Sponsored by the Women's Studies, Area and International Studies Curriculum Integration Project of the National Council for Research on Women

PROGRAM

INTRODUCTIONS AND WELCOME

	Janice Petrovich, Deputy Director, Education, Media, Arts & Culture Program, Ford Foundation
	Linda Basch, Executive Director, National Council for Research on Women
	Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University
	Florence Howe, President, Feminist Press at the City University of New York

Efforts to make a gender perspective central in the planning and work of diverse sectors have been ongoing over this decade. To help set the framework for our discussions, we will hear about the strategies called upon in diverse arenas--the United Nations, philanthropic organizations, and elsewhere.

MODERATOR:

Mariam Chamberlain, Founding President, National Council for Research on Women

PANELISTS:

	Achola Pala Okeyo, Senior Advisor, Governance, UNIFEM
	Anita Nayar, Associate Director, Women's Environment & Development Organization

Faculty and researchers working on the Women's Studies, Area and International Studies Curriculum Integration Project are encountering a number of conflicting paradigms that raise contentious issues. Paradigmatic differences most noted are those rooted in discrete disciplines; in the situated knowledge and experiences linked to the different global positionings of countries in which individuals (both scholars and students) are born, raised, educated, and where they work; and in different conceptual/theoretical frameworks (e.g., postmodern vs. positivist, comparative vs. relational) that guide analyses. This session will focus on these conflicting paradigms and the issues they raise, considering how we can work across them--for example, how do we address the obstacles they create and are there ways such differences and contentions can be used productively?

MODERATOR:

Linda Basch, Executive Director, National Council for Research on Women

PANELISTS:

	Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University
	Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Director, Women's Research & Resource Center, Spelman College
	Mary Lay, Professor, Department of Rhetoric, University of Minnesota
	Irene Tinker, President, Equity Policy Center; Professor, City & Regional Planning, Women's Studies, University of California, Berkeley

A number of dilemmas have emerged as the different projects have endeavored to bring international and gender perspectives into programs on their campuses. One thorny area is finding ways to encourage faculty to step beyond their areas of expertise to teach international, global, or gender issues. Other issues involve visiting scholars and their integration into ongoing programs. With what voices do they speak, what bodies of knowledge do they convey and in what styles, and what paradigms do they invoke? What difference do these areas of diversity make in the ways we maximize the contributions of visitors? The attitudes and values U.S. students bring to learning about international matters also raise problematic issues. And finally, how can diaspora studies be used to help students, faculty, and researchers develop international and global perspectives.

MODERATOR:

Janice Monk, Executive Director, Southwest Institute for Research on Women, University of Arizona

PANELISTS:

	Margaret Hunt, Member, Five College Women's Studies Research Center Steering Committee; Department of History, Amherst College
	Molly Nolan, Professor, Department of History; Director, Women's Studies Department, New York University
	Deborah Rosenfelt, Director, Women's Studies, University of Maryland
	Elizabeth Wingrove, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies, University of Michigan

Based on the goals and experiences of the different projects, this session will focus on ways to create--and institutionalize--curricular change rather than simply make changes within courses. It will probe how curricula can be restructured within the context of various institutional factors. Where are the openings in the curriculum to bring about international and gender transformations and how do we take advantage of them--for example in general education, in majors, and in graduate programs? And what kinds of institutional arrangements need to be rethought and changed?

MODERATOR:

Abigail Stewart, Director, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan

PANELISTS:

	Jeremy Adelman, Professor, Department of History, Princeton University
	Gail Hornstein, Director, Five College Women's Studies Research Center, Mount Holyoke College
	Caryn McTigue Musil, Senior Research Associate, Association of American Colleges and Universities
	Beth Willinger, Director, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, Tulane University

What are the next steps in institutionalizing changes made through this project; in building on the insights gained, addressing the obstacles encountered, and maximizing potential areas for change; and in disseminating the project findings to broader audiences? What are the funding implications?