Interdisciplinary Studies and Liberal Studies

This program is designed for students who choose to double major in Interdisciplinary Studies as their second field of study. The Interdisciplinary Studies double major approaches complex problems that are best addressed by integrating several academic schools of thought, specialized knowledge from multiple research areas, or methods and perspectives from different disciplinary fields. Interdisciplinary Studies emphasizes the practice and methodology of interdisciplinarity to enable students to merge different scholarly areas and fields. With a selection of courses drawn from a variety of departments (from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities) focusing on quantitative, qualitative and cultural approaches, the program prepares students to produce college-level cross-disciplinary work and grants them the freedom to design a major around their intellectual interests and professional goals.

1. Lower Division Required Course (3 units)

INDS 250 Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies (3)

2. Upper Division Required Courses (12 units)

INDS 300 Frameworks for Interdisciplinarity (3)
INDS 350 Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (3)
INDS 400 Interdisciplinary Studies Projects (3)
INDS 490 Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone (3)

3. Methodological Course Requirements (9 units)

A. Quantitative Approaches to Complex Problems (3 units)

Select one course from the following:

BIOL 330/L Biostatistics and Experimental Design and Lab (2/1)
ECON 309 The Use and Interpretation of Economic Data (3)
GEOG 306/L Intermediate Geographical Information Science and Lab (2/1)
LING 455 Computational Linguistics (3)
SBS 320 Social Science Research Methods (3)
SOM 120 Basic Business Statistics (3)
URBS 340A Quantitative Urban Research Methods (3)

B. Qualitative Approaches to Complex Problems (3 units)

Select one course from the following:

AAS 311 Research Methods in Asian American Studies (3)
AFRS 398 Research Methods and Paradigms in Pan African Studies (3)
ART 313 History of Design (3)
GWS 302 Feminist Methods (3)
PHIL 380 Aesthetics (3)
RS 395 Theory and Method in Religious Studies (3)
URBS 340B Qualitative Urban Research Methods (3)

C. Cultural Approaches to Interdisciplinarity (3 units)

4. Disciplinary Course Requirements (9 units)

In consultation with the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Liberal Studies faculty, select:

1. 3 units from the student’s first major.
2. 6 units from an existing major or minor across the University that can be productively integrated with the choices in A. At least 3 of these 6 units must be upper division. Students may not select more than 3 units of General Education courses to count toward these 6 units.

Total Units in the Double Major: 33