An undergraduate education is traditionally supposed to provide students with both breadth and depth of knowledge, which derive from their general-education requirements and major, respectively. Increasingly, education experts also want students to develop a third skill, integrative thinking. It entails learning the deeper, underlying meaning of a…

The author talks about a new generation of Ph.D.'s that is advancing the field with a multidisciplinary approach. Like their predecessors who worked to establish black studies as a respected academic discipline, today's Ph.D. students are also attracted to the social mission of the field. But younger black-studies scholars are willing to work with…

No one doubts that globalization is one of the most important trends of today. As American universities expand their global footprint with branch campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere, many faculty are concerned about oppressive governance, human-rights violations, and lack of academic freedom abroad. Meanwhile administrators grapple…

When students ask for a study advice, many professors would say something like this: "Read carefully. Write down unfamiliar terms and look up their meanings. Make an outline. Reread each chapter." That's not terrible advice. Some scientists would say that professors left out the most important step: "Put the book aside and hide the notes. Then…

Philippe Bourgois, who has spent his career studying some of America's roughest neighborhoods and subcultures, got an unusually harsh welcome to his new hometown: Last May, during a trip to North Philly to make contact with some drug dealers, he got caught up in a police raid. The arrest was Bourgois's first, though hardly his first brush with…

Amid the global economic crisis dominating policy makers' recent attention, the world faces many other equal if not greater long-term challenges that will require concerted and highly skilled policy efforts in coming years. Those interwoven challenges include the mitigation of climate change, the control of emerging diseases, the reduction of…

Most users have no more knowledge of what their computer or code is actually doing than most automobile owners have of their carburetor or catalytic converter. Nor is any such knowledge necessarily needed. But for academics, driven by an increasing emphasis on the materiality of new media--that is, the social, cultural, and economic factors…

American studies have largely explored the intersection between literature and history. An influx of scholars trained in the 1960s has infused American studies with a strong interest in issues of race and class, as well as popular culture. Some feel that this will dilute its basic mission. (MLW)

This article profiles Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt's new course, "Travel and Transformation in the Early 17th Century." The product of an intense, months-long collaboration between computing specialists, graduate students, librarians, and scholars, the course makes innovative use of all the tools and technical know-how a major university…

Although the first doctoral program in women's studies was established in 1969, it wasn't until the 1990s that mainstream institutions began creating such programs. Since then, a number of universities have developed both programs and separate departments. Some scholars worry that choosing such a nontraditional field will limit students' career…

The field of disability studies combines several disciplines to address the philosophical, moral, legal, medical and cultural questions emerging from the intersection of biotechnology and identity. Such a biocultural approach is crucial not just for scholars in the humanities to know the impact that science has on culture and the body, but also…

Research concerns facing scholars are described including: in science--AIDS, exploding star, Ozone Hole, animal patents, Supernova 1987A, quasars, etc.--and in humanities and social sciences--theology, psychology of health, global environment, cognitive archaeology, classic African civilizations, feminism, etc. (MLW)

Interdisciplinary research is seen as coming of age across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, with interdisciplinary thought most substantive in the sciences. For that reason, some observers suggest that the gulf between scientific and humanistic learning may be widening. (MLW)

The science-studies approach seeks to go beyond a history of scientific concepts and their developers; rather, its practitioners want to unravel the cultural and ideological influences that shape the content of those theories. A new science-studies program was initiated at the University of California at San Diego. (MLW)

In response to declining enrollment and industry concerns about entry workers' skills and competencies, Drexel University (PA) has revamped its engineering curriculum to create a "technical liberal arts degree" that incorporates elements of other disciplines. Other institutions are experimenting with this and other approaches to…