Email: is_program@csustan.edu

Graduate students in the MA/MS Interdisciplinary Studies Program are innovators. They understand that thriving in a dynamic economic landscape requires not only flexibility, collaboration, and social and analytical skills, but specialized competencies not always available in traditional academic programs. Master’s students in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Stanislaus State custom-design their own courses of study in collaboration with faculty mentors, combining two or more disciplines to create a hybridized degree program responsive to the needs of the modern workforce. By creating a personalized course of study responsive to their career objectives, students will be able to access and meet their professional or life-long learning goals (they may also choose to follow one of many predesigned collaborative pathways). The Interdisciplinary Studies Program aims not only to instill specialized skills and knowledge in its students, but to move them expeditiously into the most lucrative, sought-after jobs. Students may earn MA or MS degrees in the field of their choice. Each degree plan requires a minimum of 30 units.

While a Master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies prepares students for career success, the degree is not intended to culminate in a credential or license. Students considering the MA/MS Interdisciplinary Studies degree for the purposes of teaching at a community college should contact the appropriate community college's district office regarding its policy governing the hiring of instructors and the requisite coursework; often, the degree can be tailored to meet these requirements.

Contact the program director for more information or to set up a virtual or in-person meeting.

Student Learning Goals

A student in the Interdisciplinary Studies program will demonstrate:

Competence in Interdisciplinary Studies

  1. Advanced knowledge of particular disciplinary discourses and methods, the skills and value of their innovative interdisciplinary course of study, the relationships between the conjoined disciplines, and the ways in which these disciplinary perspectives are integrated and transformed through interdisciplinary studies.
  2. Ability to analyze complex issues, draw reasoned conclusions, and evaluate the effectiveness of proposed solutions to problems.
  3. Understanding of the global perspectives appropriate to their chosen disciplines.

Communication

  1. Ability to write effectively in a variety of written and quantitative formats appropriate to the disciplines and the differing audiences and contexts.
  2. Ability to express ideas orally, with attention to audience and effectiveness of delivery.
  3. Advanced oral and written communication skills, complemented by the ability to access and analyze information from myriad primary, print, and technological sources.

Research and Scholarship

  1. Advanced knowledge of research and scholarship in the separate fields of study in the Interdisciplinary Studies program while attending to the synergy between or among those fields.
  2. Ability to work as an individual researcher/scholar as well as a collaborative partner with others in contributing to the scholarship of Interdisciplinary Studies.

IS Leadership Team

Name Email Role
Dr. Staci Gem Scheiwiller sscheiwiller@csustan.edu Director
Dr. Choong-Min Kang ckang1@csustan.edu IS Committee Member
Dr. Kimy Liu kliu2@csustan.edu IS Committee Member
Dr. Pengtao Li pli1@csustan.edu IS Committee Member

Updated: August 15, 2024