Rich Cairn

Rich Cairn founded the Emerging America program in 2006. Emerging America’s Accessing Inquiry project focuses on the inclusion of ALL learners in History, Civics, and Social Science classrooms, especially students with disabilities and English Learners. Emerging America played a vital role in advancing civics education at the heart of the 2018 Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. Emerging America has been supported by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program, the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History Institutes, and Mass Humanities. A graduate of Yale University, Rich earned a Master of Public Affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. He is a recognized national leader in service-learning, civic engagement, performance assessment, environmental education, and history education. He has authored numerous books and multimedia, and has designed and led hundreds of teacher workshops. He is a lifelong social justice activist.