Admin-history

The International Social Studies Project is housed in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill. Our office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. We maintain and facilitate the cadre of Master Teachers, develop contacts in Staff Development Programs, and raise awareness of the Project across the state.

Contact information is listed below.

In August, 1996, the North Carolina General Assembly provided funding for the project and in November of that year, the International Social Studies Project Office was established in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education, advised by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, with co-directors Suzanne Gulledge and Michael Hickman. Since that time, a cadre of over 50 Master Teachers has been trained in the use of The World in Transition materials from the Southern Center for International Studies, and those teachers have gone on to lead workshops across the state. The materials are provided free of charge to schools whose teachers receive the training. To date, almost 1,000 teachers have been reached by the ISSP Master Teacher trainers.

The Project was refunded by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1997 and '98, and money for materials was provided by BellSouth. In addition to the workshops our Master Teacher cadre has led across the state, the 1997-98 year saw the introduction of a new Russia unit from the Southern Center, the establishment of an electronic discussion forum through LEARN North Carolina, opportunities for Master Teachers to meet and talk with scholars

in international affairs, and our development of a network of Staff Development personnel and other administrators who are in a position to arrange training workshops for their systems and/or regions.

In 1999 the General Assembly approved recurrent funding for the ISSP. We have established collaborative relationships with other globally-concerned organizations, such as the University Center for International Studies, World View, and the UNC Program in the Humanities and Human Values. Recent innovations of the ISSP have included the introduction of a new unit on Africa, Distance Learning Cyber-workshops on the Middle East and Africa, and the inauguration of our GlobalArts Initiative, through which we present dramatic works as further resources for social studies teachers.

For a PowerPoint presentation on the ISSP, click here.

Administration and History