Atlantic Cape Announces Call for Papers and Presentations for Teaching Revolutionary New Jersey Symposium

MAYS LANDING — Atlantic Cape Community College’s Arts & Humanities Department is inviting high school and college history teachers to submit abstracts for 30-minute papers/panel discussions for the upcoming, Teaching Revolutionary New Jersey symposium, on Friday, May 23, 2025.

Each presentation will focus on Revolutionary-era relevant content, pedagogical strategies and approaches needed in advance of the 250th anniversary (the Semiquincentennial) of the American Declaration of Independence in 2026.

Dr. Denise Coulter, senior dean, Liberal Studies and Culinary Arts, was impressed with the idea of a revolutionary-era symposium when Atlantic Cape Associate Professor of History/Government Dr. Augustine Nigro and Mark “Paulie” Wenger, a contingent history and social science faculty member, approached her.

“I thought it was brilliant. With the approach of our nation's Semiquincentennial, I can't think of a better way for teachers to help students see the relevance of this part of our history than by showing it to them through a local lens. With this symposium, we aim to provide teachers with the content, tools and creative ideas to bring the revolutionary war alive for their high school and college students,” said Dr. Coulter. “The revolutionary war can seem far away and unfamiliar to high school and college students, but when they are presented with the fact that our hard-earned freedom was fought and won by people not unlike us, on the very land where we now live, work and play, the realization strikes a special chord in their hearts and makes them sit up straighter and pay attention.”

This symposium is designed to bring the area’s preeminent American Revolutionary scholars together as we prepare to celebrate a pivotal moment in this nation’s history. Following the symposium, the submitted papers and presentations will be compiled into a publication that will be available to all high school and college educators to assist in their teaching students of New Jersey’s importance in American Revolutionary history.

Professor Wenger stressed the importance of this symposium’s educational value for students.

“2026 will be a pivotal moment in the education of New Jersey's future leaders. This symposium will ensure that educators in the state can get the rich history of Revolutionary New Jersey to students in high schools and colleges,” said Wenger. “As the philosopher Barrows Dunham wrote, ‘It is perhaps the case that men can make better history and that history can make better men.’ It is my hope that this symposium will make better citizens of our students.”

If you are interested, please visit atlanticcape.edu/revolutionarysymposium to access the Teaching Revolutionary New Jersey Google form. Answer the required questions and submit a brief 250-word abstract that describes the paper/presentation you are proposing. Selected presenters will receive a $100 stipend following the symposium. Deadline to submit an abstract is October 15, 2024. Please send any questions to TeachRevNJ@atlanticcape.edu.

About Atlantic Cape Community College

Atlantic Cape Community College is a Middle States accredited, 2022 Achieving the Dream Leader College and Hispanic Serving Institution proudly serving the residents of Atlantic and Cape May counties. As a comprehensive, two-year community college, Atlantic Cape offers 47 undergraduate degree programs, and 33 certificate and professional series programs at its Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May campuses. Atlantic Cape is home to the renowned Academy of Culinary Arts, rated the top culinary school in New Jersey, and for more than 50 years, our highly-acclaimed Nursing program. Atlantic Cape also partners with more than 30 colleges and four-year universities to offer students the opportunity to seamlessly earn a bachelor’s degree upon graduation.