Recognized for their educational accomplishments at Stetson University, American studies and history professor Emily Mieras, Ph.D. (pictured left), and sociology and anthropology professor Kimberly FlintHamilton, Ph.D. (pictured below, right), have been chosen to participate in select seminars this summer hosted by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

For several weeks this month, the CIC will host two seminars on keeping historical topics including the post-Civil War period and Classical Greek literature alive in classrooms. As the faculty members selected for this honor are nominated by the chief academic officer of the nominee’s institution, both Mieras and FlintHamilton were nominated for this prestigious honor by Stetson provost and vice president for academic affairs Beth Paul.

From a pool of 55 faculty members nominated, the CIC and the Gilder Lehrman Institute selected Mieras as one of 27 faculty members to participate in “The Gilded Age” seminar to be held at Stanford University in California. Participants will exchange ideas with seminar director Richard White, a Pulitzer Prize finalist historian specializing in the history of the American West, environmental history, and Native American history.

The seminar will examine the era in American history from post-Civil War up until the 20^th century and explore the larger problem of how to teach an era of the past “that has so many parallels to contemporary times,” according to the brochure for the American history seminar.

A scholar of American history, Mieras specializes in progressive era history and historical issues concerning consumerism, race and ethnicity in American culture, gender and social reform.

FlintHamilton, winner of the 2013 Hague Award, which honors the faculty member most admired as a teacher, mentor, scholar and campus leader, will participate in a seminar on The Illiad, co-sponsored by The Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. A specialist in Greek archaeology, she is one of only 20 faculty members selected to participate from the 52 nominations which the CIC received.

The Illiad seminar will focus on rejuvenating undergraduate education on classical Greek literature such as The Iliad, Odyssey, Homeric Hymns, poetry of Hesiod, and Histories of Herodotus. It will be led by Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones, professor of Classical Greek literature, and professor of comparative literature at Harvard University, and Kenneth Scott Morrell, associate professor and chair of Greek and Roman studies at Rhodes College.

Discussion groups, lecturers and study sessions will assist participating full-time faculty members in integrating these historical subjects in their undergraduate college curriculum.

The CIC is a national service organization dedicated to small and mid-sized independent liberal arts colleges and universities in the United States. Workshops, seminars, and educational programs provide assistance to improving institutional offerings on both the academic and financial level.

The CIC promotes and listens to independent college institutions in order to improve the quality of higher education.

by Maurie Murray