Coastal Bend College instructor to study Jefferson in D.C.

Katie Perez, Coastal Bend College English instructor, was recently invited to participate in the National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Workshop, “Thomas Jefferson: Legacies and Landmarks.” This is an opportunity for Perez to join with community college faculty members from around the country for a weeklong workshop in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress and Charlottesville, Va. at the University of Virginia and nearby Monticello to study Jefferson and his role in the shaping of American culture and government.

These workshops will enable community college participants to study multiple aspects of Jefferson’s life through the thematic areas associated with him including Jefferson as: (1) scholar, humanist and philosopher; (2) politician, diplomat, and statesman; (3) writer, scientist, and naturalist; and (4) social scientist, planner, and architect.

Jeffersonian scholars Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor at University of Virginia; Barbara Oberg, Editor of the Jefferson Papers at Princeton University; John Cole, Director for the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress; Susan Stein, Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s Richard Gilder Senior Curator and Vice President for Museum Programs at Monticello; Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor’s Chair in Architectural History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville; and Kevin J. Hayes, University of Central Oklahoma are among the prominent list of  lecturers and speakers.

Community college faculty from the disciplines of literature, history, philosophy, religion, foreign languages, humanities, religion, anthropology, sociology, political science, urban studies, art  and architecture, speech and theater, music and dance and other humanities related fields are competitively chosen to participate in the prestigious workshop and given a stipend to defray the cost of the trip.

Katie Perez teaches English and literature at CBC Kingsville Campus. She joined CBC in August 2003. She is a graduate of Del Mar College. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Master of Science Degree from Texas A&M University in Kingsville.

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