“True Learning, True Teaching” seminar provides Illinois k-12 teachers with opportunity for intellectual renewal

CHICAGO – The Conference Center at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein will host one of the Illinois Humanities Council’s (IHC) free seminars for teachers from July 11-16. The seminar, “Cosmology and Humanity: How Astronomical Theories Have Shaped Views of Human Nature,” is part of the IHC’s yearly “True Learning, True Teaching” seminars. This seminar is presented in partnership with the Boeing Company.

This seminar, led by Dennis Temple, Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Roosevelt University, will bridge the gap between the sciences and the humanities by exploring various explanations for the structure of the universe and how human nature is often seen to relate to these descriptions of the universe. Teachers participating in this seminar will learn the history of various cosmologies then will read literature derived from each of them, including works by Plato, Dante, Descartes and Tom Stoppard.

Twelve teachers have been selected to attend this all-expenses paid seminar. The IHC will provide tuition, lodging, meals and program materials for seminar participants. Although the “True Learning, True Teaching” seminars are dedicated to “learning for the sake of learning,” participants are eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

The “True Learning, True Teaching” program is designed to reward the state’s finest teachers with opportunities for further learning and intellectual renewal. Each seminar contains a humanities focus, is interdisciplinary in scope, and is led by a prominent humanist scholar from a local college or university.

Further information on the seminars can be found on the IHC website, www.prairie.org, by clicking on “Teachers Seminars” under “Programs.”

This summer’s five seminars provide a natural and idyllic setting in which to learn. A complete list of seminars follows below:

• *June 20-25: Mother Earth? Virgin Land?: Women, Nature, and Writing; Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois; Diana Swanson, Northern Illinois University
  
• *June 20-25: Caught in the Crucible: America in the Great Depression; Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois; Judith Everson, University of Illinois at Springfield
  
• July 11-16: Cosmology and Humanity: How Astronomical Theories Have Shaped Views of Human Nature; The Conference Center at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois; Dennis Temple, Roosevelt University (This seminar is presented in partnership with the Boeing Company).
  
• *July 25-30: Changing Places: Literature and Globalization; Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois; Zohreh Sullivan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  
• *July 25-30: “I Will Be Heard!”: The Anti-Slavery Movement in the US and the Midwest; Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois; Stacey Robertson, Bradley University
  

*(These seminars run concurrently).

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