A $48,143 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities has been given to NIU to support a summer seminar for elementary and secondary school teachers.

The seminar will run from July 10 to Aug. 11 and will be taught by Sylvia Huot, assistant professor of French and a specialist in medieval French literature.

The seminar is titled “Women in the Middle Ages: Literary and Historical Perspectives” and will examine literary and historical portrayals of women in the Middle Ages, formulated by both male and female writers.

Huot said the seminar is primarily designed for full- or part-time teachers at public, private or parochial schools who teach seventh through 12th grades. However, all school personnel who instruct kindergarten through high school are eligible to apply.

“This is an exciting opportunity for me to teach a subject I have a great interest in, as well as a chance for teachers from different parts of the country that probably would never otherwise have met to interact and exchange ideas,” she said.

Will the seminar help NIU to gain national recognition? “The NEH will visit the campus during the summer to see how the seminar is going, and this helps to increase national visibility,” she said.

The seminar is limited to 15 participants and is open to nationwide competition. No special background is required, but applicants must be U.S. residents, native residents of the United States, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States for at least three years.

“One of the applications to join the seminar came from London, so one could assume that NIU even has a limited amount of international visibility,” Huot said.

Teachers selected to participate in the program will receive a stipend of $2,000 to $2,750 depending on the length of the seminar.

The stipends are designed to cover the costs of books, as well as traveling, living and research expenses. The seminar will take place for five weeks and meet four mornings each week for about three hours.

Deborah Booth, coordinator of continuing education, said the grant is the first time that anyone from NIU has ever received this type of award. Also, the Endowment for the Humanities covers over 60 seminars on a variety of texts in the Humanities field.

“The seminar gives instructors an opportunity to work under the direction of a distinguished teacher and active scholar in the field of the seminar,” Booth said. “This event can also serve as a way to nationally inspire teachers about their jobs, as well as a way for teachers to avoid burn out.”

Official application forms for the seminar will be available from the National Endowment for Humanities. The application deadline is March 1, 1989.