Interdisciplinary study attracts more students

By Lisa Hoffman

Daily Staff Reporter

Rather than being pulled to one side, many University students find a way to remain in the middle of their tug-of-war between two very different disciplines by choosing multiple concentrations or adding a minor to their coursework - two methods of interdisciplinary studies offered to undergraduates.

"Undergraduate students come into the University and struggle to understand what a 'major' means," said John Godfrey, Rackham School of Graduate Studies assistant dean.

"Undergraduate training gives a rigorous understanding of a concentration, and students examine one body of knowledge," he said.

Students need to have a broader range of studies under their belt to enter their field of choice as disciplinary ideas overlap.

"It speaks for the need for deep engagement with more than one discipline and for an intellectual foundation that is both broad and deep," said biology Prof. John Lehman.

"It is fair to say there is no simple magic solution, but at least students are surrounded by limitless opportunity to learn," he said.

The traditional structure of the University does not facilitate cross-discipline studies for undergraduates, although faculty and students feel that interdisciplinary studies are necessary to keep up with society.

"The University doesn't make it easy for students to go where they want to go and to do what they want to do," Godfrey said.

The University's Self-Study Report for Institutional Reaccredidation, which began revisions in 1998, debates interdisciplinary programs.

According to the report, faculty appointments, curriculum design, and new scholars training set national models to signal the eclipse of new fields and announce new advances.

"Schools and colleges have their own agendas," Godfrey said. "How we connect these centers is important."

The University has made efforts to overcome isolations between disciplines since 1923 with developments in the social sciences.

These additions include the Institute for Social Research, the Center for Japanese Studies, the Institute of Gerontology and the Biophysics Research Division.

"The point ought to be that traditional disciplinary lines are bridged because doing so may facilitate the hunt for solutions to real world problems," Lehman said.

"The potential danger is that a student will not be able to bring the full power of a discipline to bear on a problem," said history Prof. Rudi Lindner.

"He or she will have had a taste of a few dishes but no idea how to cook any of them," he said.

But "some faculty might say that it is risky to move away from (disciplines) because it threatens intellectual coherence," Godfrey said.

"The University has structures that rest uneasily on a rapidly changing areas of knowledge," he said.

Now, the question is, "How do you wire up your brain so we can see new insights to the world," Lehman said, who feels that "students who get a lot of joy and reward are students who apply themselves to the two disciplines."