Report to the Provost

Multidisciplinary Affairs

at Kean University

Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs

Dennis B. Klein (Co-Chair and Reporter)

Karen Hart (Co-Chair)

Barbara Wheeler (Co-Chair)

February 1, 2001

Acknowledgments

The Provost's Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs worked sedulously and with impressive

commitment to explore the considerable merits of a comprehensive multidisciplinary, academic

environment as well as Kean University's multidisciplinary practices and potential. Committee

members (and their schools) were:

Campbell, Minnie / Natural Sciences, Nursing, and Mathematics

Casale, Dean / Liberal Arts

Gupta-Casale, Nira / Liberal Arts

Hart, Karen (Co-Chair)/ Liberal Arts

Ituarte, Sylvina / Business, Government, and Technology

Kelly, Marjorie / Education and member of the Faculty Senate's Academic Standards Committee

Klein, Dennis (Co-Chair) / Liberal Arts

Laudicina, Eleanor / Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs

Riley, Frank / Liberal Arts

Rockman, Paul / Natural Sciences, Nursing, and Mathematics

Rosania, Theresa / Business, Government, and Technology

Schuhmacher, Robert / Natural Sciences, Nursing, and Mathematics

Walko, Mary Ann / Education

Wheeler, Barbara (Co-Chair) / Liberal Arts

Faculty Consultants

Lynch, Christopher (GELAP)

Searson, Michael (Information Technology)

In developing this Report, I am especially grateful to Dean Casale for offering additional advice;

Karen Hart for editing the Committee's Newsletter and co-organizing the second faculty Retreat,

and, overall, for her significant involvement and creativity; Eleanor Laudicina for her additional

advice and for making arrangements for the Committee's meetings; Paul Rockman and Robert

Schuhmacher for co-organizing the second Faculty Retreat; Michael Searson for setting up an

internet WebBoard dedicated to our committee, and for advising us on Kean's technology

infrastructure; Ann Walko for administering and analyzing the Faculty Survey; and Barbara

Wheeler for her usual sound advice and leadership. I wish also to thank Provost Livingston

Alexander for his significant moral and material support and Dean José Adames for his constant

support of innovative, multidisciplinary courses and projects and his support, in particular, of the

first Faculty Retreat that gave birth to the multidisciplinary committee.

Dr. Dennis B. Klein

Report to the Provost

Multidisciplinary Affairs at Kean University

Submitted to the Provost by the Provost's Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs

February 1, 2001

I The Conceptual Framework

Introduction "Multidisciplinary" is a term of choice to describe a wide range of commitment,

concern, and endeavor at Kean University that depends on two or more disciplines to address in

tandem large, if not urgent problems. From May 3, 2000, on, Kean University faculty have come

to agree on a definition of this term:

"We believe that disciplinary specialization is valuable and that students desire and need it

but understand that multidisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration can help bring

disciplinary perspectives to bear on matters of common human concern. Indeed, we

believe multidisciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration would promote co-curricular

conversations--an intellectual "buzz"--that is conspicuously absent on campus."

(Statement adopted at first Retreat, May 3, 2000. For the full report on this retreat, see

Appendix H2.)

In this Report, we avoid the term "Interdisciplinary" as much as possible for three reasons: first,

we believe it suggests something beyond, or superior to disciplinary work; second,

interdisciplinary inquiry frequently avoids rigorous disciplinary methods, eliding tough problems

and vital intellectual debates and, therefore, resulting in an imprecise and superficial amalgm;

third, we wish to avoid the possible confusion between collaborative, disciplinary endeavor and

ID designated courses that currently exist in the university catalogue (many are dormant).

The term "multidisciplinary" promotes a climate of debate, multiple perspectives and

methodological strategies, and intellectual energy. It can enrich understanding and more honestly

reflect both the distinctiveness of faculty training and the diversity of our students' worldviews. It

champions respect for traditional disciplines by bringing faculty, students, and the general

community together for common purpose.

Why does Kean need multidisciplinary courses and programs? No university can long

prosper by maintaining insular disciplinary inquiry; research, not to mention reality, draws

considerable strength from an atmosphere of open exchange and inquisitive interaction. It is

becoming increasingly difficult to understand the refugee crisis of our time without multiple

sociological, political, historical, and ecological perspectives. Medical frontiers practically escape

notice without bringing philosophical, economic, and scientific insights together. Design and

architecture elude comprehension without the crucial benefit of psychological awareness.

Economic, political, informational, and social globalization demand a multidisciplinary

consciousness. In short, knowledge is becoming steadily hybrid.

Kean University is among schools that could become notably intellectually bereft if it adhered

rigidly to impervious, disciplinary boundaries, for its faculty and students are, after all, essentially

nontraditional. Its students not only come from a variety of backgrounds; they commonly

straddle the real world and the ivory tower. Its faculty are naturally involved in public affairs as

well as in scholarship--as writers and performers, as advisers to foundation, government, and

education projects, and as public speakers and commentators. The university's graduates often

aspire to public service. Kean's nature and mission is polyglot. It is a natural environment for

social and intellectual interaction. Unfortunately, its curriculum and co-curricular programs do

not sufficiently reflect and codify that environment, and there is uneven commitment to inspire it,

though there are promising signs.

Kean University's Strategic Plan, 1997-2002 The University's Strategic Plan for 1997-2002,

prepared by the College Planning Council and approved by President Ronald Applbaum and the

Faculty Senate on May 1, 1997, defines ample goals toward becoming a multidisciplinary (it uses

the term "interdisciplinary") university; e.g., to "create a structure or mechanism to administer

interdisciplinary activities both between departments in the same school and between schools for

college-wide activities" (I3b); to "develop a model for an integrated teaching and learning

environment that promotes scholarship and an intellectually interactive college community"

(VIID); to "support an interdisciplinary collaboration of faculty in both teaching and research"

(VIID4); etc. (See Appendix A for relevant excerpts from the Strategic Plan.).

Our report, springing from a series of meetings and faculty retreats, and a four-month "discovery"

period involving internal and external investigations, offers nothing particularly surprising. We

conclude that multidisciplinary courses and activities are anticipated by university planners, occur

almost spontaneously, and, when they do materialize, often generate unusual intellectual

excitement. But we have also learned that spur-of-the-moment programs, though enterprising,

are erratic, if not stillborn, for want of structural and systematic support. We have seen too much

inertia inhibiting change that could inspire, facilitate, and reward multidisciplinary collaboration.

In spite of stated best intentions, we believe the university community has yet to regard

multidisciplinary endeavor across the curriculum and the campus as a priorty.

II Background

Grassroots faculty expression On May 3, 2001, the first faculty Retreat on multidisciplinary

affairs took place. Few expected 46 resident faculty from 22 departments across the academic

spectrum to devote an entire day to exploring what was then referred to as "cross-disciplinary"

possibilities. Supported by the the Liberal Arts dean, José Adames, the meeting examined several

examples of creative faculty collaboration (courses, seminars, programs, GELAP, etc.). It clarifed

a common desire to reinvigorate academic life at Kean by accelerating the university's

multidisciplinary agenda.

On July 18th, members of the faculty met with the Provost to affirm this desire and to propose the

formation of a working committee toward defining the status of multidisciplinary endeavor at

Kean, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, and potential, investigating its existence at other

universities, and recommending constructive steps to the Provost and the Faculty Senate. On

September 5th, the Provost issued his charge to the newly formed committee, emphasizing the

need for a methodical self-study, further campus-wide faculty discussion, and informed

recommendations with clear references to outcomes. (See Appendix C.) Three faculty members

volunteered to chair this committee: Dennis B. Klein, Karen Hart, and Barbara Wheeler. (For a

full list of Committee members, see Appendix D.) Two committee members, an Associate Vice

President in the Provost's office and a member of the Faculty Senate's Academic Standards

Committee, formed links throughout deliberations to the two bodies receiving this Report.

The Committee immediately established seven subcommittees to perform discrete tasks during the

discovery period:

"Academic Structures and Procedures, " to map the university's current and anticipated

course-approval procedures, paired and team teaching practices, course cross-listings, and

faculty workload and compensation conditions;

"Campus Communications," to keep faculty abreast of the Committee's deliberations and

to solicit its comments;

"Emerging Academic Programs," to determine how GELAP, the academic restructuring

plan, and new academic centers might relate to multidisciplinary studies and how,

together, they could multipy their effect;

"Existing Multidisciplinary Efforts," to form a picture of collaterals, the Gateway Institute,

ID designated courses, and other programs that to date define multidisciplinary work at

Kean;

"Grants and Other Funding Sources," to determine funding possibilities that promise the

implementation of many of this Report's recommendations;

"Other Universities," to learn about the state of the multidisciplinary world and its

problems; and

"Technology," to assess the formative technology infrastructure and how it could support

multidisciplinary efforts.

To take stock and refine our work, the Committee as a whole met three time in the Fall term,

2000. Forming the basis of our investigation, members utilized the following discovery

instruments:

A dedicated "WebBoard" internet site stimulating early stages of discussion among

Committee members and between subcommittees (http://tips.kean.edu:8088/~MultiD)

The second faculty Retreat, on December 1st

A multidisciplinary newsletter to faculty

A Survey of faculty opinion

Interviews with the Provost, the University Curriculum Committee chair (Ellen

Comerford), GELAP directors (Bryan Lees and Linda Best), collateral directors, Gateway

Institute Associate Director (Tanya Poteat), the Office of Sponsored Research (Mark

Lender), and TIPS personnel (José Perez, Michael Searson)

Consultations with colleagues and administrators at other universities, many for

developing multidisciplinary programs at Kean. (For the list of 11 universities consulted,

see Appendix L.)

A word about GELAP

We are heartened by the new GELAP program's emphasis on interdisciplinary courses and on

thematic concentrations. As part of a structural component of the university's curriculum, these

innovations will help set the requisite tone for collaboration among departments and for the

development of theme-base courses.

In November, the Committee met with GELAP directors to determine GELAP's program

directions and plans. With GELAP's emphasis on program and course guidelines, it became clear

that faculty and students would require incentives for writing and enrolling in "interdisciplinary"

and linked courses. In the opinion of our Committee, a better multidisciplinary environment at

Kean must exist to stimulate a commitment to these courses. That environment must include

systematic attention to comprehensive multidisciplinary course development, an increase in the

number of co-curricular events, and an infrastructure of material and moral support.

In addition, we believe GELAP, as it is presently constituted, provides just a taste for

multidisciplinary inquiry. Perhaps that is appropriate for a general education program, but the

absence of a GELAP interdisciplinary requirement (either as distinct courses or as part of the

concentration requirement) might abort even that introductory gesture.

GELAPis a welcome salvo, but we believe it requires a multidisciplinary curricular and co-

curricular context for it to succeed.

III The Current State of Multidisciplinary Affairs at Kean

If nothing else, we learned that there exists at Kean a legion of promising multidisciplinary

courses and programs. We did not determine whether Kean is unique in this regard or simply

reflecting a national tendency, but we are convinced that some of the most enterprising work

going on at Kean is precisely in these areas. We are concerned, however, that many of these

endeavors are random, momentary, and isolated. Without a context within which to develop,

these are sure preconditions for merely stable, if not diminishing faculty and student commitments.

Following is a sampling of multidisciplinary work at Kean (examples gleaned in part from the

Committee's Faculty Survey ). The list provides not only a picture of current endeavor, but also

a microcosm of exemplary practices that suggest vivid possibilities for elaboration.

Curriculum

"Collaterals" that assemble related, disciplinary courses in Africana, Environmental, Global,

Jewish, Latin American, Women's studies;

Linked courses, often in fulfillment of majors' requirements--most to computer, science, math, or

literature courses, many to "GE Breadth" courses. Linked courses, or "cognates," often exist for

accreditation purposes, and are therefore driven by external pressures.

Courses (active, recently active, or proposed), such as "Emancipation and Liberation: Africana

and Jewish Dimensions," "Mythology in Literature and the Arts," "Italian Civilization" (combining

the departments of Foreign Languages, History, and Art), "Introduction to Women's Studies"

(this proposed course would draw instructors from different schools as well as departments),

"Persuasion" (this proposed course would seek collaboration between the departments of Theater,

Political Science, Marketing, and Psychology), "Communication and Popular Culture" (this

proposed course would combine the departments of Theater, Sociology, and History), "Diversity

of People in Science" (this proposed course would bring together the departments of Biology,

History, and English);

ID designated courses: See Appendix E for a comprehensive list of these courses, both active and

inactive (by far). Many of these courses deal with themes and problems requiring multiple

perspectives, such as "Marketing Communications Workshop" (Fine Arts and English),

"Philosophy in Literature" (English, Philosophy, Religion), "Approaches to the Holocaust"

(History, Philosophy, Religion);

Team-teaching courses include "Psychological Perspectives on Prejudice and Racism" and

"Emancipation and Liberation: Africana and Jewish Dimensions." No policy currently governs

team-teaching practices.

Masters degree programs in Liberal Arts (history, English, etc.) and in Teaching English As a

Second Language (ICA and English);

Centers: Center for Bilingual Education and Counseling Services, Center for Global Studies,

Center for Earth Systems Education, and Center for the Integration of Math and Science (CIMS),

which promotes the collaboration between the departments of Biology, Math, ICA, and Bilingual

Education;

Workshops and institutes in business and industry (utilizing the Counselor Education Program and

the Psychology Department), transnational nursing and culture-bound mental illness, ethnography

of health care systems, Sustainable Environment at Kean (SEAK), Freshman Seminar, the

Washington DC internship program, the Urban Special Education Teacher Preparation Program

(utilizing the Counseling Education Program and Special Education); Project Adelante (bringing

the Masters Program in Counseling together with The Center for Bilingual Education to support

students in secondary schools), the Child Study Institute (assembling consultants in Social Work,

Psychology, and the Division of Learning Disabilities to form its evaluation clinic), Institute on

Family Life (a collaboration of the departments of Education, Sociology, Anthropology, and

Psychology);

The Instructional Resource Center (IRC) reports that 80 percent of its nonprint inventory address

the subject matter of multiple courses.

Co-Curricular

Strategic Initiative Planning grants support some multidisciplinary events, such as the Design

department exhibit "The 100 Greatest Designs of the Past Thousand Years," which addressed

developments in technology, sociology, the sciences, history, music, art, anthropology,

architecture, and communication; and the Annual Jewish Lecture Series, which cosponsors

lectures with Africana Studies, the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project, Student

Organization, etc.);

Kean Theater Series, though sponsored by the Theater department, solicits programming ideas

from the entire campus community;

The Kathryn Gasorek Symposium is sponsored by the Institute of Child Study, which collaborates

with the Council for Exceptional Children and the Division of Learning Disabilities;

Colloquium on Global and Environmental Issues is a collaboration of the Earth Education

Systems Center and the Center for Global Studies;

The Gateway Institute for Regional Development assembles faculty from two or more

departments to support a number of its community programs, including the Small Business

Development Center, greenacres development, and support of the New Jersey Performing Arts

Center;

The Faculty Seminar on Comparative Cultures assembles faculty across the spectrum for monthly

meetings and supports occasional public speakers on such themes as emancipation, liberation, and

the diaspora phenomenon;

Student Organization dedicates material support for inter-club events and faciliates students'

exposure to a variety of disciplinary perspectives through its co-curricular transcripts program.

IV Emerging Developments

During the course of our investigations this Fall, we received consistent expressions of

encouragement from faculty, students, and administrators because of the favorable timing of our

efforts. Following are the sweeping developments at Kean currently in relatively advanced stages

that, separately, promise to reinforce faculty collaboration and, if brought together, could

establish a conducive multidisciplinary "synergy":

GELAP's planners' encouragement of "interdisciplinary" courses and thematic concentrations

offers considerable potential for widespread, multidisciplinary exposure;

The new plan for Restructuring Academic Affairs, slated for implementation in the Fall of 2001,

stipulates that "disciplines and programs with related missions should share closer proximity and

must be encouraged to interact." The plan offers the preconditions for collaboration in such

reconfigurations as the assignment of Political Science to the College of Arts, Humanities and

Social Sciences and the formation of the School of Visual and Performing Arts.

The Faculty Senate's University Curriculum Committee (UCC) is undertaking a broad revision of

course-approval procedures. This is a critical development, for many creative, multidisciplinary

course ideas, including themes that reflect vanguard research or social concerns, vaporize before

the discouraging prospect of Dickensian course-ratification requirements.

The development of a technology infrastructure--including the Technology Institute for

Professionals (TIPS); multiplication of desk-top computers for faculty, clerical staff, and

administrators; a substantial increase of computer labs; and the addition of an Assistant Provost

responsible for technology--offers dramatic opportunities for academic collaboration. These

include collaborative databases, discussion tools, and electronic clearinghouses accessible by

faculty in multiple disciplines.

The International Studies Center and the proposed Center for Chinese Studies promise to

promote faculty and student exchanges, courses demanding faculty coordination, and co-

curricular, campus events.

Liberty Hall, by joining Kean for designated institutes and projects, offers opportunities for

programs in the sciences, history, and arts administration.

V Recommendations for Achieving a Multidisciplinary Environment

With so many impressive multidisciplinary programs at Kean and a broad consensus to further the

university's multidisciplinary agenda, it might seem redundant to develop recommmendations

toward achieving a favorable environment. The Committee is, however, concerned that even

successful projects and best intentions are inadequate without specific incentives and rewards,

uniform policies, and a multidisciplinary presence in as many corners of campus life as possible.

The thrust of our recommendations--first to the Provost and then to the Faculty Senate--is to

propose developments toward integrating many of the existing and emerging multidisciplinary

activities at Kean and, more important, toward establishing a comprehensive framework that

would stimulate interdepartment collaboration, the creation of theme- or problem-base courses,

and the sponsorship of public programs for the campus and the general community.

The following recommendations are divided into two parts: Long-term and short-term. Long-

term recommendations, though they require substantial commitment, planning, and resources,

appear below first because they provide a vision for Kean's multidisciplinary future. Their

development would acquire planning and funding momentum in 2001-2002, commence

implementation in 2002-2003, and reach fruition within five years; that is, by 2005-2006. Short-

term recommendations focus on 2001-2002 for implementation, piloting for long-term

implementation, and evaluation. Their development would require basic material support for

effectively seeding Kean's multidisciplinary growth.

Long-term recommendations (July 2001-June 2006)

An office or center of multidisciplinary affairs. From an analysis of practices at other universities,

our Committee concluded that the success of inter-or multidisciplinary programs depend on

dedicated management. This office would require core staff, space, and an independent budget.

Staffing should comprise a full-time director with faculty rank and administrative experience, a

part-time grants officer on assignment from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and

full-time clerical support. The director would report to the university Provost (assuming that co-

curricular planning would become part of the Provost Office's portfolio). The multidisciplinary

center would assume responsibility for:

Working in tandem with GELAP toward facilitating the writing of and enrollment in

interdisciplinary and linked courses. We are concerned that resident faculty might not

commit themselves to developing these new courses unless there are bridges built to

disciplinary majors and to a broader, multidisciplinary campus culture.

Supporting the development of other multidisciplinary courses. Until the 1960s, general

education courses were the prominent locus of "interdisciplinary" courses on the American

campus. Since then, courses have been materializing in other parts of the curriculum, such

as in area, urban, international, environmental, biotechnology, and labor studies, as well as

in cognitive and informational sciences. Kean requires systematic curricular support of

these and similar developments. Indeed, as faculty determined at the December 1st

Retreat, Kean's academic profile is particularly conducive to developing courses exploring

the social implications of professional studies, such as courses on "Technology and

Society," "The Media and Society," "History and Society," and so forth.

Creating other curricular vehicles for promoting multidisciplinary course enrollments, such

as "Theme Semesters" that would assemble a roster of course offerings addressing a

common theme.

Proposing and advocating streamlined and reasonable procedures for approving new

multidisciplinary courses, supporting instructional collaboration in class and online, and

improving the effectiveness of ID designated, "cognate," and cross-list courses (see

below).

Managing multidisciplinary co-curricular events by granting and administering relevant

Strategic Planning awards, developing other RFPs, and assuring the integration of events

into coursework.

Coordinating and supporting relationships with Liberty Hall, the Gateway Institute,

academic centers (environment, math and science, international, etc.), and collaterals.

Acquiring and adminstering grants dedicated to course development, instructional

collaboration, electronic exchanges, and public programs.

Assembling a faculty advisory committee--which should include faculty from other

universities with interdisciplinary programs--to garner ideas, set up a fundraising and a

promotional plan, periodically evaluate multidisciplinary programs, and advise the

director.

A university conference center. The state of informal intellectual conversation at Kean is

woefully inadequate. Planning and implementation are haphazard and inefficient, and attendance

at events is virtually dependent on students who are required to attend. We recognize that

commuter schools face unusual challenges, but, as the existence of the University Center attests,

they are hardly insurmountable. To create and support interest in vanguard thinking, we believe

that co-curricular activities should be regarded as something more than merely "extra-curricular"

amd therefore require priority attention. The proposed conference center would assume

responsibility for:

Administering events by coordinating publicity with University Relations, advising

conference directors on budget and on performers' agreements, working with the Design

Studio on print layout and on production bids, working with the Registrar's Office and

with the Performing Arts Office on securing space, managing refreshments and meals with

Food Service, and making overnight hotel arrangements for guests.

Developing a plan for a facility on campus, perhaps in conjunction with the School of

Visual and Performing Arts, that would provide space and support for meetings and

conferences.

A faculty center. In light of our own investigations, we wish to support discussions on campus

about the dire need for a faculty center at Kean. Faculty collaboration, including the development

of interdepartmental courses and events, threatens to remain random and often imprisoned in

dreams without an attractive center conducive to informal faculty conversation. Facility master

planning must include space dedicated to a faculty center.

Development of institutes, centers, and collaterals. To stimulate enrollments in theme-base

courses, that would simultaneously fulfill major requirements, the university needs to upgrade

collaterals to minors or majors, consider new collaterals, and support existing and proposed

centers or institutes, such as a Center for Social Justice, an Institute for Global and Environmental

Learning, and an Institute for Culture and Society. Practical steps include faculty release time

and clerical support (centers and collaterals, if concentrated, could share clerical support),

improved advisement and registration procedures, and formal university recognition of students

who pursue these concentrations.

Development of multidisciplinary Masters degrees. The university is considering two new

Masters degrees, one in biotechnology (utilizing the departments of Chemistry and Physics,

Biology, Math, Computer Science, Geology, and Meterology) and one in arts administration

(utilizing the departments of Performing and Visual Arts, Management, and Business). These

proposals suggest a strong, graduate profile, one we believe the university should aggressively

strengthen along multidisciplinary lines.

A uniform policy promoting instructional collaboration. Among the first set of proposals

discussed by faculty at its May 3d Retreat was the need for a policy governing all manner of

instructional collaboration--team teaching, "paired" teaching, "linked" courses--that would more

easily enable faculty to join disciplinary perspectives and methods in wrestling with social

concerns, conceptual problems, and new research.

We recognize that Kean is not in a financial position to support team teaching routinely.

At the same time, we have become aware that foundations, such as the Mellon

Foundation, often support this practice.

"Pairing" offers fewer financial obstacles, but the practice is, nonetheless, rare. The

reasons are evident: Teaching courses in tandem requires considerable time for

coordinated planning. An office or center (see above) could help by identifying related

courses and arranging common course hours to permit faculty exchanges and, if space

permits, joint class sessions.

Joint appointments. Faculty trained in two or more disciplines can enrich courses in each; are poised

to collaborate with other faculty; would strengthen GELAP, centers and collaterals, and the Gateway

Institute; and would increase the overall inventory of theme-base courses. The main obstacle--the

disciplinary system of rewards--have been overcome at other universities akin to Kean and could be

met at Kean itself. Kean needs to allocate more support for joint appointments.

Short-term recommendations (February 2001-June 2002)

The Committee identified a number of multidisciplinary practices possessing long-term possibilities

that could be implemented in AY2002 at little or no cost.

A Fall, 2001, Theme Semester. Faculty would be polled and courses identified and assembled around

a predetermined theme in time for Fall registration. The theme could dovetail with scheduled events

and projects, such as the Faculty Seminar's annual theme. (The December 1st Retreat suggested such

themes as "violence in society," "the hero and anti-hero," "spaceship earth," "art and politics,"

"gender, family, children," "the rise and fall of nationalism," and "apathy, silence, and their

implications.") A modest brochure would be distributed to departments and the "One-Stop Center."

RFPs with a multidisciplinary emphasis. Students, faculty, and staff would apply for public-program

support (underwritten by the Provost's office). Proposals whose concept would deserve consideration

include the suggested Lecture Series on Ethics, which would draw on the expertise of faculty in

philosophy and religion, sociology, criminal justice, government, and business.

"Second-tier" Strategic Planning awards. A new category of award finalists would require an

endorsement for proposals that either promise multidisciplinary faculty collaboration or invite

complementary relationships with other proposals.

ID designated courses. By cross-lising many of these courses with disciplinary courses required for

the major or generally for graduation, many ID designated courses could be revived.

Multidisciplinary course-approval process. In our interviews with UCC Chair Ellen Comerford, and

with GELAP directors Linda Best and Bryan Lees, we learned about the difficulties in streamling the

course-approval process for multidisciplinary courses. They believe the question is vital and demands

immediate attention. We believe we can provide proposals, including the idea of point-of-entry

"liaison" course-review committees that would comprise department or college (school)

representatives, recommend multidisciplinary cross-college (school) courses to the UCC and cross-

department courses to the appropriate college (school) committee, and, from their perch, recommend

paired teaching opportunities, cross-listings, and semester themes.

Electronic database development. Faculty teaching related courses could be supported electronically

by creating joint multidisciplinary websites and bulletin boards.

Third faculty retreat. Faculty require periodical development, and this is particularly true for building

interest in a new academic framework. The third retreat would consider our report and its

recommendations, supporting communication between faculty and the administration.

Continuation of the Provost's Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs. To set these and other short-

term recommendations into motion, we recommend continuation of the Committee on

Multidisciplinary Affairs and the appointment of one member of the faculty as its chair. The chair,

who could be drawn from or beyond the existing committee, should receive 6 credits release time per

semester. The Committee would continue to request material support from the Provost's Office for

specific projects. Continuation of the Committee, in addition to implementing short-term

recommendations, would meet three important goals:

Identify funding prospects, including nonprofit and corporate foundations as well as private

donors, and apply for support. Grantors identified to date are the Mellon Foundation (for

instructional collaboration) and the National Science Foundation (for multidisciplinary course

development).

Transform short-term recommendations into pilot projects by supporting projects that are

exemplary and can provide a success record for strengthening competitive grant applications.

By regarding projects as first and not final steps, evaluation of measurable results would

become an important aspect of the Committee's work.

Commence long-term, five-year planning in AY2002.

Appendixes / Available upon request: Contact Dr. Klein at Ext. 2039

I Kean University Multidisciplinary Context

A. Kean University Strategic Plan for 1997-2002 (excerpts)

B. Kean University Mission Statement (ratified May 15, 2000)

C. Provost's Charge to the Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs

D. Members of the Provost's Committee on Multidisciplinary Affairs; Subcommittees

E. A List of ID Designated Courses (drawn from the 1999-2001 University Catalogue)

F. Sample Multidisciplinary Courses

F1 "Emancipation and Liberation: Africana and Jewish Dimensions" (Approved)

F2 "Introduction to Women's Studies" (Proposed)

G. Sample Institute: Institute for Global and Environmental Learning (Proposed)

II Resources Consulted for This Report

H. May 3d (First) Faculty Retreat

H1 Provost letter to faculty, notification, agenda

H2 Report

H3 Observations

I. December 1st (Second) Faculty Retreat

I1 Notification

I2 Agenda

I3 Breakout sessions reports

J. Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Committee (November 2, 2000 / Vol. 1)

K. Faculty Survey Questionnaire Results

K1 Analysis (Ann Walko)

K2 Raw data

L. Universities Consulted