Traditionally, university students' education is siloed into disconnected courses and programs. Increasingly, however, there is a trend toward providing interdisciplinary learning experiences to help students develop meaningful skills for becoming more successful in their chosen careers. In this paper, we describe an instructional design project…

School-based mental health professionals are in an ideal position to intervene and prevent problematic substance use among adolescents (Lasser & Schmidt, 2010). Although specialized graduate training in addictions is commonplace for clinical, counseling, and social work, it has not been as readily available in preservice programs for school…

This article describes an innovative upper-level leadership studies minor course that was created to provide a transdisciplinary-type of experience for students. Seminar and student-led in format, the general framework of the course, Leadership in 'Major' Contexts, involved students identifying topics from their own major disciplines and…

The coordination of primary and behavioral health care that holistically targets clients' physical and mental needs is known as "integrated care." Primary care is increasingly becoming a de facto mental health system because of behavioral health care shortages and patient preferences. Primary care behavioral health (PCBH) is a gold…

Weaving together stories from history, as well as his own experience, Mr. Williams speaks about how critical public works and policy questions cannot be solved by people trained in one discipline in isolation--arguing that the hyper-specialization of the 20th century swung the pendulum too far. He closes with a reminder of how integrative studies…

Kinesiology emerged from its preventative medicine and education roots to establish itself as a recognized field of inquiry with numerous sub-disciplines. This article presents four trends in modern science that will likely influence the future of kinesiology sciences. Will recent increases in greater scientific specialization be overcome by the…

Calls for closer connections among disciplines can be heard throughout the world of scholarly research, from major universities to the National Institutes of Health. "In Defense of Disciplines" presents a fresh and daring analysis of the argument surrounding interdisciplinarity. Challenging the belief that blurring the boundaries between…

The physical fitness required to perform complex athletic feats has a parallel in the intellectual fitness it takes to perform complex mental tasks. At the heart of liberal education sits the idea that moderate training in several disciplines is better than intensive training in just one. Through exercising students' abilities in interpreting…

Given the academic specialization endemic today in humanities disciplines, some of the most important work of humanities centers has become promoting education about the humanities in general. After charting the rise of humanities centers in the US, three characteristics of centers that enable their advancement of larger concerns of the humanities…

Improving student achievement in math and science has become a priority in the United States. As instructional leaders, principals can influence instruction in these vital subjects by working with classroom teachers to improve their instruction. Surprisingly, the research about the principal's role in supporting instruction in these subjects is…

In this paper, the concept of expertise as defined in various professions is applied to psychotherapy and more specifically to the field of childhood sexual abuse. Given the dearth of research in this area, exploration of the issue is accompanied by reviewing the curriculum vitae of a number of recognized experts in the field. The paper concludes…

Since the early 1990s, Portland State University has furthered its commitment to civic engagement education by adopting an integrated approach to its general education curriculum. As an outgrowth to this initiative, the minor in Civic Leadership was developed in 2004-05. This interdisciplinary minor was designed with the intent to further…

To meet the ever-increasing demand for expertise in human movement as applied to civil and criminal litigation, both private and public organizations have begun to seek the help of highly trained kinesiology specialists with advanced graduate-level university education and training. This paper will begin by identifying the key elements of the…

The undergraduate Bioengineering Program at Lehigh University was established as part of the university's Bioscience and Biotechnology Initiative with support from the National Science Foundation through a grant from its Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC). The objective here is to describe the program development and…

In 1997, two faculty members at Kansas State University began the process of creating something special and distinctive that never existed before. They clearly understood that they were embarking on a journey that would be exciting, yet not totally within their control. They were passionate about the value of developing a leadership studies…