by Amanda Nelson
Kathy Swan has been awarded the Senior Goldman Sachs Fellowship at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum in Washington D.C. Swan is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction.
Swan is working with the education team to help make online collections more interactive and accessible to teachers, students and to pre-service educators and to link their educational resources to the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. She spent time in Washington D.C. this summer, during which she gave a keynote address for museum staff on disciplinary literacy for social studies. During her fellowship over the fall 2013, she will provide ongoing guidance based on her research in standards-based technology integration and pre-service education.
“The Smithsonian is very interested in reaching pre-service teachers and would like to use the Inquiry Arc of the C3 Framework as the centerpiece for that outreach,” Swan said. “We are looking for ways to use online technologies and to partner with the University of Kentucky as a way of disseminating some of this important work.”
The senior fellowship, which was established when Goldman, Sachs & Co. donated $1 million to the National Museum of American History in 2010, was designed to:
• link the museum to a national network of scholars, museum professionals, and students who are working in museum-related research and program development;
• provide opportunities for individuals to pursue innovative and cross-disciplinary projects with the professional staff at the museum;
• strengthen the museum’s relationships with other prominent research, educational, and cultural institutions; and
• broaden and diversify the museum’s perspective and extend its capabilities far beyond those of its current resources.