Bachelor of Arts InInterdisciplinary Studies

"Interdisciplinary Studies is perfect for people who are intellectually curious, creative, and collaborative,” says Program Coordinator Meg Savilonis. “This program enables students to carve out a path that prepares them for a wide range of existing, emerging, and yet-to-be-imagined professional opportunities.

What Is An Interdisciplinary Studies Degree?

Critical-thinking ability. Powers of analysis and problem solving. Adeptness at oral and written communication. Working well within a team. These are the skills that never lose their relevance and are always in demand. The forever skills.

With our B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, you will make these skills your own. You’ll pull together a number of different disciplines — in the humanities, sciences, and arts — to take on complex problems, exercising your growing powers of analysis and critical thinking ability to create workable solutions, which you will subsequently present with clarity and precision. There isn’t a career field in existence that doesn’t require — and place enormous value on — this skill set.

The Most Individualized Major There Is

This major is all about you — your specific interests, personal strengths, and career goals and even the high probability that you will change careers once, twice, or more in your lifetime. With that personal profile in mind, you will create your own major by combining minors in different disciplines, thereby expanding your breadth of knowledge without sacrificing depth of knowledge.

Working in collaboration with your academic advisor, you will construct a coherent, interdisciplinary program of study that will meet both short-term career goals and lifelong potentials.

Learn more about our minor programs to see what's possible with your interdisciplinary degree.

The High-Impact Learning Experiences That Put Ideas into Action

Your first high-impact learning experience? Planning and curating your program of study with your advisor. This process in itself requires you to apply your analytical powers to determine which subjects studied now will be the investment that reaps career rewards in the near, and distant, future.

Then, depending on your program of study and career aspirations, you may:

  • Engage in one or more internships
  • Study abroad
  • Participate in service-learning within the community
  • Engage in faculty-mentored research

In your senior year, you will take a mandatory capstone course. Working closely with your advisor, you will propose, plan, and execute a project, exiting the course with a valuable artifact — a digital, physical, community-based, or entrepreneurial product of our own creation.

Think of the Possible Career Fields

What career fields need people trained in analyzing complex issues that involve the interweaving of disparate disciplines? Too many to count, but for starters think of:

  • Sustainability
  • Climate Change
  • Information Literacy
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Public Relations
  • Arts Administration
  • Community Engagement

Employers in these fields are clamoring for people with the skills you will acquire in this program — not only in critical thinking, analysis, and communication, but also in the capacity to be an adaptive self-learner and a flexible thinker.

Learn from professors who are dedicated to your success.

Our faculty are leaders and innovators in their fields, bringing both deep professional experience and academic rigor to the classroom.

Jobs With A Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies

The information below is designed to show a few of the possible careers you could pursue with this major. Job titles and salary data are from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

$119K

Public Relations and Fundraising Manager

13% Growth 2020–2030

$74K

Social and Community Service Manager

15% Growth 2020–2030

$49K

Meeting, Convention, and Event Planner

18% Growth 2020-2030

Selected Courses and Programs
  • This course provides a foundation in inquiry that introduces students to interdisciplinary approaches to describing, analyzing, and exploring current issues or problems of local, national, and/or global significance.

  • This course invites students to embark on an interdisciplinary journey with an emphasis on community engagement and public scholarship. Starting from the same point, students will proceed through the semester by making choices about where to go next based on options provided by the instructor and informed by their own interests.

  • This course offers students the opportunity to investigate a problem or phenomenon related to their immediate career goals through interdisciplinary approaches.

  • The University of New Haven offers a wide variety of in-depth courses that create a transformational educational experience for our students. To view the complete list of courses you'll take while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, check out the Academic Catalog:

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Get an inside look at what differentiates the University of New Haven and how your experiences as a student will prepare you for success.

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Next Steps
  • Whether you're still in high school or are transferring from another college, we offer full- and part-time opportunities for undergraduates from inside the U.S. and abroad. The admission process can begin as early as the end of your high school junior year.

    The Application Process

  • We offer a comprehensive financial aid program, with students receiving assistance in the form of grants, scholarships, student loans, and part-time employment. Funds are available from federal and state governments, private sponsors, and from university resources. More than 85 percent of the University's full-time undergraduate students receive some form of financial assistance.

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