Liveblogging from the Lehrman American Studies Center's Summer Institute

These days I write from Princeton, New Jersey. I am a fly on the wall of the Lehrman American Studies Center's Summer Institute. The Lehrman American Studies Center (LASC) is connected to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). The Summer Institute is a two-week course which combines substantive discussion and lectures of core texts and ideas from American history, political philosophy, and political science, with sections on professionalization. Common themes of the professionalization sessions are things like strategies for obtaining tenure, teaching the millennial generation, professional networking, balancing the use of technology in the classroom (instrumental vs. detracting), and fellowships. The substantial component of the course consists of readings for each day, for instance Thomas Jefferson or the writings of a modern scholar like Walter McDougall. The day begins with a lecture and is followed by break-out discussion sections. I would heartily recommend the LASC Summer Institute for rising academics whose teaching fields include the American founding, American statesmanship, American political philosophy, traditional political science, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, or the progressive era (a misnomer, but, well). The Summer Institute fellows learn a lot, give a lot, and gain a lot in terms of career advice and good ideas. To boot, they stay in a nice hotel in the heart of Princeton and meet scholars from related fields. If you are a late-term PhD in something American-Studies-ish, or a rising faculty member, or just recently tenured or otherwise early on in your academic career, write to LASC via their website. Tell them the folks at the Fronhausen Review sent you. They may not know what that means, but they they will nevertheless be happy to hear from you. Ho!