8th Annual FLCHE Conference

Florida Council for History Education (FLCHE) is pleased to present our 8th annual conference at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota, Florida. Please join us as we share our organization’s mission to promote history in education as a way to appreciate the progress and awareness of past and present events.  Conference presentations will reflect the theme, Rights and Responsibilities in History.  All sessions will focus on building content knowledge, promoting history education and disciplinary literacy, and the use of primary sources.

FLCHE aligned our conference theme with the 2025 National History Day theme to support teaching and learning needs for next year’s contest! Click Here for Conference Registration

Gayle Jessup White

Gayle Jessup White is the first public relations and community engagement officer at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the nonprofit that owns and operates Monticello. She is the author of the book, Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy. A former award-winning television reporter and anchor, Gayle started her career at the New York Times. She has written and spoken extensively about her work at Monticello, the legacies of slavery, and her family’s contributions to American history. Gayle serves on Virginia’s Citizens Advisory Council on Furnishing and Interpreting the Executive Mansion, where she is founding chair of the Descendant Committee. She is also a board member the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, Charlottesville Live Arts, and Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. Gayle Jessup White, Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer, Monticello.

Dr. David Blight

David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University, joining that faculty in January 2003.  He previously taught at Amherst College for thirteen years.  As of June 2004, he is Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale.  

Blight is an author, and an award-winning scholar and professor who works in many capacities in the world of public history, including on boards of museums and historical societies, and as a member of a small team of advisors to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum team of curators. He teaches summer institutes for secondary teachers and for park rangers and historians in the National Park Service, devoting a good deal of time to these and many other public history initiatives. 

Blight has a Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did his undergraduate degree at Michigan State University.  He has also taught at Harvard University, at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and for seven years was a public high school teacher in his hometown, Flint, Michigan.  He was also senior Fulbright Professor in American Studies at the University of Munich in Germany in 1992-93. 

Dr. Rolando Herts

Sip and Scholarship Keynote

Dr. Herts is the director of The Delta Center and executive director of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a Congressionally designated partnership with the National Park Service. As an Executive Academy Fellow with the Delta Regional Authority’s Delta Leadership Institute, he was awarded an executive education certificate from the Authentic Leadership for the 21st Century Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also is a Research Fellow with Tourism RESET, a multi-university and interdisciplinary research and outreach initiative focused on race, ethnicity, and social equity in tourism.

Dr. Herts is a university-community engagement scholar who is committed to stimulating diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultural heritage development activity in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the United States. 

Dr. Herts holds a Ph.D. in planning and public policy from Rutgers Graduate School-New Brunswick. He also holds a M.A. in Social Science from The University of Chicago and a B.A. in English from Morehouse College. A product of the Great Migration, he grew up in the Chicagoland area and in the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta region. His interest areas include university-community engagement and partnership development, community-based tourism planning, place branding/marketing, and regional development.

CONFERENCE CHECK-IN AND MATERIALS

Conference Check-in is available on:

• Friday, July 26 from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange St. Sarasota, FL. 34236.
• Saturday, July 27 from 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM ​at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange St. Sarasota, FL. 34236

You will receive your name tag and conference materials at check-in. 

Friday, July 26, 2024
Pre-conference à la Carte Experiences

Participants can register their families and friends to join!

SPACES FOR THESE EVENTS ARE LIMITED!

10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point Guided Tours

401 North Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 34229
$10.00
Registration for this event closes on 7/24 and space is limited to 40 participants.

Selby Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus is a 30-acre museum site on Little Sarasota Bay in Osprey that focuses on both local history and plant life. While strolling the picturesque HSP campus-one of the largest waterfront preserves showcasing native Florida plants in the state-visitors can explore ancient peoples, pioneer history, the Palmer Legacy, and native plants.

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Guided Tour of The Ringling Museum of Art

5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, FL 34243 Free!
Registration for this event closes on 7/24 and is limited to 50 participants.

Please join us to explore The Ringling Museum of Art! Immerse yourself in all the wonders of The Ringling as you explore the original 21 galleries. Attendees will have access to The Ringling for the rest of the day, including the Museum of Art, Historic Circus Museum, Tibbals Learning Center, and the Bayfront Gardens. 

 For an additional $12, you may add on a first-floor walkthrough of the Ca’ d’Zan, the historic mansion of John and Mable Ringling

With 36,000 square feet and 56 rooms, the Ringlings’ opulent winter home Ca’ d’Zan was meant to impress! Completed in 1926 after only two years of construction, the mansion quickly became a social hub in Sarasota. Today, Ca’ d’Zan offers a glimpse into John and Mable’s taste and lifestyle, transporting visitors back to the glamorous age of the Roaring Twenties.

Dr. Rolando Herts, Sip and Scholarship Keynote

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Welcome Reception / Sip & Scholarship

Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center525 Kumquat Ct, Sarasota, FL 34236
$25.00
Registration for this event closes on 7/24.

Florida Council for History Education will host an evening of libations and stories from the past! Join us at The Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, as historian Rolando Herts, Ph.D shares narratives of historical events through an informal and interactive lecture, over a glass of wine or local brew and light bites!

Cost includes one beverage provided by Florida Council for History Education.

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

1012 N. Orange Ave. Sarasota, FL. 34236

8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.

 Free Parking is available on site. 

Conference Schedule at a Glance 

Registration, Breakfast (provided), and Exhibitor time	8:00 am	8:45 am
FLCHE Board Welcome	8:50 am	9:05 am
Keynote #1	9:05 am	9:55 am
Session 1 (4 concurrent sessions)	10:05 am	10:55 am
Session 2  (4 concurrent sessions)	11:05 am	11:55 am
LUNCH and Exhibitor time (dietary restrictions will be accommodated)	12:00 pm	12:45 pm
Keynote #2	12:45 pm	1:35 pm
Session 3 (4 concurrent sessions)	1:45 pm	2:35 pm
Break, Exhibitor time, and last opportunity to buy raffle tickets	2:35 pm	2:55 pm
Session 4 (4 concurrent sessions)	3:00 pm	3:50 pm
Raffle Winners Announcements	3:55 pm	4:30 pm

Standard Rate (includes 1-year membership, reciprocal membership to NCHE, and breakfast and lunch)	$110.00
Spouse (includes breakfast and lunch; does not include membership)	$65.00
Full-time Student (includes breakfast and lunch; does not include membership)	$65.00

Documentation for In-Service Credit is provided! **Please note: You are not registered for the conference until you have submitted payment.
Registration fee is non-refundable.
Please proceed to payment by clicking the button to continue. Click Here for Conference Registration

FLCHE T-SHIRTS

Purchase a Florida Council for History Education T-Shirt!  Pre-order by 7/21 and your shirt will be waiting for you at check-in, or purchase your shirt at the conference (limited sizing available).

Sizes Small-X-Large – $20.00

XX-Large $22.00

Purchase T-Shirts with Registration

CONFERENCE RAFFLE TICKETS

We are excited to announce that our popular raffle will take place once again at this year’s conference!  As a conference attendee, you can purchase raffle tickets for the chance to win some amazing gifts.

​Raffle items include Gift Baskets, Books, Collectible Items, a Complimentary Registration to FLCHE’s and NCHE’s Annual Conferences, and more!
For a limited time, we are offering “Early Bird” raffle tickets.
Purchase 30 tickets for $25 before July 24, 2024! Not to Worry…
If you wait until you get to the conference to purchase your raffle tickets, we will still have them available for only $1.00 each!

Coming Soon!   Check back to see our raffle items….More items to come…. Click Here to Purchase Raffle Tickets

Hotel Accommodations

The FLCHE Conference preferred hotels are:

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Hyatt Regency: 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, FL 34236 

Booking:
Book here: Reservations

Group Code: G-FCHE

Rooms:
Room Rate – $169

Discounted Resort Fee- $12

Includes two bottles of water daily in guest rooms, daily cold towels/popsicles poolside, use of pool toys, poolside activities, watersports, bicycles, fishing poles, and shuttle to/from St. Armand’s Circle, Lido Beach, and downtown Sarasota, discounted self-parking fee $10 per night.  Note-you are able to extend your vacation pre- and post-event for the same daily rate.

Reservation Cancellation is 72 hours before arrival date

Register by June 25, 2024 to receive these discounts

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Embassy Suites: 202 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236

Booking:
Book here:Reservations

Rooms:
Room Rate – $169

Resort Fee – $25

Includes premium Wi-FI, two-hour ZYBRA bike rentals, $25.00 daily F&B credit at Bridges Restaurant or Lobby Grab-n-go, discounted self-parking – $10 per night, free made-to-order breakfast, complimentary evening reception.

Reservation cancellation 48-hours before arrival date

Register by June 25, 2024 to receive these discounts

*If you are a state employee or you are a member of an organization that is tax exempt, don’t forget to bring a copy of your tax-exempt certificate.  The hotels will accept these at check-in.

Get Social

Check-in and post about your experience at our conference events!

Don’t forget to use the hashtags #FLCHE2024 #RightsandResponsibilitesInHistory #HistoryEducationMatters

And be sure to follow us @FLhistoryed