The traditional disciplinary approach by itself can no longer fully address today’s increasingly complex problems. “Modern social problems often involve a complex system of interlinking causes and effects that are best approached through interdisciplinary collaboration.” — Dr. Margrit von Braun, Dean, College of Graduate Studies
Interdisciplinary Programs
21st-century problems require a new interdisciplinary approach
Universities are accustomed to thinking and behaving along traditional disciplinary lines. An “interdisciplinary approach” is different. It crosses disciplinary lines to integrate perspectives, knowledge and skills in order to address and solve problems that could not be adequately understood from the perspective of a single discipline.
Idaho’s College of Graduate Studies (COGS) currently supports five interdisciplinary programs that exist nowhere else. They are:
An additional program — sustainability — is linked to the environmental science degree program. It offers no degree but works closely with departments throughout the university to address environmental issues.
The bionanoscience program currently offers no approved graduate degree, but students in the program can obtain degrees in the researcher’s primary department; for example, physics, chemistry, biological sciences, or animal science.
COGS Dean, Margrit von Braun, first began pioneering the interdisciplinary ("ID") approach when she cofounded the University of Idaho’s Environmental Science Program in 1993. The importance of the “ID” approach has only grown since then, as more and more funding agencies realize the need for it in addressing the complex real-world problems of the 21st century.
Today, says von Braun, the interdisciplinary approach is “one of the most significant structural and historical challenges we’ll ever face.”
Fortunately, “ID” fits “ID” to a tee. “The people and departments here have always worked well together,” says von Braun. “Collaboration is something we naturally excel at. Particularly when it comes to making the most of faculty and resources, the interdisciplinary approach allows us to generate the kind of critical mass we need to compete with larger institutions.”
It also helps graduates land great jobs, because it prepares them to solve the complex real-world problems of the 21st century. The interdisciplinary approach can also be more fun as it enables a more relevant, less fragmented and more stimulating learning experience.