• What's New?
• Issues in Integrative Studies
• AIS Newsletter
• Other Sponsored Publications
• Doctoral Program Directory
• Master's Program Directory
• Consultants
• INTERDIS LISTSERV
• Jobs in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Peer-reviewed Syllabi
• Donate to AIS

The Association for Integrative Studies is a national professional association for interdisciplinary teachers, scholars, and researchers. The use of "integrative" in its name emphasizes the key feature of interdisciplinary activity, namely the integration of narrow disciplinary perspectives into a larger, more encompassing perspective. AIS serves as an organized professional voice and source of information on integrative approaches to the discovery, transmission, and application of knowledge.

The Association was founded in 1979. Its active membership of over 500 is drawn predominantly from American colleges and universities and is equally distributed throughout the East, Midwest, South, and West. AIS holds a conference each fall and publishes the refereed journal Issues in Integrative Studies (annual), the AIS Newsletter (quarterly), and the 300-page book, Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs: A Directory. It is affiliated with the Association of American Colleges & Universities and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has held joint conferences with the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), the Association for General and Liberal Studies (AGLS), and the Society for Values in Higher Education (SVHE). In 1990, AIS worked cooperatively with the Society for Values in Higher Education on the Interdisciplinary Studies Task Force of the AAC's Study-in-Depth Project. AIS is a non-partisan 501-C-3 corporation.

–Explore the philosophical, pedagogical, and institutional issues arising out of interdisciplinary study;

–Promote interdisciplinary scholarship informed by the professional literature on interdisciplinary studies;

–Enhance research and teaching in integrative studies by promoting the development of interdisciplinary theory, methodology, and curricular design;

–Maintain a centralized clearinghouse of information on interdisciplinary scholarship or pedagogy;

–Promote research on the outcomes of interdisciplinary education;

–Develop standards of excellence in interdisciplinary education in conjunction with accrediting agencies or state boards of higher education;

–Work toward the solution of real-world problems by bringing experts from relevant disciplines together within an interdisciplinary perspective;

–Facilitate the success of interdisciplinary endeavors by collecting and sharing information on supportive personnel policies, programmatic structures, and administrative methods;

–Serve as a locus of activities for other, more specialized professional organizations wishing to promote interdisciplinary teaching or research;

–Identify and recommend consultants and external evaluators for interdisciplinary programs; and

–Serve as a broad-based professional home for interdisciplinarians.

List of Presidents of the Association for Integrative Studies:

• 2007-09: Pauline Gagnon (Chair of Mass Communications and Theatre and Professor of Theatre, University of West Georgia)
• 2005-07: Don Stowe (Interdisciplinary Studies, College of HRSM, University of South Carolina)
• 2003-05: Cheryl Jacobsen (Vice President for Academic Affairs, Loras College)
• 2001-03: Carolyn Haynes (Honors Program, Miami University)
• 1999-2001: Joan Fiscella (Library, University of Illinois at Chicago)
• 1997-99: Roz Schindler (Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Wayne State University)
• 1995-97: Constance Ramirez (Academic Affairs, English, Duquesne University)
• 1993-95: Stephen Gottlieb (English, Quinnipiac College)
• 1991-93: Slobodan Petrovich (Psychology, IDS, Interprofessional, University of Maryland at Baltimore)
• 1990-91: Nelson Bingham (Psychology, Earlham College)
• 1989-90: Michael Field (English, Honors, Faculty Development, Bemidji State University)
• 1988-89: Anne Brooks (Humanities, Eastern Kentucky University)
• 1987-88: Julie Thompson Klein (Humanities, IDS Program, Wayne State University)
• 1986-87: Beth Casey (General Education/Special Prog., Bowling Green State University)
• 1985-86: Raymond C. Miller (Social Science, San Francisco State University)
• 1984-85: Thomas L. Benson (President, Green Mountain State College)
• 1983-84: Thomas R. Murray (Center for Bio-Medical Ethics, Case Western Reserve University)
• 1981-83: Forrest Armstrong (Dean, Grand Valley State College)
• 1980-81: Barb Hursh (Associate Provost, Psychology, Northeastern Illinois University)
• 1979-80: William H. Newell (School of IDS, Miami University)