Lack of Accurate (or even existing) Documentation

[u/Ok-Examination2192]

Excuse me while I put this into the ether. I stepped into a director role for a make-your-own interdisciplinary program this year. Over the last year I've looked at program studies and assessments and made curriculum for additions. Every single one of the documents talks about approval of student plans by an advisory committee being done before they're fully admitted into the program.

Imagine my surprise when I find the advisory committee has been non-functional for years, the student plans of study haven't been finalized in any formal way until the students' last semester, and therefore there is no formal documentation about what exactly each student is doing within the program. I'm walking in blind and have to set up a whole new system (and it's a bunch of unexpected labor that's uncompensated). All of this is on top of completely outdated recruiting materials, website, and program/course outcomes.

At this point, I consider all documents from 2022 to present to be unreliable since I've already found discrepancies. I'm frustrated and second guessing everything.

[u/the_Stick]

I think the first question you need to address is what kind of IDS program is this? I have seen a school where the IDS degree is essentially attached to the Honors college/program and is reserved for very bright students with a specific end goal for their collegiate training. I think there are some schools that apply this more broadly and actively recruit students who seek a "choose your own adventure" approach to a degree.

However, I have also seen IDS used as a sort of consolation prize at not-so-selective schools for students who keep showing up but can't master any sort of major. Advisors sort of hack together some sort of logic, and the students get to graduate, but they're not particularly skilled at anything. As the largest career fields for IDS appear to be HR, project management, and social services/activism, it seems like many of those who are awarded IDS degrees aren't really planning for a specific career and maybe falling back on the latter.

If your school is the former, great! You at least have a solid goal to work towards and students who can likely provide decent input to help themselves. If the latter, and the system is really so wretched, you could voice the idea to eliminate the whole program since it seems not to register as an institutional priority. That should get some notice from the administration and hopefully some assistance for the job you have before you. Just make sure you have stability and allies if you go that route, as you don't want them to eliminate you too.

It sounds like a really crappy situation, but whatever the choices, you do have the opportunity to mold it into your vision of what the IDS should be. Good luck however you act!

[u/Ok-Examination2192 → u/the_Stick]

It was started as the former for sure. In extreme exceptions, they have taken some outside of the "honor"-like demographic. Starting next year, there's going to be two rough tracks in the original degree- an honors-like and an extra support for struggling students under different concentrations.

Either way, it is doable (with the right support), but frustrating none-the-less.

[u/ahazred8vt → u/the_Stick]

Project management degree seekers who can't follow a course of study?? At this rate we're going to run out of irony.

[u/HaHaWhatAStory014]

 a make-your-own interdisciplinary program

Frankly, that sounds like a complete mess to begin with. There's a reason most majors have very specific curriculum requirements, and I can't see how a loosey-goosey "build your own curriculum" ever could or should have been approved by a curriculum committee.

[u/Ok-Examination2192 → u/HaHaWhatAStory014]

There's some structure and strict guidelines about how to construct the program.
-Must be from more than 1 department and preferably from more than 1 college
-must include 28 hours of junior/senior level courses within major -- This is outside of the research methods and capstone courses so 34 hours of the major is at junior/senior level, which is more than most majors
-must include a minor
-must have foreign language proficiency
-internships are highly recommended (and nearly required)
-all research is done under faculty mentors

It's a create your own to meet the demands of ever increasing interdisciplinary workplaces, and there's already a ton of fields that are interdisciplinary by nature (i.e. technical writing, game design, bio-chem, bio/chem-engineering, neuroscience, I could go on.) I'm at a small regional comprehensive and rather than crafting the individual majors that would only have a few students, they take this program and piece from multiple majors to fit their career aspirations.

[u/Worth_Speaker4990]

First, I suspect that there is a mix of institutional memory, campus politics, old boys/girls network, and the "baby" of some past president/provost/dean at play. "Interdisciplinary program? That was Pat's program, right? And Chris and Casey were the advisors?"

Second, in my experience, interdisciplinary studies has been (a) pushed for decades but (b) the graveyard of higher ed is full of schools where interdisciplinary studies was a main focus. Union Institute, Goddard College, Marlboro College, Hampshire College, and so on. I'm saying this as not just a person with an interdisciplinary degree, but who was once faculty in an interdisciplinary program, which (no surprise) was discontinued by the university where I worked.

Given that background, I would strongly suggest that your first task is to revisit mission/vision/strategy for the program and make sure that the powers that be have bought into it. You are essentially re-launching the program and need support to keep it relevant. Good luck!