Interdisciplinary Environmental Programs: Opportunities and Challenges For Faculty and Students

1. Chronicle 2005 Interdisciplinary Environmental Programs: Opportunities and Challenges For Faculty and Students Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College Sharon Hall, Arizona State University Tom Tietenberg, Colby College Diana Rhoten, Social Science Research Council and NSF

2. Background • Site visits to environmental programs at liberal arts colleges for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation • ES&T May 2005: Pfirman, Hall, Tietenberg, and PKAL Resource: Hall, Tietenberg and Pfirman • Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) analyses • Chronicle of Higher Education, February 2005: Pfirman, Collins, Lowes, and Michaels, and PKAL Resource • “Interdisciplinary Hiring, Tenure and Promotion: Guidance for Individuals and Institutions” November 2, 2007 • Women and interdisciplinarity • Rhoten and Pfirman, 2007, Research Policy, Inside Higher Education and upcoming Workshop November 12-13, Columbia http://www.barnard.edu/envsci/dept/pfirman/pfirmanpage.htm

3. Exciting thinking often lies at the borders of academic disciplines, and neither scholarship nor teaching should be constrained by the boundaries of disciplinary training.[C]itizenship with its challenge of solving complex problems, and scholarship as an intellectual pursuit, cannot be limited by these [departmental] distinctions. UNC website

4. Exciting thinking often lies at the borders of academic disciplines, and neither scholarship nor teaching should be constrained by the boundaries of disciplinary training.[C]itizenship with its challenge of solving complex problems, and scholarship as an intellectual pursuit, cannot be limited by these [departmental] distinctions. UNC website

5. Environmental Program AnalysisBarnard, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Colgate, Colorado College, Hobart & William Smith, Lewis & Clark, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Whitman Common Directions • Local environmental engagement and service learning • Interdisciplinary student research • Building community • Common spaces and resources – connecting via GIS • Campus greening & programming Jill Bubier (Mt. Holyoke) and students at a wetland research site in New Hampshire Photo by Ralph Morang

6. Common Challenges • Staffing courses • Cross-departmental commitments • Team teaching • Staffing activities • Balancing education and scholarship • Program management • Service learning • Campus greening • Student internships • Diversity • Faculty • Students • Junior people (women) in difficult positions …

7. Recommendations from Mellon Review • Institutions should take responsibility for interdisciplinary programs and faculty • Invest in community building (on campus and off) • Incentives and rewards for cross-departmental contributions • Staff programs • Institutionalize faculty career path ES&T May 2005: Pfirman, Hall, Tietenberg PKAL 2005: Hall, Tietenberg and Pfirman

8. Interdisciplinarity and Academia • Challenges • Recommendations Pfirman et al., Chronicle 2005

9. Spectrum of Interdisciplinary Involvement

10. Students • Best served by department or program with own space, control over staffing and resources • Balanced, sustainable curriculum • Continuity in academic and career advising • Up-to-date facilities • Sense of community • Opportunities for research

11. Problems with Joint-Appointment, Junior, Tenure-Track Hires • Even if the chairs are committed and all agreements are put in writing, what happens to the junior hire when the chairs rotate off? • Burden on junior hire to figure out how the units will get along • Department does not feel as responsible for hires sponsored by another source as they do when they invest their own resources at the outset • “If they were really good enough, they would have been hired the regular way” “You don’t adopt a child to sort through whether or not you want a marriage” Art Small, III

12. Graduate Students Reported that interdisciplinary activities have adverse effects on their careers, but they are convinced of its value Interdisciplinary Researchers – Biocomplexity Awardees About 30 percent reported that their interdisciplinary affiliations had not helped or had hindered their careers But Junior, Joint Hires Are Not The Only Ones With Concerns Research by Rhoten on Biocomplexity Awardees; Rhoten , D. and A. Parker. 2004. Risks and Rewards of an Interdisciplinary Path. Science. Vol. 306: 2046 (December 17).

15. “Are there impediments to interdisciplinary research at your current institution?” Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, 2004, Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) Convocation

16. What Can We Do?CEDD Interdisciplinary Hiring, Tenure and PromotionPfirman and Martin, co-chairs, 2007 (www.cedd.org/interdisc)

17. Tenuring Interdisciplinary Scholars • Letters from external evaluators • In half of the 12 (!) cases reported in our CEDD survey, when letters were sent to external evaluators, they were specifically asked to comment on interdisciplinary contributions and impact • Annotate CV • Individual contributions to publications • Publication choice • Guidelines documenting FAQ • Recognize and confront systemic issues so that the review committee does not see this particular candidate as weak, just because these issues are raised

18. Cross-fertilization – adapting and using ideas, approaches and information from different fields and/or disciplines Team-collaboration – collaborating in teams or networks that span different fields and/or disciplines Field-creation – topics that sit at the intersection or edges of multiple fields and/or disciplines Problem-orientation – problems that engage multiple stakeholders and missions outside of academe, for example that serve society Intrapersonal: Cognitive Connections Interpersonal: Collegial Connections Inter-departmental: Cross-field Connections Stakeholder: Community Connections Valuing Interdisciplinary Scholarship Rhoten and Pfirman, 2007a,b

19. Time Spent on Interdisciplinary Research:UK Gender Differences Responses from 5,505 researchers in higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, Evaluation Associates, 1999

20. Disciplinary Hierarchical Departmental Mainstream Specialized Discovery Specialization Laser Basic Established Interdisciplinary Collaborative Interdepartmental Non-mainstream Diverse Integration Integration Searchlight Applied New Related, but not the Same UWisc Leahey Boyer Porter Gardner

21. Study of Faculty Worklife at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison:Faculty Perception of Colleagues’ Valuation of Research by Faculty of Color and Majority Faculty http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu/initiatives/survey/results/facultypre/profact/interact/summary.htm

22. Conclusions • Institutions have a responsibility to the people they hire and teach – • They should create a culture, implement procedures, and allocate resources that will allow interdisciplinary scholars and students to thrive and prosper • If women and minorities are indeed more attracted by interdisciplinary research • Institutions interested in increasing their diversity may have a greater chance for success if they value interdisciplinary scholarship • Institutions interested in increasing interdisciplinary research may have a greater chance for success if they involve women and minorities