The Department of History is collaborating with Preservation North Dakota, the statewide association for historic preservation, to deliver a rare opportunity in a summer course. “Prairie Earth, Prairie Homes: A Field School,” will be offered July 12-19.

The course promises tours of little-known earth building sites on the prairies of western North Dakota and hands-on restoration activities at the historic Hutmacher farmstead. Options are available for graduate credit, undergraduate credit, teacher professional development and non-credit learning vacation.

Nationally, the course is advertised as “experiential learning in an unforgettable landscape.”

Tom Isern, University Distinguished Professor of history, is the instructor for the field school. “We’ll cook dinner in a Hidatsa earth lodge, rediscover forgotten sod houses, explore Ukrainian and German-Russian earth building sites and get really dirty putting a clay roof on the historic Hutmacher farmhouse,” says Isern.

History doctoral candidate Suzzanne Kelley also will offer a professional development option for in-service teachers. As president of Preservation North Dakota, she also welcomes inquiries about learning vacations associated with the field school.

For more information, go to www.ndsu.edu/instruct/isern/earth.