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August 16, 2010

CSU Dominguez Hills, Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum Receive National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

(Carson, CA) – The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded California State University, Dominguez Hills and Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum a $171,788 grant through its Landmarks of American History and Culture program to offer two weeklong professional development workshops next summer for high school teachers across the country. The proposal also received a “We the People” designation for its “efforts to strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture,” according to an NEH press release.

Professors from CSU Dominguez Hills, along with staff in the university’s Service Learning, Internships and Civic Engagement (SLICE) and Archives and Special Collections offices will partner with Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum to conduct a multiple-disciplined, experiential learning program that explores the history of the Dominguez family from colonial days to the 1920s. Workshop participants will attend lectures, visit historic sites like the Rancho San Pedro, Mission San Gabriel and Olvera Street, and work with artifacts and original documents, all of which will help them gain a deeper understanding of the different cultures that shaped America and further enrich their classroom teaching.

“Family history is the framework, and that opened opportunities to examine a number of issues that are essential to understanding the development of not just California’s, but the nation’s history,” said Laura Talamante, assistant professor of history at CSU Dominguez Hills and project co-director. “It’s an excellent opportunity to showcase what we have here in Carson, at CSU Dominguez Hills and the rancho.”

“As the home of the family who helped shape L.A. and southern California, the rancho is a physical representation of history,” said Dominguez Rancho executive director and project co-director Alison Bruesehoff. “Getting a chance to work with actual objects that go back hundreds of years is a rare experience, and the museum is excited to partner with the university to provide such an experiential learning opportunity for teachers.”

Each week-long session will be open to a maximum of 40 teachers from across the country. Notices about the workshops and how to apply will be sent to schools and through various education venues beginning in early spring 2011. The selected teachers will receive a stipend for travel expenses.

The grant was one of 201 grants totally $31.5 million that NEH awarded to humanities projects nationwide. For details, visit www.neh.gov/news/archive/20100810.html.

For more information about the CSUDH/Dominguez Rancho “American History Through the Eyes of a California Family 1780s to 1920s” project, call project coordinator Cheryl McKnight, director of SLICE, at (310) 243-2438.

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Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum -- The mission of the Friends of Rancho San Pedro is to preserve and increase community awareness of early California history as it relates to the Dominguez family, homestead adobe and the Rancho San Pedro, the first Spanish land grant in California. This is accomplished through educational programs and the operation of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum.

About CSU Dominguez Hills -- California State University, Dominguez Hills is a highly diverse, urban university located in the South Bay, primarily serving the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The university prides itself on its outstanding faculty and friendly, student-centered environment. Known for excellence in teacher education, nursing, psychology, business administration, and digital media arts, new degree programs include computer science, criminal justice, recreation and leisure studies, social work, and communication disorders. On campus is the Home Depot Center, a multi-purpose sports complex that hosts world-class soccer, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, and cycling.

Media Contact:
Amy Bentley-Smith
(310)243-2455
abentleysmith@csudh.edu

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