Stepping into the headquarters of The MacMillan Institute in Duncanville has a calming effect, especially when you’re greeted by the director, Dr. Claudia MacMillan. The longtime educator radiates warmth and kindness, while the spacious surroundings of the Institute offer visitors a quiet haven from the holiday traffic and noise outside.
The MacMillan Institute has experienced inspirational success with Pre K-12 students who attend schools that integrate the Humanities into their curriculum. Here is a succinct explanation of the Institute’s mission in Claudia MacMillan’s words.
The MacMillan Institute Mission
“Our mission is pretty simple. Through our events, classes, and certifications, we inspire and equip public school educators—from superintendents to classroom teachers—so they can provide all public-school children with a liberal education, that is, with the quality of education that is typically only provided in the most elite private schools,” she says.
“The work originated in Dallas in 1984 when Dr. Louise Cowan created distinctive (and, they quickly discovered, transformative) summer seminars for schoolteachers. I was a blessed beneficiary of these classes in 1989, and I began shepherding the work itself in 2004. My staff and I moved the work from Dallas to Duncanville in March, 2023 because when Monte Anderson heard about our wanting to come south of Dallas, he asked me to office in Wheatland Plaza, which I happily agreed to do. (I had known Monte from the institution where Louise Cowan did her work in Dallas.)”
“More importantly, we wanted to be more conveniently located for all the public-school educators in Southern Dallas County schools,” she added.
Since The MacMillan Institute opened in Wheatland Plaza, they have welcomed members of the community to a variety of special classes and programs for educators and neighbors. These monthly events ranged from Dr. Claudia MacMillan’s study of “Shakespeare’s Daughters” in September to an online series on “Kafka” with Dr. Bainard Cowan in December. City of Duncanville administrators and Councilmembers attended an Executive Seminar held at The MacMillan Institute Oct. 24-25.
Duncanville Councilman District 3 Don McBurnett, who attended the October seminars, said, “The class was well done, and based on the vision to make us better human beings. Dr. MacMillan and her group led a discussion of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar regarding the rise and fall of his empire, and its application today. There were five main reasons for failure, with one main take-away confirming that Leadership is an action and not a title.”
Moby Dick Marathon Read
Dr. MacMillan says the final program this year is the “Moby-Dick” Marathon Read on Dec. 27-28.
“This is our second Moby Dick Marathon Read, and it’s open to the public,” she says, “although we want people to sign up on our website. We who are alumni of the Summer Seminars that Louise Cowan created in 1984 LOVE this novel. It’s the final work that we read in The Epic Cosmos Summer Seminar, and since we were/are taught the novel so lovingly and well, most of us fall in love with it like we fall in love with the other works that we study in the course.”
“We had about 35 readers last year, but it appears that there will be more this year, educators and neighbors alike,” Dr. MacMillan says. “People come from as far away as Greenville, Celina, and Fort Worth for the event. It’s a great reunion time for us!”
“It takes almost 24 hours to read the novel. Most people came and went, but about 15 of us stayed the whole time, committing ourselves to the White Whale. A couple of people (I was not among them) actually somehow stayed ‘awake’ the whole time. I don’t know how! Adrenaline and coffee must have played a part,” she adds.
MacMillan Institute December Event
“It’s a grand time, listening to a great story and seeing grownups love language right in front of you!”
Herman Melville’s iconic American novel “Moby Dick” contains 209,117 words, and Marathon Read participants take turns reading the novel straight through without intermission. The New Bedford Whaling Museum has hosted Moby-Dick Marathons each January since 1997, celebrating the anniversary of Melville’s departure from the Port of New Bedford on the whaleship Acushnet.
For more information about The MacMillan Institute, or to sign up for one of the seminars or events, please visit MacMillianInstitute.org.
