An Interdisciplinary Approach
One of Albright’s hallmarks is a flexible curriculum that allows students to create an individualized education. Fifty-eight percent of the Class of 2005 graduated with a dual, combined or interdisciplinary concentration. “When I was a student no one even thought of or heard of doing that,” says Yoder.
Today, in addition to 11 interdisciplinary areas of concentration such as psychobiology, biochemistry, crime & justice, and Latin American studies, students have the option of pairing any combination of concentrations.
Angela Brady ’03, who recently received her master of science degree in biomedical visualization from the University of Illinois, one of only seven schools in North America that offers this degree program, says, “The flexibility that Albright offers is unique. You not only receive an education, you receive the education you want.”
Environmental science major Marissa Moyer ’05 agrees. Moyer, currently attending graduate school at Duke University is meeting a lot of students that had one or the other: either the science or the social aspect, almost never both. “Albright’s environmental science program gave me the chance to take all of the straight science and social sciences I wanted, including political science, economics, and even environmental history. This makes me feel more well-rounded, because environmental problems must be looked at from all these disciplines, and more.”
After completing a triple major in English, sculpture and film, Michael P. Gray ’98 went on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in American literature at the University of Essex in Colchester, England. “At Albright I learned to think,” Gray says. “I learned new ways of seeing and challenging the world around me. When I walked out of Albright’s doors, I walked out armed with a philosophy by which I could live my life and continue to grow.”
“For me, it’s been a
transforming experience to look at sociology, psychology, political science, art, history… It’s allowed me to embrace a lot of different fields I wouldn’t normally have seen.”– Mary Jane Androne, Ph.D., professor of English
Albright’s first interdisciplinary program, psychobiology, was created in 1969 under the guidance of psychology professors Marsha Green, Ph.D. ’63 and Ron Green, Ph.D. ’62 and the late biology professor John Hall, Ph.D. Albright received a matching grant from the National Science Foundation that made it possible to purchase laboratory equipment to begin the program. Not only was it Albright’s first interdisciplinary program, it was the first undergraduate program of its kind in the country.
Both Marsha and Ron had been studying animal behavior and were influenced by ethology, the scientific study of animal behavior based on the systematic observation, recording and analysis of how animals function with special attention to physiological, ecological and evolutionary aspects.
“When I started teaching at Albright,” says Marsha, I started thinking about the disciplines [biology and psychology]. They’re a natural fit.”
Biochemistry, under the direction of Robert D. Rapp, Ph.D., professor emeritus of chemistry, soon followed in 1970 and was the first of its kind in the region. “We were interested in making the department better and wanted to be responsive to the interests of students,” says Rapp.
The decades since have seen the creation of many additional interdisciplinary programs such as child and family studies, environmental studies, optical physics (the only such program nationwide at a small college), and three Johnson Centers for Interdisciplinary Studies, created with a $600,000 grant in 1999.
The Johnson Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies has been expanding the Latin American and Caribbean curriculum over the last three years, says Betsy Kiddy, assistant professor of history and director of the center. “We have a dynamic program that includes faculty from more than nine disciplines in a truly interdisciplinary program.”
According to Androne, the number of students choosing dual concentrations has multiplied since the 90s. “It’s a good thing for students to see the interconnectedness of disciplines,” she says, “but it’s also good for the faculty. For me, it’s been a transforming experience to look at sociology, psychology, political science, art, history…It’s allowed me to embrace a lot of different fields I wouldn’t normally have seen.”
The flexibility of Albright’s curriculum, allowing students to combine two and even three concentrations, is truly what makes it unique, says Chapdelaine. “When I talk to academic officers from other institutions they look at me kind of befuddled, like ‘how is that possible? How do you juggle all that?” The faculty buy-in is what makes it possible.
The Albright Faculty
“Through the work of our creative faculty, students have a far greater range of curricular options than is typical for a college of our size,” says President McMillan.
The faculty recognize the greater good of interdisciplinarity and understand the benefit to students, says Chapdelaine. “We’ll change careers seven times on average in a lifetime, so to be narrowly defined, narrowly trained, narrowly skilled, is not going to serve our students well.”
Faculty are also very willing to work with each other across the disciplines, says Thomas C. Brogan, Ph.D., chair and professor of political science. “We’re not here to protect our turf, we’re here to make sure that students have the education that they and you think they want.”
“When I walked out of Albright’s doors, I walked out armed with a philosophy by which I could live my life and continue to grow.”
– Michael P. Gray ’98
Karen Campbell, Ph.D., P. Kenneth Nase chair in biology, says the new Science Center is actually being designed with this collaborative factor in mind. With shared instrumentation, labs and research space, and offices grouped together not by department, but by collaborative work, the building itself reflects Albright’s interdisciplinary focus.
Above all, (and coincidentally, the one thing that everyone interviewed for this story mentioned) the relationships that develop between faculty and students through faculty/student research projects, close academic advising or just in class have always been the glue that holds it all together.
“Each student is an individual,” says Campbell. We know who our students are. That’s what Albright is.”