Removing boundaries between disciplines to foster the most creative approaches to problem solving and learning is one goal of the Inspiring the Future Makers strategic plan. To enable the adoption of radically interdisciplinary education, the Office of the Provost recently awarded four Interdisciplinary Team Teaching Grants as part of the Future Maker Grant program.
“I am delighted to know the Future Maker Grant funds will facilitate the development of four new interdisciplinary courses for delivery to students beginning this Fall,” said Terry-Ann Jones, deputy provost for undergraduate education. “Helping students think beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries will serve them well as they contemplate their place in addressing the world’s problems.”
Four New Courses in Development
Four Future Maker Team Teaching Grants were selected to receive grant funding:
All Fun & Games: How Does Play Change Us? is a new interdisciplinary “Big Questions” seminar for first- year students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Associate Professor Will Lowry (Theatre) and Associate Professor Brooke Rollins (English) will pair humanities-based game studies theory with theatre-based practices in emergent storytelling, creative problem-solving experience design, and embodied narrative. The goal of this first-year seminar is to encourage students to explore the social, cultural and theoretical role of gaming in human life and to creatively apply this knowledge in the form of game play, game design and ludological inquiry.
Associate Professors Khurram Hussain (Religion Studies) and Nandini Deo (Political Science) will team together to co-teach the new “Big Questions” interdisciplinary seminar, Are Children People? focused on the question, “To what extent are children members of political communities entitled to self-determination?” This seminar will teach first-year students how to engage in debate, discussion and disagreement in a constructive and respectful manner, to be able to identify different disciplinary approaches to the same general question, and to learn how to formulate their own, well argued and well-informed answers.
What is Reality? is the name of a new undergraduate Big Questions first-year seminar course to be co-taught by Professor Almut Hupbach (Psychology) and Professor of Practice William Crow (Art, Architecture and Design). Drawing on the foundations of psychology, the meaning-making processes of the visual arts, and students' own interpretive and creative responses, students will be guided through creative exercises to examine their own realities. Students will be engaged in inquiry-based learning that involves active participation, creative responses and writing.
Funding was awarded to support an interdisciplinary course titled Opium Wars to the Opioid Epidemic to help students develop a thorough understanding of the historical background of the opioid epidemic and the current strategies being used to address opioid addiction locally and nationally, while also connecting them to professionals currently addressing this crisis. Assistant Professors Dustin Stoltz and Amy Johnson (Sociology and Anthropology) will team teach this course.
Data Informed Decision Future Maker Grants Proposal due April 15, 2024
Lehigh has invested in programs designed to support the success of the strategic plan throughout the academic year. The most recent invitation, announced at the January Strategic Plan Implementation Info Session, is focused on the decision making informed by qualitative and quantitative data and analysis initiative. As a reminder, Data Informed Decision future maker grant proposals are due April 15, 2024. Details on application submissions will be accepted through InfoReady.
We are all Future Makers at Lehigh University. The goals of Lehigh’s strategic plan will be achieved through the collective good work of our Lehigh community.
