Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts
and Business Education
Thomas Allen Crain
Senior Lecturer
Where business is taught with humanity in mind.
A Starting Point
• Why interdisciplinary?
• Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary
• Why problem based?
• Johns Hopkins University: some context
• Interdisciplinary approaches at Hopkins
• School of Professional Studies
• Designing New Curricula
• The Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies
• The Amazon: Environmental and Cultural Perspectives
• American Cities: Baltimore
Johns Hopkins University
• The first “research university” in the U.S. (private)
• A focus on advanced studies
• Distinctive formats
▫ Rounds
▫ History of Ideas Seminars
▫ Humanities Center
• Undergraduate liberal arts: Veritas vos liberabit
A Second Mission for JHU
• The ivory tower and town/ gown relations
• 100 years of continuing studies for adults
• The Masters and Bachelors of Liberal Arts
• The Odyssey Program
• University politics and restructuring (1996/97)
• The School of Professional Studies in Business and Education
• 2007: Founding of the School of Education & the Carey
Business School
Interdisciplinary Studies at JHU
• The School of Public Health: Ph.D. in Social Science
• School of Advanced International Studies
• Bloomberg Chairs and dual appointments (Agre, Greider)
• President Daniels and the One University initiative to foster
inter-school collaboration
• Institute for the American City; Global Health Institute
• Business and Education (Administration, School Leadership)
• Police Executive Leadership Program (Public Safety)
Carey Business School
• Business with humanity in mind
• Elimination of Academic Departments
• Redesign of faculty offices and space
• Creation of the full-time Global MBA
• Faculty collaboration: communities of research
▫ Business in Government
▫ CityLab
• Partnerships and dual programs with other schools
▫ MBA/MPH, Business of Medicine
▫ MBA/MS in Government
▫ Masters in Health Management
▫ MBA/MFA (MICA)
Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies
• The story of the Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies
▫ 1997 and the restructuring of the School
▫ Creation of the Undergraduate Division
▫ B.S. in IT, B.S. in Business and Management
▫ Replacing the popular BLA
▫ Dr. Toni Ungaretti, designer of the Masters
of Arts in Teaching, hired as director of the
new Undergraduate division
• Culture shift: interpenetration of business and education, and a
leadership team with backgrounds in psychology, humanities,
information systems, and law
A Model of Culture
Assumptions
(implicit)
Norms & Values
Artifacts & Products
(explicit)
Business & Education: A Culture Shift
Look at the following slides. They represent two different
academic disciplines and two different cultures:
1. Can you identify which academic discipline is associated with
each?
2. What assumptions do they reveal about how learning takes
place?
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Curriculum Development: Backward Design
• What are our domains? What is our expertise
• With what skills and knowledge do we want students to leave
the program? (Input from professions, employers, students)
• How do we assure that they are learning what we say they are?
• Assessment of learning:
▫ create learning goals and objectives
▫ align program goals, courses, & assessments
▫ align course syllabi with these objectives
▫ collect data
▫ analyze the data
▫ address weaknesses
▫ repeat
Starting Point
Domains: Business, Information Systems, Humanities, Social
Sciences, Communications
Assumptions about the curriculum
• It should be interdisciplinary
• It should be global
• It should be relevant to today
• It should lay the foundations broad and deep as most
students would need to change careers several times in
their lives (an argument for liberal arts vs. specialization)
Competencies
1. Oral and written communications
2. Analytical and critical thinking; problem solving
3. Human relations (esp. networking and team building)
4. Leadership and change
5. Value-based decision making
6. Technology proficiency
7. Historical and global perspectives
8. Aesthetic appreciation and principles of design
9. Commitment to lifelong personal & professional development
10. Information literacy
Mapping Learning Objectives onto Courses
• Program goals
• Individual courses:
▫ Course objectives
▫ Alignment with program
objectives
▫ Standard syllabi
▫ Rubrics for assessment
• See table for program objectives and AoL assessments
• See syllabus for Business Communication
Preparing Students for the Future
Major problems and trends facing students in the future:
• Environmental sustainability
• The aging of the baby boom generation
• Business competition in a global economy
• The impact of new technologies
• Affordable health care
• Megacities and their problems
• Renewable energy
The Millennium Project
BS in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary: two models
• Why interdisciplinary?
• Why problem based?
• Interdisciplinary Social Science: Psychology, Anthropology,
Sociology, Economics, Geography, Political Science
▫ Cluster: Certificate on Aging
- Psychology of Aging
- Social Aspects of Aging
- Biological Aspects of Aging
- Intergenerational Issues
- Assessment of the Elderly
Applying Skills to Problems
Communication skills
• Writing across the curriculum
• Grants and Proposal Writing
• Use of Digital Media
Social Science
• Organizational Behavior
• Assessment and statistical analysis
Information Systems
• Software tools (e.g. SPSS)
• Data analytics
Interdisciplinary Courses
• Persuasion
• Paris in the 1920s
• The Amazon: Cultural and Environmental Perspectives
 History
 Geography
 Ecology
 Policy
 Anthropology
American Cities: Baltimore
• How cities develop: commerce,
government, transportation
• Economic history of Baltimore
(manufacturing, finance)
• Social history of Baltimore (e.g.
immigration, race)
• Cultural history of Baltimore (literature, music, art, sports)
• The built environment (architecture, real estate); study tours
• Problem-based, team taught approach (poverty, crime, education,
housing, health care, transportation, tourism, industry)
• The One Law Assignment: civic engagement