International perspectives and collaborations are critical to the health of the kinesiology discipline during this supercomplex age. To that end, the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE) has adopted internationalization goals that support international faculty, joining forces with other academic societies across the…

In response to a paper calling for the re-engagement of agricultural education with the sciences and science education, this essay is supportive but argues to proceed with caution: one that at first does no harm. I offer a supplementary lens and story of change at Cornell University as a cautionary and motivational tale. I concur with the authors…

Catholic higher education aims to educate students about the Catholic Social Tradition, yet few resources exist to articulate specific learning goals and assess such learning. This article presents the process used by a multi-university team to validate a rubric intended to strengthen curricular and co-curricular student learning about the…

Can race and assimilation be taught? Interdisciplinary pedagogy provides a methodology, context, and use of nontraditional texts culled from American cultural history such as from, theater and historical texts. This approach and these texts prove useful for an examination of race and assimilation in America. The paper describes a course that while…

The emerging field of nanotechnology has created a new frontier for the convergence of university and industrial research. In the United States, major federal investments provided a massive boom for this field over the decade. This paper reports on a case study of how the University at Albany came to establish the first college of nanotechnology…

Environmental problems are generally complex and blind to disciplinary boundaries. Efforts to devise long-term solutions require collaborative research that integrates knowledge across historically disparate fields, yet the traditional model for training new scientists emphasizes personal independence and disciplinary focus. Growing awareness of…

Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter…

Colleges and universities increasingly view engineering as an important part of a liberal-arts education. Rather than segregate engineering from the arts and humanities, they are integrating the disciplines, in hopes of educating students to perform more effectively in an increasingly complex and technological world. Several college presidents,…

During the last two years we have developed a precalculus course customized around biology by using the scientific method as a framework to engage and motivate biology students. Historically, the precalculus and calculus courses required for the Suffolk County Community College biology curriculum were designed using examples from the physical…

Secondary school educators are told to teach more mathematics and science to their students to help them become more proficient in the two subjects. Coordination of mathematics and science teaching is recognized as another means of improving proficiency. The National Science Foundation has funded the "Mathematics, Science and Technology…

For a long time now, scholars and leaders of higher education have worried that multi-disciplinary research, semiautonomous academic centers, entrepreneurial activity, and commercial influences may erode the traditions and values of U.S. universities, turn the academy into a disciplinary hodgepodge and an academic marketplace. But some see these…

City College of New York experiments with a course in human ecology, considering political, economic, social, psychological, and scientific implications of man's role in the environment. Current issues, problem research, and action projects are used in the three-part interdisciplinary approach. (BL)

Presents the case for the use of bogs as ideal sites for hundreds of interdisciplinary lessons that combine chemistry, geology, various branches of biology, and wetlands archaeology. Includes general guidelines to aid in the design of interdisciplinary bog studies. (DDR)

In the first decade of the 21st century, the nation, the states, and colleges and universities began to grapple with the challenges of globalization, changing demography, the implications of the digital era, and of a less expansive public sector. Although not a transformative period for higher education, the decade saw significant innovations in…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about and from public and private organizations about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) New Online Tool Simplifies Financial Aid Process; (2) Rigor in K-6:…