Lone Star College-Online has secured a nearly $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to transform its U.S. history curriculum. This three-year project, led by R. Chris Davis, Ph.D., Lone Star College-Online History and Humanities professor, will introduce thematic tracks within popular U.S. History survey courses, allowing students to specialize in subfields that align with their own interests and career goals.
Professor Davis, who teaches History and Humanities at Lone Star College-Online, shared his inspiration for the project:
"I've always wanted to tailor my courses to the interests of my students. When you have such a diverse range of interests, majors, and career paths, it is hard to do that in just one course. So, I had this idea of creating tracks, different modules and different assignments that students can self-select. For example, nursing students or healthcare professionals might want to look at U.S. history through the lens of health and medicine, focusing more on pandemics and vaccines and how they have informed U.S. history, while still covering the basics."
Professor Davis, has been instrumental in securing the grant, collaborating closely with colleagues from other campuses as well as external contacts from Texas Southern University and San Jacinto College. "This is a collaborative effort," Professor Davis emphasized, with plans to continue working closely with internal and external partners throughout the project development and delivery.
Professor Davis has a long history with Lone Star College, starting off as a student in the mid-nineties, before rejoining later in his career to teach and eventually becoming a full-time Professor at LSC-Online in the History Department.
“The idea, too, is that this is an open educational resource. I plan to have a repository of these different modules that faculty can use to create their own tracks, mix, and match some of these modules that we are creating and tweak them as they see fit. Not just for U.S. history classes, but other classes could take this model.”
Students will benefit significantly from this initiative. By allowing them to study U.S. history through themes that align with their interests and career goals, the project aims to make learning more relevant and engaging.
The NEH grant, valued at $148,594, was highly competitive, with only a few humanities grants awarded each year to community colleges.
“I had some great help with the grant writers and had colleagues who joined me and spent a lot of time on the application. I had great support from my administration at Lone Star College-Online and I think we put together a really good application. This is the first NEH grant, or at least of this kind, that Lone Star College has ever received.”
The project is expected to be piloted in the 2025-2026 academic year, with a larger pilot planned for the following year:
“Something that makes more sense to you is more interesting to you and makes you more invested in the course as a result. Increasing not only your appreciation of U.S. history but also improving your grades.”
If you are interested in studying with Lone Star College-Online, or would like to know more, you can explore our full list of available programs.