Interdisciplinary & Intercollegiate Programs & Minors
Quick Links
Interdisciplinary programs provide students with opportunities to learn and apply modes of inquiry essential to multiple interrelated disciplines. Special emphases are placed on writing fluency, an essential skill for success not only in college work but throughout life; on diversity and the study of foreign cultures, so that students gain an appreciation of the uniqueness of each such culture as reflected in its language and history as well as the many traditions that make up our multicultural heritage; and on an understanding of the forces, figures and events that shape our country and our world.
Interrelating sciences, mathematics and analytical processes trains students to reason logically and think critically in both quantitative and qualitative modes. Moreover, direct experience in science for non-scientists through experience both in lecture hall and in laboratory is an essential part or the preparation of informed citizens, who will be called on increasingly in the future to understand the complex issues of science and technology relative to the risks and benefits of its applications.
Some programs involve philosophical inquiry and awareness regarding issues of fundamental human importance. Some grasp of the nature of humankind, of the criteria for knowledge and for making moral decisions fosters the essential lifetime skills of clear thinking, rational evaluation and critical self-reflection. Interdisciplinary programs in the Social Sciences provide opportunities for inquiry into human behavior and its possibilities and limitations. Comparative studies in art history, literature, music history, and the humanities deepen understanding and appreciation off aesthetic cultural, and ethical values both to our own culture and of others.
Interdisciplinary programs and minors offered by the University of Massachusetts Lowell include: