The Advising in Interdisciplinary Programs Potential Interest Group would serve advisors, faculty, and administrators in undergraduate academic programs whose curricula are interdisciplinary in nature.  Undergraduate interdisciplinary study has been on the rise in the past decade, since it demonstrates problem-formulation using multiple frameworks and perspectives as well as problem-solving with multiple methodologies. There is a perceived demand for graduates with such exposure. I often reflect on whether students in these programs, who have many discipline-based connections to identify and learn, understand the demands of interdisciplinary education, and the advantages this education gives them.

Larger questions are worthy of deliberation, such as: what truly is interdisciplinary study, and how does it compare to notions of multi-, cross-, trans-, and post-disciplinary study? When students explore domain boundaries and overlaps, they discover new connections and new spaces. What can they do with their discoveries? What constitutes cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary skills and knowledge? How is this intentionally taught, how are students guided, and how is it assessed? I find these to be important questions to be continually addressed as we face our society’s demand for graduates who are able to “integrate and elaborate knowledge from varied fields, communicate and collaborate with diverse stakeholders, and operate in and navigate between functional and cross-sectional teams.” (“Interdisciplinary Education at Liberal Arts Institutions,” Teagle Foundation white paper, 2006).

I raised these questions in my roundtable session at the NACADA Annual Conference in Baltimore this past October (“Guiding Students Through Interdisciplinary Programs”). The session was well-attended, and the discussion very lively. The attendees suggested forming an interest group in order to continue discussing the issues, and went as far as putting their names on a list (29 in all). Based on this response in Baltimore, I believe there is surely a need for an interest group that can facilitate discussion of advising in interdisciplinary programs.