PROGRAMS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS, JOURNALISTS, OFFICERS, AND UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS 1) Study Trips for American Social Studies Teachers Atlantik-Brücke began organizing Study Trips for American Social Studies Teachers more than 20 years ago, in conjunction with the Armonk Institute (New York). These trips to Germany concentrate on giving instructors who teach about the Holocaust first-hand knowledge of modern Germany and on increasing awareness in the United States of how Germany has changed and developed since the end of World War II. While in Germany, American educators meet with their German counterparts, as well as high school students, political figures, representatives of minority groups, and business and trade union leaders. They also experience everyday life in Germany by staying with German host families and visiting schools, universities, political institutions, corporations, museums, Holocaust memorials, and sites of resistance against National Socialism. The annual two-week trips, of which there are a maximum of six throughout the year, have been organized for teachers from Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, New York, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Dakota, California, and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). Programs for teachers from Wisconsin and Idaho are being developed for 2007. Atlantik-Brücke has been continuing the program in cooperation with the State Departments of Education since the dissolution of the Armonk Institute in 2001. Each Study Trip is preceded by preparation seminars and followed by wrap-up sessions. Social Studies Teachers from Kentucky Dr. Beate Lindemann and Dr. Walther Leisler Kiep with Social Studies Teachers from Kentucky 2) Study Trips for American Journalists Similarly, Atlantik-Brücke offers a unique opportunity for journalists and opinion-leaders from the American media to get a closer look at present-day Germany and the evolving European Union. Participants gain a broad introduction to contemporary Germany through intensive discussions with high-level decision makers from politics, business, and the media and through visits to major metropolitan areas and smaller cities across Germany, including the former East. Throughout their trip, the journalists have the opportunity to directly observe the consequences of EU enlargement, as well as the success of the German unification process. Started in 1983, two-week Study Trips to Germany are now organized for two groups of approximately ten to twelve journalists each year. Journalist alumni programs are conducted together with institutions such as the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the Rias Berlin Commission, the Körber Foundation, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States to ensure that these contacts and relationships do not fall by the wayside. Past participants are invited every other year to an Alumni Trip through European capitols – Berlin and Warsaw in 2002, and Berlin, Ankara, and Istanbul in 2005. 3) Seminars for American Officers Since the 1960s, Atlantik-Brücke has worked with the American forces in Germany. Together with Haus Rissen, Institute for Politics and Economics in Hamburg, Atlantik-Brücke has offered one-week seminars for American officers newly stationed in Germany to provide a basic introduction to German history, politics, and society. In this way, more than 10,000 American officers have received lasting impressions of Germany, including almost all former Supreme Allied Commanders in Europe. 4) Study Trips for American University Professors Due to the positive response to other Study Trip projects, Atlantik-Brücke and the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University (Atlanta, GA) began organizing annual two-week programs in Germany for groups of professors from Emory University and other universities in the Atlanta area to learn more about contemporary Germany. Participating professors come from such diverse disciplines as history, anthropology, law, music, public health, environmental studies, women’s studies, urban studies, and nursing, but they all have one thing in common: None of the participants have previously worked on Germany or Germany-related subjects. During their stay in Germany, the professors meet with leaders in government, business, education, culture, and the media, which gives them a better understanding of Germany’s present and past, and, more importantly, some of the domestic, economic, and international issues currently concerning the German people. Sharing this new knowledge once they return home helps broaden the perspectives of their students and colleagues, which in the end contributes to the larger goal of internationalizing their universities.			Programs for Social Studies Teachers, Journalists, Officers, and University Professors