By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
The history faculty at Missouri Southern State University will receive part of a nearly $1 million federal grant to improve the quality of teaching at elementary and secondary schools in Southwest Missouri.
The grant is part of the Teaching American History program offered through the U.S. Department of Education. This marks the sixth consecutive year that Missouri Southern’s history faculty has received the grant.
“The long-term benefit is if the quality of history education in primary and secondary (schools) improves, we see that benefit when those students come here,” said Steve Wagner, a professor of history at MSSU.
Wagner said faculty members at Southern have been the primary authors of previous grant applications, but this year’s grant request was written by the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence, in connection with the Miller R-2 School District.
The total amount of the award is $990,308. The grants typically run for three to five years.
Wagner said the Miller School District is the official recipient of the funding, but it will distribute it to the faculty at Southern. He said the faculty will put on workshops at the Southwest Center in Webb City that will be open to any elementary and secondary teachers in the center’s service district.
The center serves 49 school districts in nine Southwest Missouri counties. The workshops likely will begin in the spring, Wager said.
Wagner said another boon to the university is that the grants typically include funds for bringing speakers to campus. He said those events usually are open to the public.
“Typically, there is money for speakers, (and) there are funds for us to purchase library materials for the university,” he said. “In the past there has been money for technology for classrooms, but this particular grant doesn’t have as much as in years past”
Each grant has a theme. Wagner said the most recent grant will focus on “Preserving America’s Midwest Heritage.”
‘Big topics’
“We’re still teaching the big topics, but trying to put a local angle on it,” said Steve Wagner, a professor of history at MSSU. “Year three of this grant includes the Civil War and Reconstruction, so the faculty member who lectures will give local perspective on battles in our area.”
