Canadian-American Center

New Canada Unit compiled for Massachusetts Grade 4 teachers

Betsy Arntzen, director of the Canadian-American Center’s Office of K-12 Canadian Studies outreach, has compiled a comprehensive Canada Unit for Massachusetts Grade 4 teachers, covering all the elements in the MA Frameworks. Based on high-level work created by teachers who completed previous professional development programming offered by the Canadian-American Center, she created a best-practices compilation for teachers to use in a 3-week unit expandable to 3-month unit.

Ms. Arntzen presented the unit at an afterschool workshop hosted by EDCO Collaborative in Waltham, MA, April 2, 2012.  Participants, who were Grade 4 teachers from six towns, participated by engaging in abbreviated versions of the lessons.  They received the complete unit on a CD in addition to other handouts which included maps of Canada.

www.umaine.edu/teachingcanada

Tour of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, April 24

The Canadian-American Center and the Maine International Trade Center is proud to announce a new event has been added to the program of the upcoming Cross-Border Economic Conference!  On April 24th, 2012 at 2:30 PM, All registered conference participants will have the option of taking a tour of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center on the campus of the University of Maine!

Also, added to the program, Peter Vigue of Cianbro will be giving a presentation on the East/West Highway during the 8:00 A.M. Breakfast on April 24th.

For more details on the conference and its program, please click the link below:

www.umaine.edu/canam/crossborderconference

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Center’s director presents research at UBC

Professor of Geography and Canadian Studies and director of the Canadian-American Center Stephen Hornsby presented a lecture in the University of British Columbia’s Green College as part of their Thematic Lecture Series Transforming Canada: Histories of Environmental Change.

Professor Hornsby, who received his PhD from the University of British Columbia, presented a lecture titled “Fish and Fur and the Nature of Canada”.  His lecture is one of UBC’s Green College interdisciplinary Series which addresses the themes of human activities and Canadian nature, nature’s influence on the nature of Canada, and ideas and nature in Canada.  The series presents lectures with the goal of preparing students for sensible engagement with the environmental challenges facing Canadian society in the 21^st century.

Canadian-American Center Director Hornsby receives Publication of the Year award

Director Stephen J. Hornsby has been awarded the Publication of the Year Award by the Board of Governors of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation for his recent book Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J.F.W. Des Barres, and the Making of The Atlantic Neptune.

Stephen J. Hornsby’s Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J.F.W. Des Barres, and the Making of The Atlantic Neptune was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in April 2011.  The book examines British surveying and mapping of northeastern North America in the 1760s and early 1770s, and the publication of The Atlantic Neptune, a monumental four-volume nautical atlas.  Professor Matthew Edney, University of Southern Maine and Director of the History of Cartography project, comments:  “Surveyors of Empire is an outstanding work of scholarship, well grounded in the archive, a project that provides a telling parable of imperial power.  Accessible and understated, it should be of interest to a wide array of readers.”  The book is lavishly illustrated with maps and historical images.

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The Loyal Atlantic: Remaking the British Atlantic in the Revolutionary Era

The Loyal Atlantic: Remaking the British Atlantic in the Revolutionary Era

Edited by: Jerry Bannister & Liam Riordan

Adding to a dynamic new wave of scholarship in Atlantic history, The Loyal Atlantic offers fresh interpretations of the key role played by Loyalism in shaping the early modern British Empire. This cohesive collection investigates how Loyalism and the empire were mutually constituted and reconstituted from the eighteenth century onward. Featuring contributions by authors from across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, The Loyal Atlantic brings Loyalism into a genuinely international focus.

Through cutting-edge archival research, The Loyal Atlantic contextualizes Loyalism within the larger history of the British Empire. It also details how, far from being a passive allegiance, Loyalism changed in unexpected and fascinating ways — especially in times of crisis. Most importantly, The Loyal Atlantic demonstrates that neither the conquest of Canada nor the American Revolution can be properly understood without assessing the meanings of Loyalism in the wider Atlantic world.

Jerry Bannister is an associate professor in the Department of History at Dalhousie University.

Liam Riordan is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Maine.

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Professor of Geography presents atlas research

Professor of Geography and director of the Canadian-American Center Stephen Hornsby presented on a panel at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, February 24-28, 2012.   The peer-reviewed and selected panel was organized by Middlebury College professor of Geography Guntram Herb, and titled “The Future of the Atlas”.  The week-long conference was attended by more than 7,000 geographers from around the world and featured over 4,000 presentations, posters, workshops, and field trips by leading scholars, experts, and researchers.

Canadian Studies librarian receives Quebec government grant

In November 2011, Canadian Studies librarian Betsy Beattie applied for a grant from the support program for the acquisition of materials on Quebec, a subsection of the Quebec/United States University Grant Program provided by the Quebec government.

In January 2012, the Canadian-American Center received word that Fogler Library was awarded a grant to acquire books by Quebec authors.  Because the University of Maine offers seven courses on Quebec literature, it is critical for the library to have a substantial and expansive collection of notable authors from Quebec.

On behalf of the Canadian-American Center and the Canadian Studies program, we would like to congratulate Betsy Beattie on receiving this Quebec Grant.

Killam Fellowship Awardee receives $5000 Killam Community Action Grant

Mallory Lavoie, a junior majoring in Journalism and French and recent Killam Fellowship awardee, has received a prestigious $5000  Killam Community Action Initiative Award to fund a project she envisions – a French immersion summer camp.

Mallory was one of three UMaine students awarded a 2011 Killam Fellowship Program award, and she spent the Spring 2011 semester studying French at the Laval University in Quebec City.

As a Killam Fellowship recipient, she qualified to apply for the 2012 Killam Community Action Initiative Award.  Her proposal which was accepted is to create a two week French Immersion Summer Camp in Madawaska, Maine.  She chose to locate the camp in the St. John Valley because the proportion of the population who speak French in this area is much higher than the rest of Maine.

Mallory explains her winning proposal: “1/3 of the population in Maine has Franco-American Heritage.  However, the percentage of kids who speak French has been on the decline.  One study between 1987 – 1991 shows that French as a mother tongue among students in the St. John Valley declined by 18%.  Now, the French Immersion Program in the Madawaska Elementary School has been cut, leaving less and less opportunities for students to learn French.

The need for this program is pressing because there are still many French speaking adults in the St. John Valley.  French is essential in fostering communication between French-speaking adults and youth.  Being situated between the bilingual province of New-Brunswick and the French-speaking province of Quebec, French is an important tool for maintaining business relations.

With my proposal, I will revive an interest and a connection to the French Language and Franco-American Language among elementary/middle school students.  I will supply students with a foundation in French from onto which they can build skills and confidence to develop fluency.  Learning French at an early age will provide students with an appreciation, connection, and respect for the French Language and for the Franco-American culture.”

Mallory is the first UMaine student to receive this award, and she received the highest award they offer.

For more information about the 2012 French Immersion Summer Camp contact Mallory on firstclass.

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Center’s Outreach Coordinator presented Canadian content sessions to teachers

Canadian-American Center’s Canadian Studies outreach coordinator Betsy Arntzen, collaborated with two other outreach coordinators to provide an impressive amount of Canadian content workshop and poster sessions at the 91^st annual teachers conference of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), held in Washington, DC December 1-4, 2011.

This year’s Canadian presence at the NCSS built on the success of a three-year emphasis to showcase Canadian studies at the NCSS annual conference beginning with Canada is Coming to NCSS! initiative (2008) and the follow-up success of providing Canadian content at the 2009 and 2010 conferences. In 2011 three outreach educators Betsy Arntzen,  Amy Sotherden and Tina Storer, collaborated with two exemplary Canadian educators (Mike Clare (ON), Steven Marcotte (QC), with Canadian Studies Master Teacher SUNY Geneseo adjunct faculty Dean June, and with Michigan State University’s Canadian Studies Outreach Coordinator Ruth Writer.  This resulted in our presenting 9 hours of Canadian content presentations over three days.  We offered more hour-long Canadian-content workshops than were offered about any other specific country:  CANADA: 6;  Africa:4; Japan:4; Asia:3; Brazil:2; China:2; Latin America:2; Afghanistan:1; Argentina:1; France:1; Middle East:1

The Canadian content presentations were peer reviewed and selected from over 900 proposals submitted.

For two of the four days, the outreach coordinators maintained a Canadian Studies information table in the International Alley of the exhibit area, and provided an information table about the Canada Community for a total of 21.5 hours providing Canadian Studies teaching resources and one-on-one consultation to interested teachers at information tables in the exhibit hall and lobby.  Of the 4000 potential visitors to the table, we handed out over 300 packets of reference and teaching materials, and received contact information from 129 educators from 28 states plus DC and from 2 countries (Ecuador, and Canada) who indicated their interest in more information and resources.

Maintaining a Canadian content presence at this national teachers conference is a collaboration between project coordinators Betsy Arntzen (University of Maine) and Amy Sotherden (Plattsburgh State University of New York) with Tina Storer (Western Washington University as three of four Canadian Studies outreach staff of the only two National Resource Centers (NRCs) on Canada in the United States.  NRCs are designated by and funded by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

The Northeast National Resource Center on Canada is located at UMaine.

Canadian Studies outreach educators provide K-12 outreach programs and professional development training to establish, encourage and support inclusion of Canadian Studies in American K-12 curriculum.  They provide professional development and teacher training; they develop resources for teaching about Canada; and they conduct summer teachers’ institutes in Canada.

Image Description: (L) Betsy Arntzen (UMaine), (R) Tina Storer (Western Washington U)

Photos from 2011 ACSUS Conference in Ottawa

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