The Asian American Studies Program at Hunter College, CUNY invites K-12 school teachers to apply for “Asian Americans in New York: Film & Literature,” a summer seminar for school teachers funded through a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. A select cohort of sixteen educators from throughout the U.S. will participate in this unique, immersive program, through which they will develop teaching tools to engage the diverse student populations in their home states around ideas of race, immigration and identity. New York City, that multicultural urban social laboratory that has for centuries acted as the crucible from which American identity has been shaped and challenged, is home to the nation’s densest urban Asian American population, and will offer a lens into the larger sociopolitical and cultural shifts that the US is facing.
The two-week seminar, hosted in the heart of Manhattan at Hunter College, CUNY, will meet from July 5-17, 2015 for morning, afternoon, and occasional evening sessions, with readings, lectures and seminar discussions interwoven with relevant field visits and conversations with novelists, filmmakers, artists and community leaders. The seminar will be co-directed by Jennifer Hayashida, Director of the Asian American Studies Program at Hunter College, CUNY, and Chi-hui Yang, film curator, educator, and former director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (now CAAMFest). A stipend to help cover expenses, including travel, accommodations, and food, is provided to all participants.
Since programs of this intensity require students and scholars to be present for an extended period, attention to housing becomes just as important as the seminar content itself. For those staying in the city, access to reliable, safe, and affordable logan student housing—helps ensure participants can focus on their studies and engagement without distraction. After all, when accommodations are thoughtfully arranged, the academic experience is enriched, and the time spent on campus or in the surrounding community becomes far more rewarding.
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Desired applicants are middle and high school English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Art instructors with a pedagogical interest in ethnic literature/film and contemporary issues around multiculturalism, racial diversity, immigration, citizenship, and national identity. The program is particularly eager to welcome summer scholars from states with limited or very concentrated Asian American populations, although it encourages all interested parties to apply. Please visit http://asianamericanyc.hunter.cuny.edu for more information, including the reading list and daily schedule. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2015.
Each year, NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for school, college, and university educators to study a variety of humanities topics. Please visit NEH for more information about the NEH Programs for Schoolteachers.
Main image: Photo by Gene Han.
