Alan Howard, NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor of American Studies

In 1994 the Teaching Resource Center won a Special Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant, together with gifts secured by the Dean of Arts and Sciences, enabled the creation of three U.Va. Distinguished Teaching Professorships (DTPs). Each endowed chair, awarded to associate or full professors for a three-year period, recognizes excellent undergraduate teaching in the humanities. Previous editions of Teaching Concerns have highlighted the variety of innovative projects to enhance teaching pursued by DTPs. This year we focus on the 2000-2003 Daniels Family Distinguished Teaching Professor of American Studies, Alan Howard.

Alan Howard has emerged as a leader in exploring the transformative role that technology can play in teaching. Far beyond acting as a mere conduit for information, computers, for Howard, offer the potential to enhance students' learning experiences by changing the very nature of the work they do. Over several years he has directed students in the construction of an extensive American Studies website (see http://xroads.virginia.edu). His goal is to empower students to become active interpreters of the American history, literature, and culture in which they live. By contributing to the website, students wrestle with meaningful questions and take on tasks of consequence-with over 85,000 visits each day to the website, students have great incentive to produce high-quality work. During the tenure of his Distinguished Teaching Professorship, Howard will coordinate an effort to assist other professors engaged in some aspect of American Studies to create, enhance, and update websites for their courses. He then plans to link the sites so instructors can easily access a wealth of interdisciplinary knowledge. In so doing, Howard hopes to create a robust resource base of electronic materials for the study of American culture that will benefit not only the U.Va. community but also students and teachers beyond grounds.

For more information about the Chair's duties, visit the website (http://www.virginia.edu/~trc/awdhst.htm#NEH) or contact Marva Barnett, Director, Teaching Resource Center, at 982-2815 or trc-uva@virginia.edu. Questions about the nomination and selection process should be directed to Jessica Feldman, Associate Dean for Personnel and Planning, Arts and Sciences, 924-3437 or jrf2j@virginia.edu.