In 1959 the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s Office of Education began the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) Institutes for Advanced Study, a program designed to provide elementary and secondary school teachers with an opportunity for focused learning in their subject. Whitman College Professor of History Dr. Glenn Thomas Edwards initiated and organized the creation of an NDEA history institute at Whitman College for the summer of 1966 following the expansion of the government program to teachers of history and civics in 1965. The program was not approved for a second summer.

The institute served history and social studies teachers primarily from the northwestern United States during the months of June and July. Lectures and seminars on the subject of “The United States and East Asia in the Twentieth Century” were given by Whitman professors of history, religion, and economics. Teachers concluded the program by submitting a research paper on a topic (related to the theme of the program) of their choice. Students of the program were provided with on-campus room and board and a weekly stipend for the seven week period.