For more than a decade the Chicago Humanities Festival’s (CHF) Education Programs Department has presented a free Summer Institute for Teachers (SIT); each year teachers investigate a component of the Humanities in association with American popular culture. The 2007 SIT invites teachers to examine and experience both the connection between humans and nature, and also between the environment and modern American culture.

This year, the SIT will be moderated by Dr. Ann M. Roberts, Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Art at Lake Forest College. Professor Roberts specializes in Renaissance art, the art of Northern Europe and Italy, and Women in Art; she has also recently taught a course -- “Sight/Site/Insight: The Art of the Land” – on place, space, and visual culture." Professor Roberts will be joined by a slate of academic and artistic scholars and presenters who will gather with teachers to investigate the meaning of landscape, how we define it as Americans, and how we can chart our realities through multiple disciplines.

The Climate of Concern encompasses issues that today’s students will be required to confront; the SIT will allow educators to explore such complex inquiries, helping them map their own experiences of environment through Literature, Science, Culture, the Arts, History, and more. Educators discover ways to accommodate unit and lesson plans for students by addressing multiple intelligences.

Along with panels, presentations, forum discussions, and hands-on demonstrations, You Are Here: Mapping the American Landscape will have a Curriculum Developer on hand to help teachers adapt the SIT’s content to their curricula. In addition, you can earn up to 15 Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs); the SIT is also applying to offer Lane Credit to participants.

Registration information

To register for the 2007 Summer Institute for Teachers you may:
Request a form by email:
Register by phone: