
false dilemma. It is not a question of either-or but a question
of both-and. The task that a future commission on higher
education must solve is how to achieve a vision of higher
education that combines the humanities, sciences, and
technology in such a way that it strengthens all of them. CCHA
Spring 2008 15

CCHA Renewal Time?

With Division Conferences Fast Approaching,
Its a Good Time to Make Sure Individual and Institutional Membership are Up to Date

CCHA Individual and Institutional Membership Forms

(also available online at http://www.ccha-assoc.org/members/members.html)
 Spring 2008
Alamo cont. from p. 13
Robert Onderdonk, 1903, available
courtesy of the Friends of the
Governors Mansion, Austin, Texas.
To Whom Was This Sacrifice
Useful? The Texas Revolution and the
Narrative of Jose Enrique de la Pena:
http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/
Pena/pena.html
Texas, Texans and the Alamo, The
Peace cont. from p. 3
before did I get it so quickly. The
reason why the workshop was so
effective is because of the professor
who led the group. Neela lived these
ideas through her own practice and
therefore was able to solicit the
experience within me. This gives me
food for thought with regard to my own
teaching.
My experience did not end there
although that would have been worth
the price of admission. My colleague
sitting next to me witnessed my crying.
She and I know each other from another
Center for American History: http://
www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/Texas
Exhibit/Texas1.html
The Texas Historic Sites Atlas,
featuring nearly 300,000 site records,
including data on Official Texas
Historical Markers and National
Register of Historic Places properties in
Texas: http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/
campus group. She told me that her
impression of me is that I am angry but
right underneath the anger is sadness. I
thought that I am so transparent to those
who know me tangentially yet I am
blind to myself. What a gift she gave
me. I joked that I am ready for my next
therapy session, yoga-inspired poetry.
Pramila had the participants sit in a
circle, burned a candle, and had music
playing. We did two writing pieces and
read our pieces to each other. The
writing produced by the women was
stunningly beautiful and honest. I felt
Community College
Humanities Association
Essex County College
303 University Ave.
Newark, NJ 07102
16
History of the American West,
including information on The Alamo:
http://www.americanwest.com/pages/
alamo.htm
Of course, the students are welcome
to use other research mediums (e.g.,
books, museum art, etc.) in their
research. CCHA
that once again because we were
directed by someone who practices
what she preached the group was lead
to create something for ourselves. In
short, a community was created through
the speech of the participants.
I left school that day different from
how I arrived. I was tired but I also felt
part of a community at school. I feel
this way everyday in the classroom but
it was one of the first times I exper-
ienced it with colleagues. I was in a
new place. CCHA
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