Each session held in Monmouth University’s Guggenheim Library 101 at 6 p.m.
A portion of each session will be devoted to discussion of strategies for using the material in the classroom. You can also learn about Monmouth’s M.A. programs in history and anthropology. Refreshments will be served.
Civics Engagement and Inclusivity: Professional Development Credit Hours for K-12 Educators
Role Playing Games in the Classroom—Introduction and Demonstration
July 8, 2026
Presented by Mel Brzycki, Ph.D.
Civics and Comics: A Long Practiced, Unlikely Duo
July 15, 2026
Presented by Maryanne Rhett, Ph.D.
Before the earworm “I’m Just a Bill” educators, the federal government, and journalists all understood the power of visual media to impart information to the masses. George Gallup, in 1930, asserted that “More adults read the best comic strip in a newspaper, on an average day, than the front-page banner story.” While often relegated to the children’s pages, comics have played an essential function in informing the masses. From informational comic strips like The New Deal in Pictures and Uncle Sam at Your Service of the 1930s to the contemporary New York City “Civics for All” publications, comics have been an essential form of civics communication throughout American history.
New Jersey Student Learning Standards: 18A:35-3; 18A: 6-3; 18A:35-41; and N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1
Native Americans and the 1976 Bicentennial
July 22, 2026
Presented by Katherine Parkin, Ph.D.
“Here come the beads and trinkets,” muttered Doreen Bond (Northern Cheyenne) in a 1975 meeting with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. Many Native Americans responded to appeals for their participation in the 1976 bicentennial with the same exasperation. Others saw participation as a transactional opportunity for communities desperately in need of funds. Activists considered the year to be an opportunity to advance a discourse and action plan for rights and dignity, and contested the mythology of the attacking Indian of the nineteenth century to secure dignity and respect as contemporary human beings. The Survival of American Indian Association undertook a Trail of Self-Determination, the most significant Indian bicentennial action, traveling from Washington state to Washington, D.C., to challenge the American people and the federal government on its continued betrayal of Native American rights.
New Jersey Student Learning Standards: Social Studies: 6.1.5.History, 6.1.12.CivicsDP.5.a, 6.1.12.HistoryUP.11.a
TBD
July 29, 2026