Matthew Weinert, a Marsico lecturer in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences division, will be saying goodbye to the University of Denver at the end of the quarter, after receiving his doctorate from DU in 2002 and teaching undergraduate and graduate classes in international studies for four years.

Weinert is moving to the University of Delaware to teach international relations, specifically focusing in international law and organizations.

He began his time at DU in 1994, launching his doctorial research on international studies with concentrations in political theory and international relations.

Since receiving his doctorate in 2002, he was offered to teach classes both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

He has also since turned his dissertation into a book that is currently being published in London. The book, titled “Democratic Sovereignty”, deals with contemporary issues of state sovereignty, and is slated to be released in either December of 2006 or January of 2007.

Weinert described the book as “a theoretical and historical look at conceptions of sovereignty to show a neglected dimension of state sovereignty.”

“There is a perception that sovereignty means states can do whatever they want, but historically states have imposed their own restrictions on themselves,” he said.

The book uses examples from the sixteenth century to the present to counter the dominate international relations conceptions of sovereignty.

Although he is excited to turn over a new page in his life, focusing more on the discipline of international relations, Weinert says he will miss DU greatly, specifically the people who have made his time here significant.

“I hope that I find people half as good in Delaware as in Denver,” he said.

In his four years as a faculty member at DU, he hopes that, under his guidance, his students have increased their “ability to be more critical in their thinking and writing.”

“I’ve had repeat students and I have seen an improvement in these abilities,” he said.

In addition to what he calls a marked improvement in academic achievement by students across the board, in his time here Weinert has witnessed the profound changes in the visible campus, “changes that are definitely for the better,” he says.

Weinert leaves DU with the advice to “be true to yourself but be open to new ideas and experiences. And, always do your best,” he said.

Weinert will be beginning his first semester at the University of Delaware in the end of August.