Rancho Cotate HS Teacher Wins Summer Fellowship

From Ashbrook Center: Matthew Transue, a teacher at Rancho Cotate High School, has been awarded a prestigious Golden State Summer Fellowship by the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio. The center is a highly regarded nonprofit provider of educational programs and resources for U.S. history and government teachers, as well as high school and college students.

Middle- and high-school teachers chosen as summer fellows participate in a rigorous week-long graduate-level summer course with other students enrolled in Ashbrook's Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) program. The MAHG program is the nation's only master's degree program developed specifically for history and government teachers. Participants in the course earn two graduate credit hours from Ashland University.

The full cost of tuition, room, board and books is waived for teachers receiving the Golden State Summer Fellowship. In addition, the fellows receive a travel stipend.

"During their week at Ashbrook, the summer fellows study the ideas that motivated the people who have shaped our nation's history by reading what these individuals said and wrote at the time," said MAHG program Director Chris Pascarella.

"The fellows then engage in small, discussion-based seminars led by nationally distinguished faculty, and engage with other teachers about the meaning and importance of the ‘core documents’ under discussion."

The courses run from late June through July. This summer's course options include The American Founding; The American Revolution; The Civil War in American History and Literature; The Congress; Great American Texts: The Federalist; Indian Assimilation, Resistance and Removal; Race and Equality in America; The Supreme Court; and, The World Wars in American History and Literature, among several others.

The fellowship was made possible through generous funding support from a California donor, who has chosen to remain anonymous.