About Interdisciplinary Studies

The History of the Major
by William G. Marx

Current students know the major by its “shorthand” tag, “IDS.” In 1944, its first students knew it as the “Social Science Divisional Major” in MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, which housed departments in the social sciences, arts and letters, and the natural sciences. More recent students, those who were majors in the 70s and 80s, knew the major as “Multidisciplinary Studies” and later as “The Multidisciplinary Program,” or its tag, “MDP.” By whichever title this major has been known, its hallmark characteristic has always been the construction of imaginative and integrative programs of study that address important social issues and prepare students for professional careers or advanced study. For sixty years now, the IDS major has provided undergraduate students at MSU with effective ways of combining varieties of academic and career interests into substantive, individually tailored, and coherent programs of study. In so doing, the major not only reflects the multifaceted integrity of the College itself, but also recognizes the demands that a complex, dynamic world will make upon its graduates.

I believe the creation of the IDS major was tied closely to the repercussions of World War II. As MSU faculty and students returned from military service in Europe and Asia, their vision of the post-war world and the place of the United States in it grew large and complex. Because it was one of the few industrial countries that had not had its economy and domestic infrastructure destroyed, the United States found itself nearly alone in its capacity to assist in the rebuilding of regional economies and international relations. Whether the United States intended to become a world economic, military, and political power or not, it nevertheless had to assume many global responsibilities. Those responsibilities, ranging from the post-war military occupation of Germany and Japan to the establishment of the United Nations to the regional recovery efforts made possible by the Marshall Plan, and more, all involved the integration of broad-based knowledge and a multiplicity of skills. The creation of the IDS major, I believe, reflected the social science faculty’s increased awareness that those who would be able to contribute most to these efforts would need to have a well-designed, integrative education. Soon after the IDS “Liberal Studies” major was instituted in 1944, the faculty added to it a multidisciplinary major in “Foreign Studies,” which continues on today as the IDS: International Studies major.

The domestic economy and social structure of the United States also changed after the war. Cities grew rapidly, reflecting the increased industrialization of the economy. The automotive industry here in Michigan, especially, gained momentum, and with it also came dramatic changes in America’s transportation, industrial, energy, and urban infrastructures. MSU, itself, reflected many of these changes, for it grew surprisingly quickly to become the mega-university it is now. As the number of faculty in the social sciences increased and the range of their interests and expertise broadened, the IDS major added more “concentrations” to respond to increasingly complex social issues and circumstances. By the mid-60s, the IDS major comprised concentrations in Liberal Studies, Foreign Studies, Business, Pre-Law, Pre-Theology, and Social Science Teaching. Many of those concentrations are still part of the major, and some new ones have been added. The social impacts of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam conflict, the rise of environmental advocacy, and the aging of our population (to cite just a few) have called for concentrations that can help students better prepare to engage a heterogeneous society in constant change. Nowadays, the IDS major offers concentrations in Community Relations, Environmental Policy, Health Studies (pre-med), Human Aging, Human Resources and Society, International Studies, Law and Society (pre-law), and Public Policy Studies.

The end of a true “liberal arts“ education—the artes liberales first conceived by the ancient Greeks, then adopted by the Romans, and eventually instituted as the seven-branched curriculum* of the first universities—has always been to provide free people with the knowledge and skills they need to participate fully in their societies. We may proudly say the IDS major keeps faith with that goal and continues to fulfill that high purpose. For sixty years, students in this liberal arts major have received a superior preparation to succeed in a world that increasingly demands they have manifold talents and the capacity to adapt to new educational and employment environments. For sixty years, the alumni of this major have shown themselves to be well equipped to pursue advanced studies in graduate and professional schools and to enter the career marketplace with an estimable array of complementary skills. Our alumni, who now number well over ten thousand, have made important contributions to secondary and university education, private business, and public service. They include a former ambassador to Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, a national leader in the movement for civil rights and social equality, a former governor of Michigan and ambassador to Canada, a current U. S. senator, a past president of the MSU Board of Trustees, and a host of men and women who have served the public at local, state, and national levels, along with corporate and community leaders serving across the country and around the world. Over the years, a number of IDS students have been recipients of some the highest awards bestowed by MSU and the country, including MSU’s Alumni Distinguished Scholarship, the University Undergraduate Distinguished Scholarship, the National Science Foundation Award for graduate study, and two Mellon Fellowships for graduate study. To date, IDS students have won two of only five Mellon Fellowships ever awarded to MSU students!

The director, advisors, and staff of IDS look back on the history of this major with pride; we look forward to the future with anticipation and confidence. In many ways, the successes of our alumni have demonstrated the IDS major to be adaptive and resilient. Nowadays, the call to interdisciplinary studies has become a nation-wide phenomenon, and universities are busily working to create programs that integrate several branches of knowledge and modes of inquiry. Those of us who work in the IDS program and those of you who are current students and alumni of this major may take real pleasure in knowing that IDS has long been a pioneer and leader in this regard. Recently, for example, faculty at a university in New Hampshire contacted one of our advisors for information about how to establish just such an interdisciplinary program as ours. We look forward to our next sixty years (and beyond) with renewed commitment to continue our leadership in the development of imaginative, integrative programs of study that respond to important social phenomena and prepare students to become active and useful contributors to their societies.

*The curriculum of universities throughout Europe in the Middle Ages was based on the seven “liberal arts,” which were divided into two groups of academic disciplines: the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic), upon which all other learning depended, and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music), wherein the study of the cosmos, the world, and all human relationships commenced.