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LETTER
OF ENDORSEMENT
June 4, 1999
TO: College of Arts and Sciences
FROM: Gerald W. Fry, Director, International Studies Program
SUBJECT: Statement of Support for Professor Weiss' RAIRE Proposal
I would like to voice my enthusiastic support for Professor Weiss' RAIRE proposal. The
subject matter of the core course, INTL 240: Perspectives on International Development,
is extremely important and would lead to many benefits by encouraging students to do
original research. Mainstream media coverage of events and issues in less
"developed" countries is often one-sided and frequently misinformed or
misleading. This opportunity would provide for students themselves to discover the wealth
of diverse activities and changes actually occurring at the moment in less
"developed" areas.
Professor Weiss is currently engaged in a challenging and timely comparative research
project concerning Islam, gender, and human rights in Tunisia, Pakistan, and Malaysia. She
has grant support for field work in each of these countries, which cover three key parts
of the world, namely, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Professor Harry Judge
of Oxford, in a systematic study of research in comparative journals across the social
sciences, found that actually little work was genuinely comparative and that most research
studies were focused on a single country. Thus, Professor Weiss' current research project
is, therefore, important in its scope, particularly given the general lack of in-depth
treatment and over-abundance of stereotypes of Islam in most university curricula.
Both gender and human rights issues have risen substantially in importance in development
contexts, and these have become central focus areas for many scholars, policy makers and
local practitioners in this field. These issues, along with other critical global issues,
are addressed in International Studies 240. Debates on both global and local issues in
development need to be informed by rigorous data and research. By looking at human rights
instruments on the Internet, students will gain unique, diverse and critical insights into
the current debates central to the development process.
The proposed research modules and discussion forums will enable students to draw upon
Professor Weiss' extensive development expertise and current research interests. Through
this modular research process, they will have the unique opportunity to follow through on
their own interests and conduct international research at the undergraduate level,
something which, typically, they are unable to do. Professor Weiss, too, is uniquely
qualified to work with students on this project, as her dedication to both her teaching
and research is long-standing. Her enthusiasm will be an important support for these
students and they can see a tangible product at the end: a searchable website for an
international audience.
Another attractive aspect of the proposal is that it draws heavily upon an existing
university resource, the Social Science Instructional Laboratory (SSIL), which will be an
active partner in the proposed integration of research into teaching. In all areas of the
social sciences, but particularly in a cutting-edge field like international development,
the more we can support students to become familiar with technological resources and the
skills to use them, the better the prospects are for their academic performance and
careers in the future.
The innovative research-based enhancements to the course proposed by Professor Weiss will
have many benefits to students and their learning. They can be summarized as follows:
- Students will be exposed to alternative and diverse perspectives on controversial human
rights issues.
- Students will be encouraged to interact and think critically about various and extensive
development data.
-Students will develop familiarity with extensive and diverse web data on development
issues and organizations (international, governmental, NGO, etc.).
-Students will develop their information technology skills which are critically needed in
contemporary international development work.
-Students will be exposed to cutting-edge research on Islam, gender, and human rights,
based on current comparative field work in Pakistan, Tunisia, and Malaysia.
-Students will develop skills in effectively utilizing diverse data sources in working on
the required research modules.
-Adding this special research dimension, discussion forums, and information technology
component will make this large class much more personal and interactive.
I am strongly supportive of Professor Weiss' efforts to incorporate a special research
dimension of innovation into this course, and hope that it will set a precedent for other
faculty in the social sciences. For these many reasons, I feel that Professor Weiss'
proposal is an exceptionally strong one, and very worthy of support.
Gerald W. Fry
Director, International Studies Program
University of Oregon
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