Crossing Disciplines

Fellows perfect innovative, interdisciplinary teaching style

Elena Clark, Leigh-Anne Krometis, and Vincent Gonzalez (left to right) interact with students (Michelle Leslie not pictured).

Interdisciplinarity is a hot topic on college campuses across the nation. Interdisciplinary programs and courses are blurring the lines between traditional academic disciplines, bringing together a wide range of scholarly perspectives to examine issues in new, creative ways.

The excitement about the interdisciplinary paradigm is palpable. Students enjoy the opportunity to analyze complex subjects from different angles, while faculty can engage in innovative research and gain new knowledge through collaboration with colleagues from various disciplines.

But is interdisciplinarity just a new buzz word or a reflection of a real sea change in scholarly research? What are its benefits?

The Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has several new initiatives that encourage graduate students to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

In the fall of 2008, a group of graduate students with privately funded fellowships from the Graduate School, Elena Clark (Slavic Languages), Vincent Gonzalez (Religious Studies), Michelle Leslie (Genetics) and Leigh-Anne Krometis (Environmental Sciences and Engineering), collaborated to create and teach a first­year undergraduate seminar. “Cheating Death, Chasing Immortality” addressed the concept of mortality from a religious, literary and scientific standpoint.

The end result was a huge success. The interdisciplinary approach enlivened class discussion, providing a fresh analysis on an important subject matter, and drew such an enthusiastic response that other Graduate School Fellows are working on additional courses to be taught in future years.

The Fountain's Luca Semprini sat down with the four Fellows to talk about their experiences.

The Fountain: How did this project start?

Leigh­Anne Krometis (L.A.K.): The Kenan Fellowship, which is part of the Graduate School Fellows, is dedicated to giving back to the academic community. In the past, that usually meant hosting a forum with invited speakers. This time we wanted to do something different. One of the Fellows came up with the idea of teaching an interdisciplinary course, and other students thought it was great.

Michelle Leslie (M.L.): The Fellows then met to talk about their research interests and discuss what kind of class they could develop. Tom Kawula, an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the faculty director of the program, helped us find mutual interests. Our participation was entirely voluntary, which assured genuine enthusiasm from everyone involved.

Fountain: How did teaching an interdisciplinary class affect your own education and knowledge?

Elena Clark (E.C.): The most rewarding part was becoming more conscious of how various academic perspectives are connected despite the apparent differences. This really deepened the understanding of my own area of research interest.

L.A.K.: Teaching an interdisciplinary course exposes you to the way things are taught in other fields, and challenges you to blend different teaching styles together to create something unique. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about pedagogy, changing the way I relate to students. My program is Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and teaching this class with students from the humanities exposed me to teaching styles with which I was unfamiliar.

Vincent Gonzalez (V.G.): Grading undergraduate students' work related to subjects other than your own helps you develop a more comprehensive perspective. We had to ask each other for help, which sometimes was challenging, but also very beneficial in the end.

“Some people think of interdisciplinary teaching simply as a patchwork in which each teacher comes to class alone and lectures about his or her area of expertise…That is simply multidisciplinary teaching, not interdisciplinary teaching.”

Fountain: What was it like teaching first-year undergraduates?

V.G.: From the very first day of class, we realized that they were extremely engaged in the subject, that they all wanted to be involved in the discussion. If there was a problem, someone always brought it up. It was very refreshing.

E.C.: I was amazed by how much the class interacted as a group. We had some great discussions. Having a small class undoubtedly facilitated the interaction, but we must give credit to the students, each one raised the bar to give an intellectual contribution. Everyone showed great interest in the material.

Fountain: What were the main challenges in implementing this new teaching approach?

M.L.: I think the main difficulty for us was to integrate all the Fellows' ideas. We could not include every idea we had, and it really was a humbling experience for us. When you find yourself in that situation, you really have to overcome your ego and try to maintain objectivity. Fortunately, we did not have any internal conflicts (laughs).

Fountain: What are the keys to creating more interdisciplinary courses like yours?

E.C.: First of all, academia must overcome the perception that the humanities and the sciences are so inherently different. In addition, interdisciplinary teaching needs wider recognition among the University community. People often do not realize how big an undertaking it is to develop a new, interdisciplinary course. It takes a lot of preparation and work to integrate material from different academic areas.

Fountain: How do you think interdisciplinary studies are perceived in the academic environment?

V.G.: In general, interdisciplinary courses are perceived to be easier than they actually are. It requires a long-term commitment from everyone involved. For example, it took two years to put this course together.

L.A.K.: Some people think of interdisciplinary teaching simply as a patchwork in which each teacher comes to class alone and lectures about his or her area of expertise. But that approach does not emphasize the connections between different academic perspectives. That is simply multidisciplinary teaching, not interdisciplinary teaching. Integrating topics requires us to read literature selections from fellow teachers and discuss them as a group, which takes more effort than just preparing your own lecture.

Fountain: How do you think interdisciplinary teaching will impact the University and the academic community at large?

E.C.: Academically, interdisciplinarity is crucial to bring the humanities and the sciences closer. In general, students from the humanities lack awareness of the sciences, and vice versa. Interdisciplinary teaching is one way to overcome that departmental compartmentalization and increase students' cultural literacy from the very beginning of their careers.

V.G.: By bridging among various topics, interdisciplinary teaching gives more legitimacy to each subject matter. It also makes students more aware of how issues intersect among different academic areas, allowing them to draw connections that were not obvious before.