Center for Interdisciplinary Studies

Some educational journeys consist of well-worn paths, while others demand you create your trail.

Our Approach

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) is a hub of collaboration, innovation and experimentation, bringing together students and faculty whose work transcends traditional academic boundaries. By fostering creative approaches to teaching, learning and research, CIS encourages new ways of thinking that address some of the most complex issues of our time.

Students can pursue a variety of academic plans within CIS: 

Concentrations

Within CIS, concentrations are equivalent to minors that students can pursue without an application process — though each Concentration has certain required courses or areas that students must fulfill in consultation with the Concentration Director. Students may also apply to major in any of these Concentrations. Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies have a faculty-designated curricular template for students interested in pursuing a major.

Standing CIS Concentrations

Faculty-Designed Template Minors And Majors

Faculty have created specific requirements — including certain pre-requisite courses before application — that students must fulfill to complete the plan of study. These programs include:  

Established Student-Designed Minors And Majors

These are longstanding interdisciplinary programs with designated faculty advisors, but students have flexibility about how they create a curricular plan to complete the minor/major. These programs include:

Unique Student-Designed Minors And Majors

These are individual plans of study created by students — that draw upon relevant College offerings — in consultation with a faculty advisor. Recent examples include:

  • Performance Studies (major)
  • International Political Economy (minor)
  • Global Development Studies (major)

How To Apply

To begin the process of designing your own major or minor, you must first meet the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies to discuss your plans. If there is a key professor or designated advisor who is helping you with the student-designed minor/major you are proposing, you may also start your inquiry and planning with that professor. After discussing your plans with the director and key faculty member(s), you may begin work on the CIS Major Application form or the CIS Minor application form.

The application portal for these forms opens on the first day of classes and there is one deadline each semester when all of your materials must be submitted. In the fall semester, the deadline is the first Friday in October. In the spring semester, the deadline is the second Friday in February.

Note: A CIS minor may overlap a maximum of 2 courses from all other plan(s) of study; a CIS major may overlap a maximum of 2 courses from another plan of study (e.g., your other major) or 3 courses from two other plans of study (e.g, your other major and a different minor). No single course may count for three plans of study.
Access to Application

Developing Your Plan of Study

Each program is closely overseen by the CIS Director and the Committee on Academic Programs to ensure its academic integrity. Built on student initiative and strengthened by close faculty mentorship, these programs offer a rare opportunity.

Through academic and cocurricular programs, some of the opportunities to explore across disciplines include themes such as: 

  • Dialogue between the arts, humanities and STEM fields
  • The intersection of race, class and gender in both local and global contexts
  • The societal impact of science and technology, past and present
  • Globalization and its effects on society, politics and culture
  • Intellectual exploration of service and social justice

The right fit for a self-designed program often depends on how it complements a student’s broader academic plans. To ensure their path aligns with their goals, students are encouraged to consult with the CIS Director.

Requirements

A major in one of the Concentrations or a Self-Designed Major generally requires 10 courses (if double-majoring) or 14 courses (if a single major) drawn from at least three different departments. 

A minor generally requires 6 courses drawn from at least three different departments. 

Students should be prepared to address how their choice of minor/major fits their intellectual experience and future plans in the required statement of intellectual purpose. Other parts of the application include:

  • Short questions about your academic experience and plans for the major
  • An unofficial transcript and a resume (NOTE: please save these files with your name)
  • A 4-year course plan showing completed and planned courses
  • Contact information for your faculty recommenders (you need one for a minor, and two for a major.  At least one of these faculty sponsors should come from a department related to the proposed minor/major).

Faculty & Staff

  • Oliver de la Paz

    Associate Professor, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies Director
    Areas of Expertise Creative Writing: Poetry and Hybrid Genres, Contemporary American Poetry, Asian American Literature

  • Susan Amatangelo

    Professor, Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
    Areas of Expertise Modern Italian Literature , Giovanni Verga, Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies

  • Chris Arrell

    Associate Professor, Director, Laptop Ensemble
    Areas of Expertise Music Theory, Composition, Computer Music

  • Laurie Ann Britt-Smith

    Director of Center for Writing, Advisor for Rhetoric and Composition
    Areas of Expertise Rhetoric, Social Justice, Composition Studies, Writing Across the Curriculum, Professional Writing, Language and Literacy Studies, Humor Studies

  • Rosa Carrasquillo

    Helen M. Whall Chair in Race, Gender and Social Justice, Co-Director of Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies
    Areas of Expertise Caribbean and Latin American History; Visual Culture; Black Feminism

  • William Clark

    Associate Professor, Catholic Studies Advisor
    Areas of Expertise ecclesiology (authority in the Church, Theology of parish, local community); practical and contextual theology; Christian prayer

  • Susan Cunningham

    Associate Director of Concentrations for Center of Interdisciplinary Studies
    Areas of Expertise sociology, children and violence, women and drinking

  • Caner Dagli

    Associate Professor
    Areas of Expertise Islamic studies

  • Amy Finstein

    Associate Professor, Architectural Studies Co-Advisor, Urban Studies Advisor
    Areas of Expertise Modern architecture and urbanism

  • Bridget Franco

    Montserrat Director, Co-Director of Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies, Professor
    Areas of Expertise Latin American Film Studies, Digital Humanities, Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) , Literature and Memory Studies, Engaged Pedagogy in the Spanish-language Curriculum

  • Cynthia Hooper

    Associate Professor, Russian and Eastern European Studies Program Advisor
    Areas of Expertise Russian and Soviet history; comparative dictatorship; culture and politics in 20th century Europe

  • Timothy Joseph

    Professor, Director, Peace and Conflict Studies
    Areas of Expertise Latin historiography and epic poetry, The reception of the Classics in the U.S.

  • Ying Li

    Lecturer

  • CJ Martin

    Visiting Assistant Professor
    Areas of Expertise African American History and the Long Black Freedom Struggle, Slavery and Abolition, Race and Politics, The Early Republic

  • Edward McDermott

    Visiting Lecturer

  • Munya Munochiveyi

    Associate Professor
    Areas of Expertise African Social & Economic History; Theory & Methodology in History; Development Studies

  • Giovanni Spani

    Associate Professor, Coordinator, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Program Coordinator, Italian Studies, Pedagogical Coordinator
    Areas of Expertise Medieval & Renaissance Italian Literature

  • Gerald Sullivan

    Visiting Lecturer

  • Karen Teitel

    Associate Professor
    Areas of Expertise Financial Reporting

  • Karen Todd

    Administrative Assistant to Associate Director, Concentrations, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies

  • Steve Vineberg

    Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities
    Areas of Expertise History, Literature, Criticism & Film

  • Love Odetola

    Visiting Assistant Professor

  • Elizabeth Renshaw

    Visiting Assistant Professor

  • Denise Schaeffer

    Monsterrat Cluster Director (Self), Professor
    Areas of Expertise History of political philosophy; philosophy and literature; feminist theory

  • Theresa Michniewicz

    Administrator for Budgets & Operations, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies