Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Are we ready for some real crossdisciplinary and transdisciplinary experimentation?

Our standard solution to the staying power of the conventional disciplinary/departmental structure is to add new courses, and then new programs, without changing much of the existing structure. Multidisciplinary efforts might sound innovative, but they don't change much. If we desire really innovative, comprehensive, pervasive, cross-campus configurations, then we must accept much greater structural flexibility than our current system allows. Department and college boundaries must become much more permeable. Joint and even floating appointments should become prevalent, and we should be constantly reinventing ourselves and our structure. Are we ready for some real crossdisciplinary and transdisciplinary experimentation?

--Raymond C. Miller
http://www.sfsu.edu/~uic/intervsmulti.html