Outreach Prize
2007 Prize for Scholarly Outreach
The Outreach Awards Committee enthusiastically recommends the Steering Committee for the University of California Multi-Campus Research Group (MRG) in the History and Culture of Late Antiquity for the 2007 APA Prize for Scholarly Outreach. The group, which includes Claudia Rapp of U.C.L.A., Emily Albu of U.C. Davis, Harold Drake of U.C. Santa Barbara, Susanna Elm of U.C. Berkeley, and Michele Salzman of U.C. Riverside have worked together since 1999 to develop course materials for sixth and seventh grade social studies teachers that introduces the world of Late Antiquity, including the fall of the multicultural Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity and to a lesser extent Islam. The group offered five one day workshops and provided teachers with both written and visual materials including extensive maps, images, bibliography, directions for further study, and witty presentations of issues. Each teacher involved received a CD with the group's PowerPoint presentations. This well-presented nomination included extensive evaluations and responses from grateful teachers, who emphasized the accessible, supportive style of the presentations. Teachers complimented the well-informed group for "making them think," offering "perfect use of PowerPoint with lively and thoughtful questions to guide us," the variety of documents, the careful organization of the workshops, and the presenters' sense of humor.
The group's project was intellectually valuable for demonstrating with rigor, clarity, and imagination the enormous breadth of the world of the Roman Empire and its eventual division into East and West. It invited students and teachers to examine and question the reasons for Rome's "fall" and to historicize the complex transition from polytheism to Christianity. Their project not only filled a gap in the middle school curriculum, but introduced a valuable and novel global perspective to the study of the ancient world. These efforts were particularly welcome in California, since their beleaguered public school teachers are currently working with exceptionally low support for their efforts and many bureaucratic impediments. Many of their over-crowded classrooms lack maps, world globes, AV equipment, and other supplies. If nothing else, the project should help to contribute to national literacy about geography. The Prize Committee itself thought they had learned something from the presentations as well.
Respectfully submitted,
Helene P. Foley, Chair
Amy Richlin
Barbara McManus