The College's Bicentennial programs and the Graduate School of Education, in partnership with the Oregon Council for the Humanities have collaborated to create professional development programs to engage public school teachers and, by extension, their students, in an informed discussion of the history and legacy of the Lewis and Clark Expedition–locally, regionally, and nationally.

A centerpiece of the Graduate School activities will be an annual five-day summer institute that centers on the Expedition story in the Pacific Northwest while also providing teachers with the opportunity to work with primary source documents and create grade-appropriate curricular materials.

This summer's institute is titled:Lewis and Clark and the Legacies of Discovery: An Institute for Northwest Teachers August 10-15, 2003 at Lewis & Clark College

Barry Lopez will kick off this year's teacher's institute with a keynote lecture entitled "Encounters and Explorations" which is free and open to the public. Lopez is an author, essayist and short story writer Books by Barry Lopez include Crow and Weasel, Crossing Open Ground, Winter Count, Field Notes, Desert Notes/River Notes, Arctic Dreams, and Of Wolves and Men. Lopez will be speaking on Sunday, August 10, 2003 from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm in the Agnes Flanagan Chapel.