About Us
Read an overview of our work over the past year here.
The UC Irvine History Project provides an institutional framework for collaboration between the UCI History Department and K-12 history/social science teachers in Orange County. The core of our Project is the series of teacher-training institutes we offer in the subjects of literacy, world history, and United States history. These institutes provide the basis for our on-going development of grade-appropriate curriculum that responds, among other things, to the challenges that teachers face in answering to district and state standards.
The UCI History Project is dedicated to the mission of providing a space for history teachers at varying points in their career, from credential candidates to veteran teachers, to engage in high-quality professional development. Teacher participants will experience a collaborative, scholarly environment that supports the development of historical thinking, content knowledge, and pedagogical expertise. To this end, the UCI History Project staff, which includes scholars and teacher leaders, are dedicated to building a model of professional practice within their own site in order to demonstrate the habits of mind, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to continuously improve the way history is taught, as well as to more deeply understand and appreciate the discipline of history itself.
The UCI History Project is one branch of a much broader program of regional outreach at UCI. For more information on these other UCI programs, please visit the Humanities Out There (H.O.T) website as well as the Center for Educational Partnerships (CFEP). In addition, the UCI History Project is a regional branch of the California History and Social Science Project (CHSSP), a statewide umbrella organization that promotes university-public school collaboration.
For a short overview of UCI History Project's partnerships over the last year, please click here.
Faculty Advisor
Robert Moeller
Email: rgmoelle@uci.edu
Bob Moeller has been the faculty advisor of the History Project since it was founded in 1999. Bob's research focuses on the history of Germany in the twentieth century. He has worked on the reasons for the political collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis; the reconstruction of the West German state after 1945 with particular attention to policies regulating women's labor market participation, maternity benefits, and family law; and the ways in which the memory of the Second World War and the Nazi period continued to resonate in Germany in the years after 1945. Bob is a frequent presenter at History Project seminars on subjects ranging from the French Revolution to post-1945 immigration to Europe. His work with the project has profoundly influenced his teaching at the university level, and he continues to work at his goal of creating "one big school house"--that stretches from K-24 and beyond--that includes teachers at all levels in California's public education system.
Site Director
Nicole Gilbertson
Phone: (949) 824-2057
Email: gilbertn@uci.edu
Nicole's passion for collaboration with teachers, researchers, and students has led her to the UCI History project where she is the Site Director. She is the author of a published world history curriculum that emerged from her work with the Humanities Out There (HOT) program, a partnership between the UCI School of Humanities and Santa Ana Unified School District. Her experiences with HOT and the History Project prompted her to earn a teaching credential in History-Social Science at UCI in 2005. In September 2007, Nicole completed her dissertation on gender and citizenship by studying a group of Spanish exiles in Britain in the 1820's. Her research on these exiles, and her work with the History Project, allow her to examine the historical evolution of citizenship from a variety of perspectives .
World History Teacher Leader and Project Coordinator
Courtney Amaya
Email:
camaya@orangeusd.org
Courtney has taught at her alma mater, Canyon High School for the past 9 years. As an active member of the Orange Unified School District, she has been involved with many different projects and leadership responsibilities including: curriculum development, the authoring of district pacing guides and course descriptions, a member of Canyon's Professional Development team, Department Chair, WASC team leader, and the 2006 Teacher of the Year. Currently she is teaching Laptop World and U.S. History, AP European History, and Online World History. Courtney was thrilled to join the coordinating team for the World History Project in January of 2007 and continues to love her responsibilities as a teacher-leader for the World History Institutes, as well as a participating member of OUSD/UCI History Project's Teaching American History Grant.
World History Teacher Leader and Project Coordinator
Simon Fellowes
Email: sfellowes@tarbut.com
Simon Fellowes earned a BA with Honors in European History and English Literature at the University of Northumbria in England, and later went on to earn a Masters in Environmental Science with a focus upon education and communication, at Cal State Fullerton. Simon’s teaching career began in Japan where he taught English as a second language to both elementary and middle school students in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagoya. Simon’s teaching career began in the U.S. as a Field Programs Instructor for the OCDE outdoor education program, and then he went on to work for seven years as a Middle-School History teacher in the Westminster School District, where he taught and managed classes of sixth and seventh grade students with widely varying academic levels and English language abilities. While working in the district Simon designed and created a new curriculum for the sixth grade social studies department. This curriculum approached the teaching of ancient civilizations from the perspective of global themes and strands. Simon is currently working at Tarbut V’Torah Jewish Community Day School, where he teaches both the middle and high school history classes. While working at TVT he was given the responsibility of creating and implementing a Middle-East Studies curriculum for the high school which gained UC approval. Simon joined the World History Project coordinating team in January 2007, and has greatly enjoyed his time working as a presenter, coordinator, and teacher-leader for the World History Institutes.
Postdoctoral Teaching American History Program Coordinator
Casey Christensen
Email: caseypchristensen@yahoo.com
Casey earned her graduate degree in U.S. History at UC Irvine in June 2009. Her dissertation examines the role of women and gender in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in the early twentieth century. She joined the History Project in September of 2010 as an academic coordinator for the Project's first ACCESS Teaching American History grant, a program designed to serve the needs of social science teachers in Orange County's alternative and continuing education sites.
Teaching American History Coordinator
Eric Steiger
Email: esteiger@uci.edu
Eric is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at UCI. His dissertation research considers the environmental history of California and the U.S. West, with a particular focus on the engineers who constructed Southern California's vital infrastructure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Eric completed a B.A. in history at Pacific Lutheran University and an M.A. in history and a certificiate in museum studies at the University of Delaware. He was excited to join the History Project in June 2010 and looks forward to cultivating vibrant collaborations with teachers through out the K-12 and college systems in Orange County.
Literacy Program Teacher Leader and Project Coordinator
Sara Jordan
Email: sarajordan25@yahoo.com
Sara Jordan teaches History at Segerstrom High School in the Santa Ana Unified School District, a partner of the University of California, Irvine History Project. Sara Jordan earned both her teaching credential and MA in curriculum design at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. Sara holds a record of leadership positions at her school site and the district. Sara has enjoyed working with many types of learners, from English Learners, to students with special needs, to the Advanced Placement student. She has been a teacher leader for the Literacy in the History Classroom and the World History Program. In this context, she helps in the planning of the institutes, follow up meetings, and supports teachers in the institute. In addition she has been an AP College Board Exam Reader, co-authored State wide curriculum on 10.4 Imperialism World History Unit. Published TBD, 2009 with The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) and the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB), and presented on writing in the history classroom at Social Studies Conferences (CWHA, CCHE, AERA, CCSS). She is a member of the California Teachers Association, Santa Ana Educators Association, World History Association, California Council for History Education (CCHE), California State History Project: History Summit Member-participant.
Academic Literacy Coordinator
Emily Markussen Sorsher
Email: e.markussen.sorsher@uci.edu
Emily Markussen Sorsher studied medieval history at Smith College. Upon completing her degree, she attained secondary teaching credentials in History-Social Science and English-Language Arts at UC Irvine. Emily went on to teach History and English at almost every level in grades 7-12, in addition to coaching Mock Trial. She created much of her own curriculum, focusing on student use of primary sources and increasing students' literacy skills. After teaching for several years in Orange County, Emily returned to UCI for her Master's degree in history. Her thesis examined 20th century American education and the changing methodologies of a Cold War classroom. She presented her research at multiple conferences around the nation. Emily also worked for various educational non-profit organizations, running grant-funded programs and authoring grants herself. In 2011, Emily joined the UCI History Project to coordinate Integrating Academic Literacy to Close the Achievement Gap, a grant partnership with the UCI History Project, the California Reading and Literature Project, Vanguard University's Department of Education, and Valley High School in Santa Ana.
Orange Unified TAH Program Director
Peter Tavoularis
Email:
ptavoularis@orangeusd.k12.ca.us
As a prelude to his work with the History Project, Pete has taught history for seven years in the Orange Unified School District (OUSD). During 2008-9 he will mark the beginning of his 13th year as an educator. Pete is also the Project Director of the OUSD-UCI TAH Grant. During the past several years, Pete has maintained an active role at both Orange High School (OHS) and the OUSD. He has served as a trainer for beginning teachers, a BTSA consulting teacher, and Summer School Principal (OHS). In addition, Pete is in his 5th year as a Subject Matter Faculty Consultant for Chapman University. He is also an instructor in the Bridge program for Santiago Canyon College. Pete matriculated at the University of Iowa with a B.A. in Political Science. He earned his teaching credential at California State University-San Bernardino. He was awarded a Master's in Education from Concordia University, and presently holds an Administrative Services Credential in California.
Co-Director of TAH Grant
Dale Woods
Email:dwoods@orangeusd.k12.ca.us
Dale has been teaching 8th grade U.S. History at Portola Middle School for the past 5 years. In addition, he is the social studies department head and a member of Portola's Instructional Leadership Team, helping to guide school curriculum and policy. Prior to entering the teaching profession he worked in private industry in areas such as operations and accounting. Dale graduated from UC Irvine with a major in philosophy and holds a master's degree in cross-cultural education. He joined the Teaching American History project in June of 2008 and is excited to be a part of Orange USD's partnership with the UCI-HP.
Administrative Assistant
Kate Triglia
Email: ktriglia@uci.edu
Kate graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.A. in History in 2011. During her college career, Kate served as the President of Cal Poly’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the National Historical Honors Society, co-edited The Forum: A Journal of History, and worked as a docent at the San Luis Obispo History Center. Kate joined the History Project team as the Program Administrator in January of 2012, and also serves as the Graduate Administrator for the Department of History.