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Summer Institute for Teachers

Interlocking OU, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History, The University of Oklahoma website wordmark.

Summer Institute for Teachers on Oklahoma History

Application Deadline for Summer 2025 is April 28, 2025.

The Department of History at the University of Oklahoma is pleased to announce the 2025 Summer Institute for Teachers on Oklahoma History. Funded through the generous estate of an endeared member of the history teaching profession in the state, the Summer Institute is for high school teachers of Oklahoma History on how they can change/improve/add to what they teach, and how teachers and students can look critically at the state’s history and how it has been interpreted. Concepts will include new and innovative ways to teach about Oklahoma’s:

  • geography and environmental history
  • Native American past and present-day experiences
  • history of newcomer settlers
  • history of natural resources (coal, oil, natural gas, agriculture)
  • history of race and the Civil Rights movement
  • 20th-century urban history
  • diverse popular culture history

Emphasis will be on promoting the use of oral history and primary research in the classroom. Participants will get hands-on experience using OU’s exceptional resources and others around the region. 

The Institute will be for 4 days of instruction with 4 nights of lodging provided on campus. (Participants from Norman or the OKC metro area usually choose to stay at home and commute.) It will include a field trip and several guest speakers. It is designed to be for a select group of 15 teachers, each of whom will all have all lodging, meals, and expenses (excluding their own transportation to and from Norman) paid. In addition, each participant will receive a stipend of $225.00 per day ($900 total) for their time to attend the Institute. Admission will be based on the following criteria (but if not admitted one year, it is certainly encouraged to apply another):

  • Geographical mix from around the state
  • Mixed variety of teaching experiences
  • A 500- to 700-word essay explaining how participants could benefit from the Summer Institute. Your letter should also address how you might use what you learned at the Institute to benefit your school or community.

Click below for application information and form. Application deadline is April 28, 2025

A line of teepees in black and white.
A carriage being pulled by four mules, in black and white.
Four Indigenous men shooting bows up into the sky, in black and white.
A tornado moving across an open field in black and white.
A tractor in a field in black and white.
Two Indigenous people on horses in ceremonial clothing, in black and white.

Institute Director

The director of the Summer Institute is Dr. Jennifer Holland of the O.U. Department of History. Dr. Holland came to Norman with graduate degrees from Utah State University and the University of Wisconsin. At OU, her responsibilities include teaching the History of Oklahoma course (mainly to future teachers) as well as undergraduate and graduate courses in histories of the American West; gender, sexuality and race; and 20th century America. The daughter of teachers and a product of pulic schools, Dr. Holland is excited to help Oklahoma teachers enhance the classroom experience.

Photos provided by the Western History Collections at the University of Oklahoma.

A oil well spewing oil into the air in black and white.
A man riding a bucking bronco in black and white.
A windmill surrounded by animals in black and white.
A tornado with a tree in the foreground in black and white.
A line of horse-drawn wagons in black and white.
A man standing in a field during the dust bowl in black and white.
Department of History
Dale Hall Tower
455 West Lindsey Street, Room 403A
Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2004
Phone: (405) 325-6002
Fax: (405) 325-4503

Updated 3/31/2025 by Department of History: history@ou.edu