NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

3/10/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES ­The Northwestern State University Creole Heritage Center (CHC) has received a grant for a Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Teacher Institute for Advanced Study to be held June 6-30 on NSU's Natchitoches campus.

The Institute is titled "Creoles Across the Curriculum" and will focus on integrating the study of humanities aspects of the Creole culture into the classroom. The aspect of the Louisiana Creole culture that this Institute focuses on is sometimes referred to as gens de couleur libre: a multi-cultural mix between French and Spanish settlers, Africans, American Indians, and others, on the Louisiana colonial frontier.

The target participants are third through 12th grade teachers and will cover literature, fine arts, history, cultural geography, social studies, vernacular architecture and folklore. The main goals of this Institute are to further teachers' knowledge of Creoles of Louisiana, show them how to incorporate that knowledge into existing curriculum, and to create grade level focused lesson plans and projects that can be used by the participants in their own classrooms.

The Institute will be directed by Dayna Lee of the Regional Folklife Program and coordinated by Michelle Pichon of the Creole Heritage Center staff. The full brochure and application for the Institute can be accessed through the Creole Center website at www.nsula.edu/creole. The deadline to apply is April 18.

This program is funded under grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (the local affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities) and the State of Louisiana.

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