U.S. Embassy Seoul is pleased to announce the 2024 Study of the U.S. Institute for Secondary Educators (SUSIs) Program. We encourage qualified applicants to apply for this unique opportunity to join the program in the United States.
Program Overview
Study of the U.S. Institutes for Secondary Educators (SUSIs) are intensive post-graduate level academic programs that provide mid-career foreign secondary school educators and administrators the opportunity to deepen their understanding of U.S. society, culture, values, and institutions. The program goal is to strengthen curricula and to enhance the quality of teaching about the United States in secondary schools and other academic institutions abroad.
SUSIs for Secondary Educators will take place at various academic institutions throughout the United States over the course of five weeks in summer 2024, starting from late May or early June 2024. Each Institute includes a four-week academic residency and a one-week integrated study tour in another region of the United States.
Program Description
The SUSIs Secondary Educators in 2024 will provide three multinational groups of 20 experienced secondary school educators (including secondary school teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, curriculum developers, textbook writers, Ministry of Education officials, and others) with a deeper understanding of U.S. society, education, and culture – past and present. The Institutes focus on providing content and materials for participants to develop high school level curricula about the United States. Two of the Institutes are tailored for secondary school teachers; please note that the Institutes for teachers focus on content and materials about the United States rather than teaching methods and pedagogy. The third Institute is tailored to experienced administrators, including teacher trainers, curriculum developers, textbook writers, Ministry of Education officials, and others.
Through a combination of traditional, multi-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary approaches, program content will examine the history and evolution of U.S. institutions and values, broadly defined. The programs will also illuminate contemporary political, social, and economic debates in American society. The four-week academic residencies will take place at U.S. university and college campuses and will consist of a balanced series of lectures, panels, seminar discussions, readings, workshops, site visits, meetings with practitioners in the field, and cultural activities. One-week study tours in a different region will complement the academic residencies and showcase the cultural, geographic, and ethnic diversity of the United States. The program features curriculum based on the study of how America’s foundations and historical development have shaped and continue to inform U.S. politics, economics, and society. Community service activities are a key cultural component of the program and provide participants with a first-hand experience of how volunteerism plays a vital role in U.S. civil society. The program will offer multiple opportunities for follow-on engagement through alumni webinars, grant-funded follow-on projects, social media, and an alumni workshop.
The University of Montana (UM) in Missoula, Montana, will oversee and administer the three SUSIs for Secondary Educators and will also conduct one Institute for teachers which will explore U.S. studies through the lens of democracy and citizenship. The Institute for Training and Development (ITD) in Amherst, Massachusetts, will conduct the second Institute for teachers which will explore the ways in which individual rights and social obligations have evolved through American history. California State University at Chico will conduct the Institute for Administrators and will focus on sociocultural understanding, equitable learning communities, and diversity and inclusion in U.S. education and society.
Program Funding
Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will cover all participant costs, including travel allowances, domestic travel, health benefits, and ground transportation; book, cultural, mailing and incidental allowances; and housing and subsistence; as well as arrange and pay for participants’ international and visa travel costs and travel allowances within set limits and in coordination with posts and Fulbright commissions.
Eligibility
Candidates should ideally be in mid-career, typically between the ages of 30-50, highly motivated, experienced secondary school teachers and administrators whose students are approximately 14-18 years of age.
Candidates should ideally introduce aspects of U.S. studies into its curricula, to develop new courses in the Institute subject, to enhance and update existing courses on the United States, or to offer specialized seminars/workshops for professionals in U.S. studies areas related to the program theme.
Candidates should ideally have little or no prior experience living in or visiting the United States.
Candidates should have English language fluency.
Candidates should be willing and able to fully take part in an intensive post-graduate level academic program. It is important that posts and commissions nominate individuals who are likely to be comfortable with campus life and an active program schedule.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents (green card holders) are not eligible for these programs.
Relatives of U.S. embassy or Fulbright commission employees are not eligible for SUSIs.
How to Apply
Please fill out the SUSIs application form and submit it to pdseoulexchanges@state.gov by December 08, 2023. The personal interview will be scheduled in December 2023. SUSI office in Education of Cultural Affairs, Department of State, will announce the final participant on early April 2024.
For more information, please visit Study of the U.S. Institutes | Exchange Programs (state.gov)
For inquiries, please email to the Exchange & Alumni team at pdseoulexchanges@state.gov.