Dan – Making Time to Think in New Ways

Dan is an Associate Dean in the College of Science. Inspired by institutional calls for interdisciplinary collaboration, he campaigns heavily to inspire partnerships between the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts. After an initial bout of enthusiasm, collaborations seem to have stalled and fizzled. Dan begins to explore with faculty and department chairs about the stopgap in their inquiry projects.

The faculty asserts that the epistemological tensions were too great to determine meaningful shared research projects. Faculty members explained their discord about sharing their research agendas and developing research questions. A theme across the testimony was difficulty encountered by faculty from the College of Liberal Arts to find inquiry opportunities that engaged social and political dimensions. They regarded their colleagues in the College of Science as disinterested in socio-political context and human subject research. When talking with faculty from the College of Science, they asserted that their colleagues in liberal arts were preoccupied with culture, and they believed engaging cultural dimensions clouded the objectivity of their research.

From his conversations with faculty, Dan recognizes that interdisciplinary collaboration will require more meaningful dialogue, group formation and professional development above and beyond the time and resources currently allocated to inspire inquiry projects between the colleges. Dan adjusts his expectations and his investment in the project. In a new iteration of his initiative to spur collaboration, Dan offers course releases to support inter-college inquiry projects. Dan also invests in an undergraduate interdisciplinary research program and assigns diverse faculty as co-mentors for the teams to facilitate relationships and shared learning.

Key Take-Aways
  • The Issue: Dan, an academic administrator, is struggling to inspire interdisciplinary collaboration between science and liberal arts.
  • The Deliberation: Dan inquires with individual faculty about their experiences and discovers they are struggling to reconcile epistemological and methodological tensions.
  • The Growth: Dan reconciles that meaningful collaboration across difference requires focused dialogue, continuing education and adequate resources.