Source: The Boston Globe
On January 26, 2002. The Boston Globe featured an article on the increasing interest in Islamic Studies at America's Colleges and Universities. Many Schools are actively looking to hire a Professor to teach courses on Islam and the Arab World. "'We don't have any firm numbers yet, but I've heard from a number of people that they are starting the process of hiring, and it is expected that there will now be an increase in openings for people who concentrate in Islamic Studies,' said Jonathan E. Brockopp, a Bard College religion professor who co-chairs the Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion. 'It's only natural at these times that Americans look and see what kind of resources we have to respond to these issues, in terms of understanding the rest of the world. There are 1.2 billion Muslims out there'... Several American universities, including Harvard, the University of Chicago, Georgetown, and Princeton, have substantial breadth in Islamic Studies, with a dozen or more senior scholars, and Harvard has for the first time appointed an Islamicist as acting dean of its Divinity School. But many colleges have no professor in the area, or only one... Although Islam is second only to Christianity in the number of adherents worldwide, just under one-third of the nation's religion departments offer courses on Islam, according to a census by the American Academy of Religion."