Metro State Technical Communications Professor Peggy O'Neill-Jones has been named director of "An Adventure of the American Mind," a $2 million federally funded program to train teachers to integrate digital technology and archives from the Library of Congress into their classroom curriculums.

One key focus of the four-year grant will be to train current and future teachers on how to help students access and use the Library of Congress as a primary source research tool via the Internet.

"One of the reasons Metro was chosen for this grant is the credibility and reputation of our Teacher Education program," O'Neill-Jones said. "And my background in technical communications brings together the educational and technical components of the program."

In addition to Metro's teacher education students, the program will train K-12 teachers from school districts in the metro-Denver area and across the state. O'Neill-Jones is hiring staff and plans to begin hosting preliminary workshops this summer. The goal is to train at least 300 teachers each year.

Metro State is one of 10 higher education institutions nationwide and the only college or university in Colorado to receive this grant. The efforts of Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell were instrumental in awarding the funds to Metro.

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, and it serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with nearly 19 million books, 2.6 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps and 56 million manuscripts.