Newsletter Index - Volume 10

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Volume 10, Number 1, March, 1988


IDS Alive and Well, -Until the publication of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs: A Directory, it was not known how widespread interdisciplinary study had become, what kinds of programs predominate and where they were located, nor whe n they were started. Article by William H. Newell, Miami University
Annual Award For Student Papers Announced-a special invitation extended to graduate and undergraduate students to attend conference on "Interdisciplinary Humanities" in October in Arlington, Texas. A $200 award to be given to one graduate and on u ndergraduate submitting the best papers in interdisciplinary studies.
Autobiographical Statement,-submitted in response to a call for autobiographical statements about the paths of thought individuals have tataken to arrive at an integrative approach to knowledge. This statement is by Philip Lewin
News in Brief -

  • Guy Beckwith promoted to Associate Professor at Auburn. Past presidents Tom Benson and Bill Newell are both recently engaged and His Honor Ray Miller has been reelected to Brisbane City Council.
  • The NSF's Ethics and Values Studies program supports research and related activities examine ethical or value issues of current significance to U.S. science and engineering.
  • The seventh annual meeting of Group for Research into the Institutionalization and Professionalization of Literary Studies will focus on Disciplinarity: Formations, Rhetoric and Histories, at the U. of Minnesota.
  • The 28th annual conference of the Association for General and Liberal Studies to be held in October in Wilkes-Barre, PA on the theme "Liberal Learning in a Post-Industrial Age."
  • The 31st annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex to be held in San Francisco, on the topic of Sexual Literacy: What is it? What do we know? What do we need to know? Whose responsibility is it?
  • The annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Baccalaureate Education to be held in Columbia, SC. AIS President Julie Klein will present the keynote address, Interdisciplinary Education in the 1970's and 1980's and Bob Keesey will present a paper "Why t he Disciplinary Debates Imply Interdisciplinary Core Curriculum."
  • The International Christian Studies Assoc. to hold Second World Congress on "The Second Reformation: The Christian Challenge in Knowledge, Ethics and Faith" in Brighton, UK.
  • The 7th international conference on New Concepts in Higher Education sponsored by the University Without Walls International Council to be held in Bangkok, Thailand.
  • The National Association for Humanities Education sponsoring a conference on "Teaching the Humanities" in Kansas, City.
Position Wanted-Teaching or administering in an integrated program.
AIS Relations Committee Starts New Projects-Nelson Bingham, VP for Relations, has been working to implement an eight-part plan approved by the Board of Directors in November. Goal 1 is the formation of a Relations Committee.
Position Available at Miami University-Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies (2 positions) Physical Scientist and Director of Laboratory Instruction.
AIS Philosophy Network Launches New Projects-The last four years, the Philosophy Network has been working to clarify what we mean by "../../../interdisciplinary study."
AIS Pedagogy Network Revitalized-The pedagogical network of AIS was reformed at the national meeting in November with both short and long term goals.
IDS Assessment Instrument Proposed/Educational Outcome Committee Proposes New Assessment Instrument-On January 23, an AIS committee met on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio to explore possible AIS-sponsored research projects on the out comes of interdisciplinary education. Present were Michael Field, Elaine Kleiner, Connie Ramirez, Karl Schilling, and Robert Schwartz.
Position Available at Metro. State- Full-time tenure-track faculty position in minorities studies.
Participants in the AIS Conference at Penn State, Nov. 6-8, 1988-Total of 87 participants.
Call for Proposals for Texas Conference-This conference will focus on the interdisciplinary nature and uses of the humanities, not only in the traditional humanities disciplines but also in terms of their interaction with the realms of science, soc ial science, and the professions.

Volume 10, Number 2, May, 1988

Review of Centripetal Forces in the Sciences, edited by Gerald Radnitzky and review by Jacqueline Kegley, Cal State Bakersfield
Fall 88 AIS Conference Highlights-The tenth annual meeting of the Association for integrative Studies to be held in Arlington, Texas in October. The theme is "The Interdisciplinary Humanities: Social, Scientific, and Artistic contexts,". The Key note speaker will be Richard Harvey Brown from the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Society for Science and Literature - SLS was founded in 1985 to provide a strong interdisciplinary basis for examining the interactions of science, technology, language and literature. Article by Lance Schachterle, Div. of ID Affairs, Worcester Po lytechnic University
Alaska Pacific University Launches Interdisciplinary Studies Book Series-It focuses on literature and the other arts. Position Wanted-Teaching or teaching/administration in an interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary program.
Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society-This society was formed at a 1987 conference on "Agriculture, Food and Human Values: Tradition and Change" to formalize the network of individuals and institutions who are interested in the human values a spects of agriculture, food, natural resources and the environment.
Robert Wallace Wins Post-Corbett Award-One of Cincinnati's Post-Corbett Awards for 1987 went to AIS member Robert K. Wallace for his interdisciplinary contribution to the city's arts.
"Educators For Social Responsibility" Formed-This newly organized national association is composed of parents and educators who wish to teach future generations to examine the challenges of the nuclear age, to develop commitment to social responsib ility, and to cultivate a willingness to act on their convictions.
Survey of Literature and Science Courses- The Society for Science and Literature is surveying undergraduate and graduate science and literature courses.

Volume 10 , Number 3, October, 1988

Review of A Clashing of Symbols: Method and Meaning in Liberal Studies, Phyllis O'Callaghan, ed., Review, by Paul Schumacher, Ball State University
Interdisciplinary Studies at the Shelburne (VT) Middle School-The 1987-88 school year was the first year all students and faculty were actively involved in an interdisciplinary program.
Call for Comments on a New Psychology Text-A preliminary version of a new integrated introductory psychology textbook available (free) to those who would like to comment on its general systems and expert vs. novice organization. AGLSP Conference Held October 6-8, 1988-The Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs to hold its annual conference at De Paul University in Chicago on the topic "Liberal Studies: Is This the Knowledge Most Worth Having?"
Exxon Award for Lib Arts/Business Curricula-The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business administers an annual Exxon Award program for liberal arts in business and management education.
Conference on Developing Inner Potential-Maharishi International University is sponsoring a conference in October on awakening the Knower: Developing More of the Inner Potential of Students and teachers.
Interdisciplinary Studies Conference on "Ethnicity in America"
Interdisciplinary Studies Tenure-Track Faculty Position Available-at Miami University in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Western College Program. Seeking an interdisciplinary social or natural scientist to serve as Director of Quantitativ e Reasoning and Instructional Computing.
Rhetoric of the Human Sciences Series-This series is devoted to the analysis of various disciplines as rhetorics-"systems of belief and practice, each of which has its own characteristic for and structure.
New NSF Program in STSS-The NSF has created a new program, Studies in science, Technology, and Society, to support philosophical, historical, ethical, normative, social science or collaborative studies of science, engineering, or technology.
NSF Ethics and Values Studies Grants Available-Closing date for submitting preliminary proposals to EVS is Nov. 1, 1988.
Call for Papers for GRIP Conference-The California American Studies Association invites proposals for papers for individual and panel presentations to its spring conference in May at-Santa Cruz on the top " 'Folk,' 'Popular,' and 'Elite':" The Politics and Rhetoric of Culture Categories in American Studies."
Interdisciplinary Economics Journal Underway-The international Journal of Interdisciplinary economics, edited by Ken Penney and assisted by Martin Trimbell (both of the University of exeter, is now in its second volume. Recent articles are mention ed and also subscription price.

Volume 10, Number 4, December, 1988

Philosophy Network Definition Project: Where are we now?---1988 Current Status of five year old definition project was clarified at the Philosophy Network session of last National conference in Arlington, TX.
An Historical/Conceptual Approach- It is Important to lay out the three most basic levels generally referred to as "multidisciplinary," "../../../interdisciplinary," and "transdisciplinary," by Julie Klein, Wayne State University
An Operational/Outcomes Approach-While there are a variety of legitimate strategies for organizing interdisciplinary courses, a list is included to help the organization, by William H. Newell, Miami University
A Theoretical Approach, by Un-chol Shin.
Integrative Studies: An Attempt at Description (Task Force Report)
Call for papers for Next AIS Conference-The eleventh annual conference of the Association for Integrative Studies sponsored by the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University to be held in Rohnert Park, California in October. Th e theme will be Integrative Studies: Achievements and Consequences. What are the results of interdisciplinary inquiry? How do the results manifest themselves...in our student? in our scholarship? in our ways of thinking? and beyond the academy?
1988-89 AIS Board of Directors-Results of the recent AIS election.
Positions Available at: San Francisco State, Miami University, and San Jose State
Other Conferences of Interest-
  • The Association of American Colleges to hold its 75th annual meeting January, 1989 at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. on the theme "Overcoming Fragmentation: The Challenge of Connecting Learning."
  • The National Association for Science, Technology, and society will hold its 4th National Technology Literacy conference in the Washington, D.C. area in February, 1989 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel.
  • The conference themes are: education and information; technology, industry, and work; environment; health and bio-medicine; and moral, ethical, philosophical perspectives.
  • Rethinking the Curriculum: A Conference on Integrated Interdisciplinary Education to be held in June in San Diego, CA. The Keynote will be Ernest Boyar. Conference themes will be Assumptions about the "Progress" of Knowledge (speakers include Donel l Medows), Critical Thinking Applied to the Disciplines, Education is Never Value-Free (speakers include Hazel Henderson and David McLaughlin), Alternative Global visions not Current Taught (speakers include Johna Galtung, Frances Moore Lappe, and Russell Peterson, and Developing integrated Programs (speakers include AIS members Richard Jacobs and William Newell). Participants are invited to participate in small afternoon seminars that explore aspects of the conference themes.
  • The Association for General and Liberal studies has issued a call for papers for its conference next October in Indianapolis, IN on "Liberal Education as Cultural Politics."
Message From Anne Brooks, AIS President-She expresses appreciation to Julie Klein for hard work as president last year and she gives an overview about herself and what she plans to do as president.
AIS Award for Graduate Students-A $200.00 award for paper presented at the Arlington conference: "Antecedents to Interdisciplinary Research in Higher Education: An Organizational Communication Perspective."
Position Wanted-Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Arts at Ohio University seeks position in a college or university liberal arts department with a humanities/arts interdisciplinary program.
Report on Integrative Strategies-At the 1988 meeting of the Association at Arlington, Texas, conference participants engaged in a conference-long exercise based on the following question: What integrative strategies were used in your session and for what purposes? By "strategies" we mean any techniques, methods, concepts, devices, theories, or ideas that were reported on in papers, emerged form discussions, or were actively used by presen ters, moderators, and audience members.