Transylvania University history professor Hannah Alms turned a summer of preparation into richer Civil War lessons for her students, thanks in part to an Innovation Grant from the Bingham Center for Teaching Excellence.
Alms received some of the earliest funding last year to design and deepen a new 3000-level winter term course on the American Civil War, providing the time and resources to move beyond a “good enough” version of the class, she said. “I’m able to actually do the more ideal version.”
With grant support, she purchased books on the Civil War, gained access to academic journals and spent the summer immersing herself in scholarship. The result was a more nuanced course tailored to Transylvania students, with a stronger emphasis on Kentucky’s role in the conflict.
That local focus paid unexpected dividends. “One of the interesting things about the grant — and any kind of academic work — is that it can take you in all kinds of directions you didn’t expect,” Alms said.
She reached out to public history sites around Lexington, including Camp Nelson National Monument in nearby Nicholasville. Those conversations not only enriched her Civil War class but created ripple effects across her teaching.
This past school year, Alms took both her African American History and American Civil War classes to Camp Nelson, where students heard from National Park Service rangers including Ava Goetz and Transylvania graduate Grayson Briggs ’21. The students learned how the site served as a major Union Army supply depot and one of the largest recruitment and training centers for United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. More than 10,000 African American men enlisted there.
The visit brought their textbook lessons to life. Students explored how Camp Nelson represented the complexities of the Civil War in a border state like Kentucky — a place where enslaved Kentuckians could enlist and claim citizenship. Students even took the junior ranger pledge.
“History is directly in their backyard,” Alms said. The experience also opened doors for career conversations, as rangers expressed interest in internships for Transylvania students and campus visits to discuss NPS opportunities.
This is an example of how Bingham Innovation Grants can extend far beyond one course, allowing faculty to pursue ideas that elevate teaching overall — rather than defaulting to what is merely feasible.
“The BCTE allows us to have the resources, the time and the space for conversation — for those ideas that we have to do things better,” Alms added. “We can actually make that happen.”
About Bingham Innovation Grants
Bingham Innovation Grants, offered through Transylvania’s Bingham Center for Teaching Excellence, empower faculty to innovate and strengthen their teaching practices in ways that directly enhance student learning.
The center has awarded more than 60 Innovation Grants and 20 Small Tech Grants.
The funds provide flexible financial support for expenses related to:
- Integrating technology to build students’ digital literacies and enable creative pedagogies or scholarly projects.
- Pedagogical development such as course redesign, team teaching or cross-division collaborations.
- Professional development opportunities like conference participation or Scholarship of Teaching and Learning initiatives.
By funding ambitious or even small-scale ideas that go beyond routine classroom needs, the program encourages experimentation, interdisciplinary partnerships and continuous improvement in teaching excellence across the university.