Expectations/Syllabus/Readings

Expectations

All Common Ground Participants are expected to:

  • Submit a project evaluation at the conclusion of the program.

  • Project applicants who accept an offer to participate are expected to remain during the entire period of the program and to participate in its work on a full-time basis. If a participant is obliged through special circumstances to depart before the end of the program, only a pro rata share of the stipend will be paid. If the participant has already received the stipend, the appropriate pro rata share of the stipend must be returned

  • Once an applicant has accepted an offer to attend any NEH Summer Program (Seminar, Institute, or Landmark), they may not accept an additional offer or withdraw in order to accept a different offer. 

Common Ground Project Directors will take responsibility for encouraging an ethos of openness and respect, upholding the basic norms of civil discourse as outlined in the NEH Principles of Civility.  

Syllabus

Common Ground will offer a lively combination of discussions, guest lectures, pedagogical workshops, excursions to historical and other landmark institutions, and project work time. General format will be presentations and discussion. Please note that programming specifics and required readings may be modified up to one month prior to the institute Common Ground 2022 Tentative Syllabus

Readings

Readings include books and articles assigned by program scholars. Common Ground will make electronic copies of articles and primary-source materials available to participants via Schoology. Books should be purchased and brought to the institute for reference and discussion. A detailed list of readings will be available to participants  by May 1.

Participants can get a jump-start by reading the following books:

  • Jennifer Donnelly, A Northern Light
  • Philip Terrie, Contested Terrain, A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks
  • Margaret Peterson Haddix, Uprising

northernlightbookcoverContested Terrain       Haddix uprising

Seal of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Contact Information

Gonda Gebhardt, Project Coordinator
History Department
Old Main, Room 212-B
P.O. Box 2000
Cortland, NY 13045-0900
607-753-5918
commongroundneh@cortland.edu