CHICAGO — DePaul University and the international nonprofit organization Facing History and Ourselves today announced they will explore immigration and its impact on the classroom in their second annual Summer Institute for Chicago-area teachers and school counselors June 26-28.

“The first-of-its-kind collaboration DePaul University has built with Facing History and Ourselves provides a unique opportunity to bring historical perspective to current dialogues about integration and inclusion in schools,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University. “Although our collaboration is eager to tackle intolerance across a broad spectrum of issues, our 2013 Summer Institute will focus on the important matter of immigration. As an issue currently gaining renewed attention on Capitol Hill and in the media, it is vital that current and future teachers have the necessary tools to dismantle stereotypes in our classrooms and, in turn, our communities. To that end, we are pleased to welcome acclaimed writer Sonia Nazario who will share the stories of struggles and challenges that she’s collected from those journeying to the United States today.”

Nazario, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and acclaimed author of “Enrique’s Journey,” which chronicles a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S., will share her experiences in reporting that book at two events — one with participants in the institute and another with the general public on June 27, 2013, from 6 to 8 p.m. “Enrique’s Journey” is already required reading for incoming freshmen at nearly 60 colleges and scores of high schools across the country, and will be re-released this summer as a young adult book.

“In recent years we have witnessed the greatest wave of immigration in our nation's history, one that has transformed the nation's classrooms,” Nazario said. “By 2020, one in three children in our schools will be an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.”

Institute participants will attend a three-day seminar, “Belonging in American Society: An Exploration of Immigration in American History and its Impact in our Classrooms,” to bring historical perspective to current dialogues about integration and inclusion in schools and the larger society. The Summer Institute will be held June 26, 27, and 28 on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus. Each day will examine different waves of immigration that fundamentally shaped American society: immigration from Europe in the 19th century; African American Migration in the 1910s; and post-1965 immigration.
 
The annual Summer Institute is part of an eight-year collaboration between DePaul and Facing History that incorporates Facing History’s acclaimed resources, materials and classroom strategies on civic engagement throughout programs for working and aspiring teachers in DePaul’s College of Education. Helping teachers handle tough issues such as racism, anti-Semitism, intolerance and bullying, the collaboration has the potential to make a positive impact on thousands of students in coming years.

Margot Stern Strom, co-founder and executive director of Facing History and Ourselves, said the collaboration prepares DePaul students to deal with these issues as teachers.  “Facing History and Ourselves’ partnership with DePaul University ensures that DePaul’s in-service teachers have the opportunity to call on Facing History’s pedagogy and resources to inform their teaching right from the get-go,” Strom said. “When DePaul students receive their diplomas, Facing History will consider it a privilege to continue to provide support throughout their careers. Together, Facing History and DePaul will help generations of students understand how the lessons of history impact their moral and ethical decision making.” 

The collaboration, the first of its kind between Facing History and a university college of education, was made possible through a generous gift from DePaul Trustee and alumnus Jack Greenberg and his wife, Donna. Former CEO and chairman of McDonald’s, Jack Greenberg is currently the chair of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the city-state agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

The institute is free for the first 50 teachers who register. Special guest Sonia Nazario will attend an evening reading and book signing on Thursday, June 27, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Cortelyou Commons (2324 North Fremont Street, Chicago, IL). For more information about the Summer Institute or Sonia Nazario’s special event, please visit http://depaulne.ws/Nazario. To learn more about the Summer Institute, visit http://depaulne.ws/FHAOinstitute.

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About DePaul
With approximately 25,000 students, DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. The university offers 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on three Chicago campuses and two suburban campuses. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds. For more information, visit www.depaul.edu.

About the DePaul University College of Education
DePaul University’s College of Education, one of the largest in the state of Illinois, offers programs in early childhood, elementary, secondary, and physical education, human services and counseling, educational leadership, bilingual/bicultural education, curriculum studies, special education, and social and cultural foundations in education. More than 3,000 COE graduates are employed as teachers, principals and administrators in the Chicago area.

About Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide and mass violence, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives. Facing History has provided in-depth seminars for more than 29,000 educators, and its active teacher network reaches nearly two million students annually. For more information, visit facinghistory.org and watch a video at facinghistory.org/video/face-it.