Thanks to Humanist I came across this Chronicle of Higher Education essay by Myra H. Strober about fostering interdisciplinarity, Communicating Across the Academic Divide (January 2, 2011.) Strober has written a book about interdisciplinarity titled, Interdisciplinary Conversations: Challenging Habits of Thought whose conclusion she summarizes in the essay,
The three common explanations for a lack of faculty interest in interdisciplinary work are that the academic reward system militates against it (hiring, promotion, salary increases, and most prizes are controlled by single disciplines, not by multiple disciplines), that there is insufficient funding for it, and that evaluating it is fraught with conflict. These are significant barriers.
However, while doing research for my new book, Interdisciplinary Conversations: Challenging Habits of Thought, I found an even more fundamental barrier to interdisciplinary work: Talking across disciplines is as difficult as talking to someone from another culture.
I am chairing a committee that is developing a vision for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Alberta. We have been talking to people, running brainstorming events, and writing up case studies to identify the barriers to interdisciplinarity just in our Faculty of Arts. One thing that is clear is that there are a tremendous number of faculty/students who want to try interdisciplinarity from team-teaching across disciplines to blowing up departments. One of the things that hinders many is the extra effort it takes to get out of the department, to find people, to find the support mechanisms, and to navigate the bureaucracy (which is really oriented around departments.) We need a “front desk” type function where you can get advice and mentoring.