Interdisciplinary Strategies at Research-Intensive Universities
Open Access
- Author:
- Sá, Creso Matutino
- Graduate Program:
- Higher Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 11, 2005
- Committee Members:
- Roger Lewis Geiger, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Lisa R Lattuca, Committee Member
David P Baker, Committee Member
Michael John Dooris, Committee Member - Keywords:
- organizational strategies
interdisciplinary research - Abstract:
- Fostering interdisciplinarity has become a laudable goal for federal agencies and research-intensive universities alike. The National Science Foundation has supported interdisciplinarity for a number of years, through center programs and other initiatives. In the early 2000s, the National Institutes of Health made an explicit commitment to interdisciplinarity in the “NIH Roadmap.” At about the same time, strategic plans of research universities have increasingly emphasized interdisciplinary scholarship. Universities, however, ground their basic organizational frameworks in the nexus between disciplines and academic departments. Both external sponsorship and university leadership commitment to fostering interdisciplinarity therefore suggest the need to induce change in the way scientists work. These calls for change are not new, and some are skeptical regarding the likelihood that they might cause substantial change. This dissertation explores the organizational reactions of universities to current interdisciplinary thrusts in science. Through document analysis, the organizational approaches utilized by research-intensive universities to implement interdisciplinary agendas were examined. These patterns include a move towards strategic university-wide initiatives, the creation of specialized scientific facilities to host interdisciplinary teams, a continuing interest in centrally-supported centers and institutes, and concerted administrative efforts to nurture collaborative research programs, including competitive seed grant programs. A minority of institutions have engendered changes in core university policies and functions, such as faculty hiring, and evaluation and tenure policies. Five case studies provide an in-depth examination of how and why universities implement organizational strategies to foster interdisciplinary research. The cases include institutions whose practices have gained visibility among peers and in the policy community. Going beyond normative arguments, this dissertation advances understanding of interdisciplinary science as an organizational phenomenon in higher education through the empirical investigation of emerging university models.