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School for Interdisciplinary Studies

We’re not just imagining a better future. We’re building it.

About the School

Through interdisciplinary programs, collaborative research, and partnerships with the community, the School for Interdisciplinary Studies helps students develop new ways of thinking and create meaningful solutions to real-world problems. Our work is guided by empathy, purpose, and a commitment to social justice.

Students in SIS build intellectual agility, learn to work across disciplines, and tackle complex issues from multiple perspectives. These are skills that matter—in the classroom, in communities, and in today’s evolving job market.

Our Programs

Programs within SIS prepare students for long-term intellectual and professional adaptability. Students develop core competencies in critical thinking, communication, research, collaboration, and ethical decision-making, alongside the ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines. This combination supports both career readiness and sustained engagement with complex social, cultural, and environmental issues.

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Writing Studies

Uniting professional communication and rhetorical studies, the Writing Studies Department’s dedicated faculty of scholars and working writers prepare and empower students to be dynamic thinkers and writers in the 21st century.

Visit the Writing Studies Department

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Gender Sexuality and Women’s Studies

The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program takes an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to examining how gender and sexuality influence human experiences across disciplines and intersect with race, class, ability, ethnicity, and other dimensions of identity.

Explore the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Program

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Medical Humanities

Medical Humanities is an interdisciplinary field, one that lies at the intersection of the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, the biomedical sciences and the caregiving disciplines, allowing our students to investigate the human experience of health and illness.

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Interdisciplinary Studies BA

In the Interdisciplinary Studies program, we do more than just study societal problems – we dig deeply to solve them at their roots. Through interdisciplinary coursework, research, internships and community engagement, our programs prepare you for careers spanning public service to health care, education to business, the arts, and beyond – wherever innovation and leadership are needed.

Explore Interdisciplinary Studies

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Social Impact Certificate

This certificate program focuses on internship, professional development, cross-sector and interdisciplinary analysis through challenge-based learning, and real-world problem solving can set you on a personally and professionally rewarding path to help you reach your academic and career goals.

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Advisory Board

From its inaugural year, the School for Interdisciplinary Studies established a Faculty Advisory Committee—now reconstituted as the Advisory Board—to provide cross-institutional counsel and to anchor the School’s relationships with colleges, professional schools, and administrative units across the university. The Board meets monthly and maintains an active Canvas page as a shared workspace for its work.

Its composition reflects the breadth of SIS’s aspirations: members are drawn from the humanities, sciences, professional schools, centers, and library services, representing both the Montclair and Bloomfield campuses.

2026-27 Members

Nixon Cleophat, Bloomfield College

Edmond Berisha, Feliciano School of Business

Ashwin Vaidya, College of Science and Mathematics

Jeff Gatrall, Medical Humanities (CHSS)

Elenice De Oliveira, Sociology, Criminology and Justice Studies (CHSS)

Susana Juniu, College of Community Health

Kate Temoney, Global Cultural Studies (CHSS)

Alicia Broderick, College for Education and Engaged Learning

Charlotte Kent (on Sabbatical 2026-2027), College of the Arts

Denise O’Shea / Drew Wallace, Sprague Library

Erin Weinberger, College of Communication and Media

Daniella Peterka-Benton, Global Center on Human Trafficking

Anna Feldman, Linguistics (CHSS)

Leadership

Our School is guided by expert faculty from across the University, spanning the humanities, sciences, technology, and the arts. Their collective knowledge fosters a curriculum that encourages critical thinking, innovation, and the integration of diverse perspectives.