Volume IV: What works, what matters, what lasts

Models of programs, serving non-majors, connecting across disciplines

May 21, 2004

Disciplinary challenges to setting general learning goals
Faculty are challenged faculty to think about their personal responsibility to connect to other disciplines. As a mathematician, the author's comments suggest continued attention to the initiatives within the math community posted in the May 7th postings of Volume IV.
Programs that develop and strengthen interdisciplinary connections
Presented are recent awards from the National Science Foundation's Course, Curriculum & Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program supporting curricular change focused on "connections," broadly defined (this is not a vetted list, assuming that NSF has done the vetting). Each project focuses in a different way on building connections within the undergraduate curriculum: some reports are about cross-, multi-, or interdisciplinary programs; others describe curricular reforms designed to help students connect what they are learning in the classroom to the world beyond the campus, and connect their lives as learners and as citizens. Faculty considering submitting to the CCLI program for the 2004 deadlines might find this a starting point from which to identify models to adapt for their own campus. For more information, visit the NSF CCLI website.
Roles and responsibilities of senior administrators in nurturing strong ERE programs
Presented are three short, role-playing case studies that could be used in a curriculum planning retreat to understand the barriers and opportunities that faculty and administrators must face in developing interdisciplinary programs. These were prepared for the PKAL assembly in Portland, Oregon last year by James Howard of Humboldt State University, Marlene Moore of the University of Portland, and C. Gary Reiness of Lewis and Clark College. Although the specific theme is environmental science/studies programs, the issues raised in these case studies are generic to efforts to build and sustain all kinds of programs that cut across disciplines.