43rd Annual Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Conference

Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Navigating Between Generosity and Rigor

Southern Utah University is proud to welcome you to the 43rd Annual Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Conference to be held October 14-16, 2021. Our university serves our region as a public university providing both undergraduate and graduate degree options. We welcome you to join, explore, and learn about Navigating Between Generosity and Rigor in interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship.

The SUU 2021 AIS Conference will be completely virtual. More information is forthcoming.

As a part of this year’s conference theme, we will explore questions such as:

• How do we be generous toward and encourage generosity from researchers, instructors, and students across disciplinary boundaries?
• What methodologies can be used to ensure rigor when research is conducted across disciplinary boundaries?
• How do we address differences in research methodologies/expectations between disciplines and organizational structures?
• How can we measure interdisciplinarity and the rigor of our own interdisciplinary programs to ensure that our programs prepare students to thrive in an increasingly complex world?

Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Navigating Between Generosity and Rigor

Interdisciplinary Studies is marked with a focus on collaboration and integration across disciplines; across languages, cultures, and ethnicities; across genders; across abilities; across the arts and creativity. In harmony with past AIS conference themes, the program committee welcomes presentations that advance the AIS mission, “To promote the interchange of ideas among scholars and administrators in all of the arts and sciences on intellectual and organizational issues related to interdisciplinary education and research.”

We encourage proposal submissions that will explore the conference theme— Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Navigating Between Generosity and Rigor —and invite contributions from all fields that address different aspects of the conference theme. The program committee has identified presentation formats that will promote audience engagement.

Three strands support the conference theme:

Strand 1: Promoting the interchange of ideas among scholars and students

• Q1: How can scholars promote interdisciplinary education that is generous and flexible—yet rigorous—to prepare students for success in our complex world?
• Q2: How can students become more proactive in ownership and empowerment over their education?
• Q3: What does balance between generous, flexible, and rigorous look like?

Strand 2: Utilizing intellectual and organizational tools related to interdisciplinary education and research

• Q1: What structures promote integrated studies, education, and research?
• Q2: What structures dissuade integrated studies, education, and research?
• Q3: How can scholars and students work together to balance structural demands within academic environments with freedom to create and explore?
• Q4: How can becoming interdisciplinary aid in producing knowledge?

Strand 3: Promoting best theories and practices in interdisciplinary learning

• Q1: What practices do the convergence of theory, research, and methodology reveal?
• Q2: What questions related to theory, practice, and methodology need to be explored?
• Q3: Which stakeholders need to be involved in efforts to shape the future of interdisciplinary work?
• Q4: How can interdisciplinary students promote best theory, practice, and methodology in their studies?