Subseries 16.14 - Research Opportunity Course (ROC) - POL397/POL487/POL477

Records in this subseries consists of material for POL397 (later POL487, POL477) Research Opportunity Course (ROC). This Research Opportunity Course on North American governance emerged in the summer of 2001 as a way to involve undergraduate students in the developing relationship between the University of Toronto and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington with which Clarkson was affiliated. Clarkson personally recruited half a dozen senior undergraduates by approaching students with the best marks who had registered for his classes and offering them the chance to switch into a Research Opportunity Course in which they would contribute directly to his own research. Students were given some leeway to pursue their own particular interests within the general framework of the project, which revolved around the governance in North America under NAFTA and after September 11, 2001. Clarkson received financing from the University of Toronto’s dean of the Political Sciences Faculty to bring students to Washington for a week, where they were hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Files from B2019-0003 document later iterations of this course (renamed ICM – International Course Module), which included further trips to Washington, Mexico (2008 and 2014), Brazil (2013), Spain (2015), and Portugal (2016), related to Clarkson’s research interests in global regionalism and governance. Records include students’ research projects and students’ evaluation of the course. There is also correspondence between Clarkson and his students, and between Clarkson and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Also included are records specifically related to the research trips such as the trip’s schedule and notes taken by Clarkson while attending various meetings with his students.

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