About the Institute

This Summer Institute for Secondary School Teachers (Grades 6-12) is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and offered by The University of Texas at El Paso.

Borderlands narratives have historically been seen as peripheral to the development of American history and identity. In middle and high-school textbooks across the country, borderland populations have received minimal attention. The binational spaces border people occupy have been portrayed as dangerous, illegitimate, and as part of a distinct counter-culture. We aim to place these forgotten regions and their populations at the center of the debate about American history and identity by focusing on the multicultural region and narratives of the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez metroplex.

A Summer Institute (Residential) for Secondary School Teachers (Grades 6–12) at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in collaboration with Center for Inter-American and Border Studies (CIBS) and Institute of Oral History (IOH).

Tigua in native ceremonial dress dancing. Photo credit: Joseph Seagrove, NEH 2023 Summer Institute

Faculty and Visiting Lecturers

Leading experts and award-winning scholars will lead these comprehensive storytelling workshops. Invited scholars will also take part in pre-planned field trips to local archives and repositories, historical sites, and cultural venues.

Institute Dates: July 20 – August 3, 2025

Over the course of the two-week long Institute, Summer Scholars will develop creative ways of implementing diverse storytelling methodologies into their teaching philosophies to reflect the complex histories and identities of border peoples and binational spaces.

Application Process

Click Here To Learn About The Application Process