Interdisciplinary Faculty Initiative

November 27, 2006

To the Northeastern University community:

Institutions of higher learning rely on education and research to find solutions to societal problems. Those problems today are highly complex. Most, in fact, are too complex to be sufficiently addressed by a single discipline.

Ground-breaking knowledge creation is occurring at the intersection of academic disciplines. We are already engaged in some of these areas but there are many others yet to be discovered. Our challenge is finding the best path to these crossroads.

Interdisciplinary scholarship is key. Institutions that work well across academic disciplines will be best positioned to assume leadership in emerging opportunities, gain greater recognition and have a more substantive impact in the world. Northeastern University has an opportunity to build on the momentum we have created from our existing collaborative research efforts and our interdisciplinary endeavors.

I’ve learned that it is very common at our institution to bring together excellent scholars from different disciplines to mesh their knowledge in an effort to create new knowledge. This is the essence of interdisciplinary scholarship. Strength in individual disciplines forms the roots. Collaboration across schools, colleges and other institutions allows innovation to blossom and thrive.

Our university must continue to find ways to break down the barriers that can exist between schools and departments. Our goal is to create a culture where collaboration in research and scholarship is second nature. We must promote opportunities for working across disciplines, reward those who do it well, and celebrate our collective achievements.

To facilitate interdisciplinary scholarship at Northeastern, we will encourage joint academic appointments. Further, we will commit to recruit 30 faculty at the senior level (Professor or Associate Professor) over the next three years. We seek those who aspire to combine their knowledge and mastery of different fields with others' in ways that create new areas of scholarship and entirely new disciplines. We will become known as a university that welcomes and fosters this interdisciplinary approach.

I’ve asked Provost Ahmed Abdelal to coordinate the Interdisciplinary Faculty Initiative. It will be launched in addition to the Academic Investment Plan, which was focused on building strength in specific disciplines. This is a major step in enabling the university to focus on those areas of scholarship where Northeastern can be truly distinctive.