This summer, Kansas University will host primary and secondary educators from across the nation as they take part in two seminars led by KU faculty members.

One, led by Maryemma Graham, professor of English, will focus on the contributions of author Richard Wright. The second, led by Janet Sharistanian, associate professor of English, and Ted Wilson, a KU history professor, focuses on World War I.

Both seminars are supported by federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Graham’s summer institute lasts for two weeks, from July 11-24, at KU. Participants will be given elements of a Wright curriculum to take back to their classrooms, Graham said.

They will read many selections of work by the author, who contributed to an ongoing discussion on race and society. The 100th anniversary of Wright’s birth was two years ago.

“This is an occasion for rethinking the significance of a writer in American and world literature,” Graham said.

The longer seminar on the Great War will last from June 28-July 30, Sharistanian said. Unlike the session on Wright, the instructors will focus solely on teacher enrichment, and will not include portions of a classroom curriculum. Elementary and junior high teachers will join high school teachers at the seminar, Sharistanian said.

Of the 34 applicants to the World War I seminar, 16 were accepted, she said. The participants will create a small research project during the time they are at KU, she said.

Both seminars will feature field trips to surrounding sites of interest.

“The idea is to work with KU faculty to get a broad experience,” Sharistanian said.