DIIS Mission Statement
MISSION OF THE DIVISION OF INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
The mission of the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies is to prepare students to address the complex problems facing our world and to carry out the responsibilities of citizenship and service in a global community. We encourage these capacities by making the connections among disciplinary fields of study and by encouraging interdisciplinary studies.
The Division brings together Ithaca College faculty knowledge and expertise in a variety of interdisciplinary programs, offering students a diversity and integration of disciplinary approaches, preparing students for the intellectual rigor of analysis and synthesis in response to the challenging human condition, and laying the foundations for a lifetime of learning in pursuit of excellence in all of their endeavors.
To accomplish its mission, the Division will:
- Provide support and incentives to faculty developing interdisciplinary and international programs that complement and enhance the disciplinary majors available to students
- Support the development of programs of inquiry that prepare students to respond to new intellectual questions and pressing human problems
- Provide a unified approach to the development, review, and implementation of interdisciplinary programs
- Provide a supportive organizational structure necessary to sustain the growth of interdisciplinary programs
- Contribute to the implementation of the Institutional Plan, specifically with respect to Academic Program Development Priority Goals 1, 2, 3, and 5, and to Diversity Goals 3 and 4[1]
- Respond to faculty interest in and preparation for innovative program development
- Coordinate and support curricular cooperation and faculty collaboration across schools
- Provide curricular development opportunities to faculty who seek to view their work through another lens
- Create an environment that is conducive to advancing interdisciplinary programs of study, and
- Promote and support scholarship and research undergirding interdisciplinary and international understanding.
