Saint Rose Education Professor Named First Chair for New York Council for History Education

Dr. Kristi Fragnoli, an education professor at The College of Saint Rose, is serving as the first chair of the New York Council for History Education, which was created last year and will bring together a team of educators from nine New York State regions.

The New York Council for History Education is a partnership of the National Council for History Education, which provides professional and intellectual leadership to foster an engaged community committed to the teaching, learning, and appreciation of diverse histories, and the New York State Archives Partnership Trust (APT), a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to keep over 350 years of New York’s rich documentary heritage within the New York State Archives accessible and alive through education, preservation, and outreach programs. NYCHE, the new statewide council, will create networks of educators, historians, and cultural organizations and provide locally-focused professional development and outreach activities.

It is one of many activities aimed at increasing the variety of historical resources for educators to use in the classroom. In September 2019, APT announced it had received a $100,000 matching grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for the “Consider the Source Online: Teaching with Historical Records Project.” The statewide project will bring together teachers, cultural institutions, and content specialists to develop an online network of learning communities and access to new tools and resources created by educators, for educators. Work began on the project in September 2019 with completion anticipated in August 2021.

“As a professor teaching the next generation of K-12 educators, I stress the importance of using resources that offer multiple perspectives,” Fragnoli said. “‘Consider the Source Online’ is an ideal project to provide examples of well-rounded lesson plans offering local, state and national perspectives by using primary sources from local repositories and the State Archives.”

Fragnoli teaches within the undergraduate- and graduate-level programs at Saint Rose, including adolescent, childhood, and special education certification programs. She was the lead educator as part of the New York State Archives’ “Throughout the Age,” a web-based college resource. This web resource was awarded the American Association for State and Local Leadership in History Award of Merit. Fragnoli was awarded the Bruce W. Dearstyne Annual Archives Award: Excellence in Educational Use of Historical Records.

She has presented at international, national, state, and regional conferences for the National Council of Social Studies, the National Council of History Education, and the American Association of College for Teacher Education. Her research interests include white racial identity, civic literacy, and historical document analysis.