Teaching Revolutionary NJ Symposium at Atlantic Cape to Feature Discussions with Nearly a Dozen Historians, Scholars and Educators

MAYS LANDING — In advance of the 250^th anniversary (the Semiquincentennial) of the American Declaration of Independence coming in 2026, Atlantic Cape Community College’s Arts & Humanities Department will be hosting the Teaching Revolutionary New Jersey Symposium on Friday, May 23 on the Mays Landing campus in Walter E. Edge Theater (C-Building).

Keynote speaker Dr. Jennifer Janofsky and 10 revolutionary scholars, history educators and independent historians will present discussions that will focus on Revolutionary-era relevant content, pedagogical strategies and approaches that may be utilized by educators in the classroom in advance of the anniversary.

Check-in for presenters and guests begins at 8:30 a.m. Opening welcome remarks will begin at 9 a.m. and will be followed by the keynote presentation at 9:15 a.m. Each presenter’s discussion will run 30 minutes and closing remarks will conclude the day at 3:30 p.m.

This symposium is open and free to anyone interested in the Revolutionary War and New Jersey history, including history students, educators, and the larger community. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Educators can earn CEU credits and a digital badge for their participation. RSVP for this event by Friday, May 9 by visiting https://bit.ly/4iyOOFM.

Dr. Janofsky’s address will discuss recent archeological developments at Red Bank Battlefield, including the discovery of Hessian remains, and how to reexamine the ‘other’ side of the Revolution. She is the Giordano Fellow in Public History at Rowan University, Director of Red Bank Battlefield Park and co-director of the Red Bank Archaeology Project. Dr. Janofsky earned her Ph.D. from Temple University in Early American History and Public History. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

The confirmed presenters and their respective topics of discussion includes:

• Melissa Ziobro, curator, Bruce Springsteen Archive and Center for American Music, “What America Sounds Like: Exploring History Through Music” 
• Adam Zielinski, independent historian, “Connecting the Crossroads: The Lenni-Lenape, West Jersey, the Revolutionary War & Ideas for Engaging Students in Early New Jersey History"
• Richard Veit, provost & senior vice president for academic affairs and professor of anthropology, Monmouth University, “Unearthing Revolutionary New Jersey through Archaeology: A Hands-on Approach to the Past”
• Chris Slaby, D. candidate, William & Mary University, "Native Americans and the American Revolution in Lenapehoking/New Jersey"
• Lucia McMahon, professor and chair of history, William Paterson University, “At home or abroad we are never sure: New Jersey Women’s Revolutionary Experiences”
• Jonathan Mercantini, associate professor of history and acting dean for College of Liberal Arts, Kean University, "Liberty, Slavery and the American Revolution in William Livingston's World" 
• Sue Kozel, public historian, educator and former Fellow with the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, "Say Our Names: Reconstructing Early African American Life in Woodbury during the Revolutionary War” 
• Elizabeth Hyde, professor of history and acting associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Kean University, “Teaching the Revolutionary World of Ideas with William Livingston, American philosophe”
• Gary Berton, president, Thomas Paine National Historical Society, "Thomas Paine, New Jersey and the Crossroads of the Revolution"
• Zach Baer, history teacher, Shawnee High School, “Teaching 10th Graders New Jersey’s Role in the American Revolution with Project Based Learning”

Dr. Denise Coulter, senior dean, Liberal Studies and Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape, was impressed with the idea of a revolutionary-era symposium when Mark “Paulie” Wenger, contingent history and social science faculty member at Atlantic Cape, 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.”

The Teaching Revolutionary New Jersey Symposium is proudly sponsored by RevolutionNJ, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, Stockton University’s South Jersey Culture & History Center and Atlantic Cape Community College Foundation.

The 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.

For more information, please visit atlanticcape.edu/revolutionarysymposium or email 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 46 undergraduate degree programs, and 32 certificate and professional series programs at its Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May County 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.