“History and Hope: Teaching with Historic Places”

For George M. Pullman, the integrated manufacturing complex and planned model town he created was a grand experiment in industrial order and community planning. What he didn’t plan for was the important role that the Town of Pullman would play in the American labor movement. Now, Pullman National Monument is a living classroom for learners of all ages to explore labor history, industrialization, transportation, social justice and urban planning. Superintendent Teri Gage will explore ways that the Pullman stories of the past can inform our understanding of and response to current events.

SPEAKER BIO: Born and raised on the south shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Teri Gage started her National Park Service career at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore during her junior year of high school.  She went on to serve in a variety of business management roles at national parks in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, and Wisconsin before being named Superintendent at Pullman National Monument in February 2020.  Throughout the agency, Teri is recognized for her expertise in partnerships and agreements, commercial services, and creative problem solving. She majored in Sociology at Northern Michigan University and completed professional certificates in cultural heritage tourism at George Washington University and executive leadership at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.  She and her husband Paul, a 15-year veteran of the National Park Service, make their home in Lansing, Illinois.  They enjoy the outdoors, boating, travel, and exploring Chicagoland.