New Fellows Chosen for High School History Initiative
Vanderbilt University’s Alexander Initiative, part of Peabody College of education and human development, has selected its inaugural cohort of Alexander Fellows. The immersive professional development experience for outstanding high school teachers from across the United States aims to revitalize U.S. history and civics education.
Thirty teachers were extended admission, with every selected applicant accepting the prestigious offer. Fellows span 20 states-from Wyoming to Tennessee-and all career stages. They hail from rural, metropolitan, suburban, agricultural and independent schools.
The fully funded program is named for the Honorable Lamar Alexander, Vanderbilt class of ’62 and University Trustee, former U.S. senator of Tennessee, the 45th governor of Tennessee, the 5th U.S. Secretary of Education and the former president of the University of Tennessee. It will be taught by nationally recognized scholars and includes a one-week residential experience on Vanderbilt’s campus in June 2025. Paired with an academic year of remote coaching and additional engagement, fellows will earn continuing education credits and a certificate upon completion of the program.
“A commonality among our fellows is their demonstrated passion for teaching American history and civics,” said Christopher Loss, executive director of the Alexander Initiative, associate professor of public policy and higher education and associate professor of history. “We are thrilled to welcome this cohort of creative and accomplished teachers to Vanderbilt University.”
A few Alexander Fellows shared their excitement about participating in the program:
Visit the Alexander Initiative website to view a complete list of Alexander Fellows.
Vanderbilt’s professors are an integral part of the seminar, which will take place June 15 – 22, 2025. Sarah Igo, the Andrew Jackson Chair in American History and professor of history and law, will speak with fellows about the New Deal. “It’s so important that the Alexander Initiative is pledged to, and is advancing, the highest standards of historical evidence, argumentation and craft,” she said.
“There are too few opportunities for secondary school and college faculty to convene around what they share: in this case, a scholarly and civic commitment to grappling with the American past. I hope the Alexander Fellowship will seed more of these conversations. We have so much to learn from each other,” Igo said.
Daniel Sharfstein, the Dick and Martha Lansden Professor of Law and professor of history, will present a lecture on the dispossession and forced migration of eastern indigenous nations in the nineteenth century. “How we teach American history matters,” he said. “We can’t understand the values animating our democracy without seriously engaging with our past. I’m very excited about the opportunity this program offers for colleagues in university and high school education to come together in a collective effort to think through key questions underlying the American experience.”
Vanderbilt historian and presidential biographer Jon Meacham is also among the scholars scheduled to participate in the seminar. In addition, CNN columnist Nicole Hemmer, associate professor of history and director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency, will teach a session, as will award-winning author and historian Dennis C. Dickerson, the Reverend James M. Lawson Chair of History Emeritus and professor emeritus of history, and Sharece Thrower, associate professor of political science and noted author. A full list of faculty presenters, from Vanderbilt and beyond, can be found on the Alexander Initiative website.
Fellows will take advantage of the wealth of resources at Vanderbilt, including working with primary sources at the Vanderbilt Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries Special Collections and learning how to adapt emerging AI and VR technologies in the high school classroom with experts at Peabody’s LIVE Learning Innovation Incubator.
Vanderbilt’s location in Nashville, a key site of the Civil War and of the Civil Rights movement, means that fellows can access culturally and historically significant immersion experiences unavailable elsewhere. Planned excursions include the Tennessee State Museum, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library, the National Museum of African American Music and the Tennessee State Capitol.
In a time when many Americans are expressing concern about the future of democratic institutions and values, the Alexander Initiative’s goal is to breathe new life into how we teach U.S. history in our nation’s schools. The past shapes the present, and Alexander Fellows will take that message to heart as they return to classrooms this fall, equipped with new skills and strategies, meaningful professional connections and ongoing support to shape their students’ education.
https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2025/04/14/bringing-the-past-to-life-fellows-announced-for-new-initiative-to-bolster-teaching-of-high-school-history/