December 4, 2007

A Glance at the November/December Issue of Change: The Path to Interdisciplinary Collaboration

By Jason M. Breslow

Increasing collaboration among disciplines has become "a common feature" of most colleges' strategic plans since 2000, writes Irwin Feller, an emeritus professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University at University Park. "But strategic commitment is not implementation," he says, "and progress toward interdisciplinarity has varied across universities."

Colleges appear to be on four paths toward interdisciplinary collaboration, writes Mr. Feller. Institutions with a strong