Bridging World History was funded by Annenberg Media, a unit of The Annenberg Foundation. Annenberg Media uses media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg Media funds educational series and teacher professional development workshops for the Annenberg Channel. The Channel is distributed free by satellite to schools and other educational and community organizations nationwide, and streamed via broadband on the Web. For information on obtaining Annenberg Media materials, go to www.learner.org or call 1-800-LEARNER.
Bridging World History was produced with the support of
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Kristian Berg is an experienced writer and producer of documentaries and non-fiction series television specializing in history, science, and children's programming. Kristian served as a series writer for "American Passages: A Literary Survey," a sixteen-part series for Oregon Public Broadcasting and Annenberg Media. He has written and produced for PBS series such as "Newton's Apple," "ZOOM!" and "DragonflyTV." His historical documentaries for PBS and CourtTV include "The Dakota Conflict," "Dakota Exile," "The Scottsboro Boys," and "The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann." He is currently a senior producer at Oregon Public Broadcasting with the PBS series "History Detectives." Kristian wrote video episodes 2, 6, 11, 15, and 16.
Sharon Cohen has been teaching world history in Montgomery County Public Schools for eleven years and is now at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her other curriculum writing projects include teaching materials for the College Board on AP World History and for World History For Us All, a Web-based model curriculum sponsored by San Diego State University. In her capacity as a consultant to the College Board, Ms. Cohen runs workshops on AP world history and vertical teaming, and is a member of the AP World History Test Development Committee. She also co-teaches a graduate seminar on East Asia at the University of Maryland, College Park, under the auspices of the Committee for Teaching About Asia and the Freeman Foundation. Sharon wrote the video, print, and Web activities for the 26 units.
Gail Evenari holds a BA in linguistics and a master's degree in education, and has worked in the field of education since 1974. After teaching and writing curriculum for several years, Evenari wrote and produced the award-winning Spirit of the Land educational video series. Her PBS documentary, "Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey," was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Other recent projects include producing Web sites for KQED television, teaching writing and the Web at the University of California Graduate School of Journalism, and completing a children's book. Gail wrote video episodes 23 and 24.
Mark Given has been writing /producing video and live theater for six years in St. Paul, Minnesota. He works primarily on business-to-business events for major corporations such as Target, Honeywell, and Good Humor-Breyers. Mark has also written such pieces as creative proposals for PBS grants and promotional videos for community services. Mark wrote video episodes 4, 8, 9, 10, and 22. Mark also co-wrote episodes 5, 6, 11, 13, 21, and 26, and served as script editor for the video series.
Matthew Guterl is assistant professor of African American and African diaspora studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of The Color of Race in America, 1900-1940 (Harvard, 2001), and is presently writing a history of emancipation in the United States. He teaches courses on comparative racial and ethnic histories. Matthew contributed to the research and writing of the video series.
The late Rick Harmon was an oral historian and former editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly. He held BA and MA degrees in history from the University of California at San Diego. He edited the Marcus Garvey papers at UCLA and the seminal work by W.E.B. DuBois The Souls of Black Folks. One of his final projects was a history of Crater Lake National Park, published by Oregon State University Press and nominated for an Oregon Book Award. Rick contributed to the research and writing of the video series.
Beth Harrington is an independent public television producer/director and writer. Her work often explores American folk traditions, history and culture. Her documentary about the pioneering women of rock & roll, Welcome to the Club: The Women of Rockabilly, was honored in 2002 with a Grammy nomination. She has also worked as a line producer and associate producer for NOVA, Frontline, and The Health Quarterly. These shows have been honored with a number of awards, including a Peabody and two Emmy nominations. She holds a bachelor's degree in public communications from Syracuse University and a master's degree in American studies from University of Massachusetts-Boston. Beth wrote video episodes 12, 20, and 21.
Lisa Irving earned her degree in history of early modern China, and lives
and teaches in Portland, Oregon. Lisa contributed to the research and writing of the video series.
Carolyn Neel is adjunct history faculty, teaching world civilizations courses at Hawaii Pacific University, and a lecturer in world cultures at University of Hawai'i at Manoa. World history is her primary interest; she is currently investigating the impact of Chinese philosophy on the development of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British theories of political economy. Carolyn contributed to the research and writing of the video series and wrote the content for the Web site interactive "World History Traveler."
David Poulshock is a writer/director based in Portland, Oregon. His projects have ranged from educational scripts for Oregon Public Broadcasting to the highly acclaimed "Wee Sing" children's series, recently distributed by Universal Home Video. Additionally, his theatrical screenplays have received honors in many script competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowships, World-Fest Houston, and Austin Heart of the Screenplay. David's work as a writer and director has garnered over 50 regional and national awards. David wrote video episodes 5, 7, 17, and 19.
Katherine Sadler holds a doctorate in history from UCLA. She is an adjunct professor at Portland State University where she teaches classes in African history, African studies, and comparative world history. Her research focuses on resistance movements of African women. Katherine contributed to the research and writing of the video series.
Heather Streets is assistant professor of history at Washington State University. Originally trained as a British Empire specialist, she also teaches world civilizations, global imperialism, global historical geography, and graduate courses in world history. She is the director of Washington State's PhD program in world history, and is co-editor of the new e-journal World History Connected, which focuses on issues related to teaching world history at the secondary and university levels. Heather wrote the 26 chapters for the text materials.
Louise Vance is a San Francisco-based producer/director/writer of documentary and educational films. She has created television specials for KQED-TV, PBS, CNN, and Turner Broadcasting, earning a Peabody Award as series producer of the five-year TBS series "Portrait of America." Her documentary film "Iran: Behind the Veil" and CNN series "Iran: In the Name of God" were the first look inside Iran after the Islamic Revolution, earning a DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton Award. She has served as senior producer of the PBS series, "Livelyhood" and as one of four producers on "Not in Our Town II: Citizens Respond to Hate." Currently, she is in post-production on her independent documentary film, "Seneca Falls." Louise wrote video episode 13.
Steve Wright is an accomplished writer and producer based in Austin, Texas. He uses diverse writing styles to develop both short-form and long-form projects, including documentaries, news magazine-style programs, multipart instructional videos and other projects for television, businesses, universities, associations, and state agencies. Steve is a former television news reporter at CBS and NBC affiliate stations, and received the Associated Press's top honor for best documentary in the state of Texas. Steve wrote video episodes 1 and 18.
Rebecca J. Becker
Rebecca taught for seven years at Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In Portland, Rebecca taught at Portland State University and for nine years at Lewis & Clark College, where she received the Professor of the Year Award. Her courses include graduate seminars in the Civil War, the Revolution, and historiography, as well as masters' classes in Restoration comedy, commedia, and vaudeville. She has been the recipient of fellowships from Northwestern University and Zeta Phi Eta, and is resident composer and choreographer for Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon. Rebecca hosted episodes 2, 5, 9, 11, 17, and 24.
Veronica Dujon is an associate professor of sociology at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She teaches courses in environmental sociology, sociology of globalization, and the sociology of women. She has been a recipient of Oregon Sea Grant grants and MacArthur Foundation fellowships. Her current research is on the relationship between people and the natural environment in the Klamath Basin, Oregon. Veronica hosted episodes 4, 6, 10, 15, 18, 21, and 26.
Sid Louie taught high school social studies and language arts for over six years. He is a writer and actor — freelance writing for newspapers and acting in several Portland productions and commercials. Sid hosted episodes 1, 8, 12, 14, 19, and 23.
Michael Pullen is a public affairs coordinator for Multnomah County in Portland, Oregon. He has worked as a writer, video editor, and fundraiser. He has written about many countries as a travel writer, and holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Michael hosted episodes 3, 7, 13, 16, 20, 22, and 25.
OPB has a long history of producing Web sites, teachers' guides, and other curriculum materials to accompany educational and PBS broadcast series. Working in close concert with national advisory boards, OPB's staff has produced curriculum materials in the humanities and sciences for a variety of grade levels and teacher professional development.
OPB is a producer of PBS primetime factual series including "Life 360," "History Detectives," and "New Heroes," and is one of the top five producers of documentary specials for PBS.
Field Audio: Gene Koon, Spence Palermo, Larry Provost, Carey Weatherford
Additional Graphics: Neil Blume, Melissa Gorgon Clark, Sandy Engel
Program Theme Music: Cal Scott
Studio Audio: Thom Dentler
Dolly Grip: James Wilder Hancock
Grip: Justin Ward
Set Design: Doko, inc.
Rigging: Ken Riddle
Storyteller Art Direction: Gini Chin, Brandy Pace
Prop Stylist: Damali Ayo
Wardrobe: Casey Boyd
Teleprompter: Stan Hintz, William Ward
Text and web site Copyeditors: Jennifer Ingraham, Joanna Present Wolfe
Online Video Editors: Tom Babich and Al Herberholtz, Lisa Suinn Kallem