Program Requirements

Program Requirements

In order to be admitted to the Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies degree completion program, a minimum of 54 transferable units is required.

Generally, students complete the program in three to four semesters depending on how many transfer units the student enters the program with.

Students entering the program with fewer than 80 transfer units and/or with unmet general education requirements will need to take elective and/or general education courses to complete their degree. Students can opt to take their elective courses either in the School of Undergraduate Studies or in select graduate courses offered to undergraduate students.

Students attend a two-day, in-person intensive to begin each semester. Following the intensive, all learning is done online via the University’s learning management system. The 100% online classes allow students to continue the learning, collaboration, and discussions that they began at the intensives.

This course promotes perspectives and educational practices that create an environment that centers a culture of inquiry, equity, and engagement in the co-creation of knowledge and understanding. We’ll explore education as a liberatory project as a way of having agency and getting free. Group discussion, exercises, and textual analysis allow students to reflect on shared resources, how to learn in new and unfamiliar ways, and at times “unlearning” previously relied-upon strategies. Students write critical reflections on themselves as learners.

This is an interdisciplinary course that will integrate the philosophical constructs of justice with an analysis of contemporary social issues. The class will explore a range of paradigms and religious beliefs that inform and reify contemporary concepts and practices of justice. Drawing on indigenous, Afro-centric, and other non-Western philosophies and spiritualities, this course presents a body of knowledge centering transformative and restorative justice practices. We will address research justice, gender justice, racial justice, and more. An exploration of ancient and contemporary examples of justice practices will allow students to develop practical facilitation tools and skills.

From a human perspective, the Earth is becoming a less healthy place to live. Globalization has created opportunities for combating poverty and disease and for collective action. It has also created opportunities for horrific exploitation of natural resources, including humans and other living beings. Capitalism typically treats the impacts of such practices as “externalities”— that is, not of economic consequence, not figured into the price of things. Understanding planetary interconnections involves ecology, economics, and multiple—and often contradictory—cultural values and perspectives. In this class, teams of students will take on specific issues to research and develop art-based strategies for promoting positive change.