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Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health, Wellness and SustainabilityThursday October 27 - Saturday October 29, 2016

University of Ottawa, Canada

Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

2016 Conference Program

Day 0: AIS board meeting

2:00 pm to 6:00 pm - AIS2016 Board MeetingRoom 3105

Day 1: Thursday, October 27, 2016

8:30 am to 7:30 pm - Registration [Desmarais Lobby]

8:00 am to 1:00 pm - AIS Board Meeting [Room 3105]

9:00 am to 12:00 pm - Pre-Conference Workshops

Pre-Conference Workshop I [Room 1110]Nuts & Bolts: Best Practices of Interdisciplinary Course Design and Pedagogy

Karen Moranski, Sonoma State University, California; and Scott Crabill, Oakland University, Michigan.This interactive workshop provides an opportunity to learn the tools and techniques of interdisciplinary pedagogy. Participants will define terms, contextualize goals, and learn best practices in interdisciplinary syllabus and assignment development, assessment techniques, and research methods. Expert Rick Szostak will deepen participants' understanding of interdisciplinary theory in relationship to pedagogy.

Pre-Conference Workshop II [Room 1120]Online Interdisciplinarity: Best Practices for Online Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning

Marcus N. Tanner, Texas Tech University, Texas; and Khadijah O. Miller, Department of History and Interdisciplinary Studies, Norfolk State University, Virginia.This interactive pre-conference workshop offers participants an opportunity to learn and consider some of the best practices in online teaching and learning in the context of interdisciplinarity.

12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Lunch [on your own]

1:00 pm to 1:30 pm - Welcome to the 38th Annual AIS Conference [Room 12102]

1:00 pm to 1:30 pm - Plenary: Welcome to the 38th Annual AIS Conference!

Dr. Barbara Graves, Vice-Dean of Academic Programs, Faculty of Education. Dr. Jeff Jutai, Director, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences. Dr. Karen Phillips, Conference Co-Chair, Assistant Director (Undergraduate Studies), Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences. Dr. Angus McMurtry, Conference Co-Chair, Faculty of Education.

1:30 pm to 2:30 pm State of the Field

Dr. Machiel Keestra, AIS President

2:30 pm to 2:45 pm - Break: Refreshments served

2:45 pm to 3:45 pm - Keynote Speaker [Room 12102]

Our Research is Living, Our Data is Life: Toward a Trans-disciplinary Gerontology

Jennifer Sasser, Gerontology, Portland Community College, Oregon.

3:45 pm to 4:00 pm - Break: Refreshments Served

4:00 pm to 5:15 pm - Concurrent Session # 1

Papers: Renewals in Aging Research: Integrating and Digitizing Perspectives [Room 1110]Management of Aging Services: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Steven McAlpine, Interdisciplinary Studies, UMBC, Maryland.Based on theoretical frameworks from Miller & Boix Mansilla (2004), this paper will analyze the interdisciplinary connections that Masters students in the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC (many who are professionals in the field of aging services) made in their final reports for the course in the Spring 2016 semester.

Memory, Knowledge Creation, and Creative E‐media: Interdisciplinary Arts and Alzheimer’s Disease

Jennifer Dellner, Ocean County College, New Jersey.This presentation will build on recent theories of the interdisciplinary arts, particularly Augsburg (forthcoming) to examine the different notions of knowledge creation, gestured to by several examples of e-literature, whose common aim is to present experiences and representations of memory loss and the ability to construct knowledge disrupted by Alzheimer’s disease.

Bridging Knowledge, Policy and Practice through Transdisciplinary Research: Findings and Lessons Learned from the AGEWELL WP8.3 Project

Hajer Chalghoumi, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Virginie Cobigo, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ontario; and Jeffrey W. Jutai, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ontario.This paper presents an innovative transdisciplinary project to study ethical factors that arise during the development, commercialization, diffusion and adoption of a technology that support safe use of medications among the elderly with cognitive impairments.

Panel: Interdisciplinary Doctoral Education for Health, Wellness, and Sustainability: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions [Room 1120]

Elizabeth Mellin, Lubna Chaudhry, Victoria Rizzo, Laura Bronstein and Deborah Taub, College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University - SUNY, New York.This panel discussion describes the development and administration of an interdisciplinary doctoral program aimed at developing scholars who are well prepared to research complex issues related to health, wellness, and sustainability. Dialogue about interdisciplinary doctoral education with attendees will be emphasized. Relevant program materials will also be distributed for attendees.

Papers: Creating Ripples in Integrative Education [Room 1130]Third Time’s a Charm: Understanding and Communicating Integrative Interdisciplinary Learning with Becoming Interdisciplinary, 3rd Edition

Tanya Augsburg, San Francisco State University, California.Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies has been revamped, revised, and expanded in the Third Edition (2016). In this paper I position my introductory integrative interdisciplinary studies pedagogy alongside innovative pedagogies that encourage critical reflection (Freire), transformative learning (Mezirow), creative inquiry (Montouri), and self-authorship (Baxter Magolda).

Articulating an Integrated Studies degree with LEAP (2015) Standards through Essential Learning Outcomes, Professional Indicators, and Capstone Scoring Rubrics

Michael Cena, Weber State University, Utah.LEAP (Liberal Education and America's Promise) 2015 Standards provide a framework for this presentation. Included are Weber State University's work to articulate institutional essential learning outcomes, professional indicators, and Capstone rubrics that support our claim that the University's Bachelor of Integrated Studies is an institutionally-defined High Impact Program.

Workshop: Hiring, Tenure, and Promotion of Interdisciplinary Faculty: Developing Progressive Practice Using the New AIS Guidelines [Room 1150]

Roslyn Schindler, Wayne State University, Michigan; and Karen Moranski, Sonoma State University, California.The health of interdisciplinary studies relies on a robust infrastructure that supports the careers of interdisciplinary teacher-scholars. Unfortunately, few universities help faculty navigate an interdisciplinary career path. New AIS Tenure and Promotion Guidelines can help them develop effective action plans. Attend this interactive workshop session to learn and problem solve!

Meeting: Annual Meeting of Alpha Iota Sigma Honor Society [Room 3105]

Marcus N. Tanner, Texas Tech University, Texas.This will be the annual meeting of the honor society for Alpha Iota Sigma. Student officer representatives from each chapter should be in attendance.

5:15 pm to 5:30 pm - Break

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm - Poster Session [Room 12102]

6:00 pm to 7:30 pm - Cocktail Reception & Appreciation Tribute [Room 12102]

Day 2: Friday, October 28, 2016


8:00 am to 9:00 am - Breakfast & SECTION Sessions [Room 12102 & 12110]

9:00 am to 10:15 am - Concurrent Session # 2

Panel: Thinking Together about the Complexities of the Aging Journey: A Collaborative Conversation [Room 1110]

Jennifer Sasser, Portland Community College, Oregon; Angus McMurtry, University of Ottawa, Ontario; and Gaetano Lotrecchiano, George Washington University, Washington DC. This collaborative conversation focuses on cross/inter/trans-disciplinary perspectives on life with an aging body and how individual experience is shaped by social structures as well as various discourses on the meaning of aging and later life. Sponsored by the Health, Health Care and Aging Section.

Panel: European Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Higher Education. Part 1: Cases and Evidence [Room 1120]

Catherine Lyall, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Merel van Goch, Utrecht University, Netherlands; Ulli Vilsmaier, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany; and Machiel Keestra, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.This session will showcase work being done by AIS members, and their colleagues, based in Europe in order to examine whether distinctively European perspectives on interdisciplinary learning and teaching in higher education are beginning to emerge.

Papers: Interdisciplinary Education: Widening the Frames of Learning [Room 1130]

Developing an Interdisciplinary Public Policy course at Florida State University

Robert Crew, Florida State University, Florida; and David Rasmussen, Florida State University, Florida.This paper describes an interdisciplinary, evidence-based course on public policy that focuses on three issues: 1) instruction in the frames through which individual disciplines in social science view the world; 2) instruction in techniques of social science analysis; and 3) pedagogical issues related to teaching to large numbers of students.

Integrative Studies and Service Learning ‐ Synergies and Sustenance

Michelle Buchberger, Miami University, Ohio.This presentation will discuss the strong synergies between the pedagogy of service learning and interdisciplinary studies programs and the output characteristics that are nurtured in students by both pursuits. The paper will focus on the development of a class in an interdisciplinary studies undergraduate program that incorporates service learning.

Interdisciplinary Experiential Education in Practice: Do Different Types of Experiential Education Encourage Higher Social Capital?

Clarissa Estep and Eric Myers, West Virginia University, West Virginia.Our research focuses on two types of interdisciplinary experiential education and assesses their impact on students’ development of social capital. Our work will yield a better understanding of how students are developing social capital and if universities’ adoption of interdisciplinary experiential education is creating more engaged citizens.

Papers: Our Selves, Our Disciplines: Theorizing Consilience and Common Heritage [Room 1150]

Consilience as the Way Forward for Interdisciplinary Studies of Religions

Benjamin Bennett‐Carpenter, Oakland University, Michigan.This presentation offers an introduction to interdisciplinary studies of religions that argues against “silver bullet” explanations (Bennett-Carpenter, 2014) while arguing for “consilience” (Wilson, 1998; Slingerland & Bulbulia, 2011; Slingerland & Collard, 2012) as the way forward for interdisciplinary studies of religions.

Part 1: Interdisciplinarity and the Self‐as‐Sinner ‐in Theory

Sharon Woodill, University of Central Florida, Florida.This paper explores the mostly tacit self-as-sinner narrative in interdisciplinary discourse to argue that it is antithetical to the notion of self-organization integral to complexity and comprises an unnecessary reprisal of the very epistemic limitations that necessitates interdisciplinarity in the first place.

Part 2: Interdisciplinarity and the Self‐as‐Sinner -in Practice

Julia Poertner, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia.This paper will show that our current socioeconomic climate that is largely based on parsed and disciplined orientations of traditional Western thought, undermines the development and flow of ideas that possibly could lead to a change of consciousness as the foundation for a more integrated, economically and ecologically sustainable society.

Papers: Practicing Interdisciplinarity: Learnings from Collaborative Projects [Room 1140]

Practical Ontologies of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Line Hillersdal and Astrid Pernille Jespersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.This paper investigates interdisciplinary collaboration in practice and analyses the kinds of methodological tools which develop in the project process to facilitate interaction with various data among multiple disciplines. The case for the paper is two interdisciplinary research groups working on obesity in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Decolonizing Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Research through Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Practitioner-informed Approaches to Knowledge Production and Translation

Robert Edmondson, University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Studies, Oklahoma.This paper explores the researcher-practitioner dynamic in the production and translation of knowledge related to sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) and presents practitioner-informed strategies for effective collaboration. The paper also discusses ways in which practitioners’ conceptualization of participatory research-to-practice projects differ from academic models of transdisciplinary research.

Open Space: Networking [Room 12102 & 12110]

Networking space / Poster viewing

10:15 am to 10:30 am - Break: Refreshments Served

10:30 am to 11:45 am - Concurrent Session # 3

Papers: Traditional Knowledges of Health and Ecology [Room 1110]

Research Challenges and Lessons Learned from Conducting Trans‐disciplinary Research in a Canadian Artic Community

Natalie Carter, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Jackie Dawson, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Shelly Elverum, Ikaarvik Barriers, Nunuvut; and Eric Solomon, Ikaarvik Barriers and Vancouver Aquarium, British Columbia.Community-based research study was implemented with the participation of multi-disciplinary researchers. It explored local (Inuit and non-Inuit) knowledge about socio-cultural and ecological marine zones, their importance and sensitivity, barriers to community members’ continued use of them, and resulting impacts on community members’ well-being. Methodological and practical lessons learned will be presented.

Paper/Video: The National Picture Project: Sharing First Nations Women's Experiences of Cancer and Caregiving through Video [Room 1150]

Chad Hammond, Josée Boulanger, and Roanne Thomas, University of Ottawa, Ontario.The National Picture Project honours the voices of First Nations women with cancer and caregivers. This community & arts-based research addresses significant gaps regarding cancer survivorship for this population. The video produced out of participants' audio interviews and photographs will be screened followed by a discussion on our collaborative process.

Papers: Interprofessional Health Education: Innovations in Pedagogy[Room 1120]

Reverse Narratives: A Strategy to Increase Student Engagement and Awareness of the Patient’s Voice

Amy Leaphart, University of South Carolina, South Carolina.An outline of a piloted program called Reverse Narratives. This is a student led, case-based approach to interprofessional health education which incorporates a narrative approach to heighten student awareness and consideration of the patient’s voice.

Case Study: Frontiers in Public Health

Ruth Childs and Dena Levy, The College at Brockport, New York.This case study examines the challenges and benefits of an interdisciplinary course focused on vaccinations. The class was taught by faculty from political science, public health, communications and biology. This type of class is an ideal model for teaching public health, and also for the overall health of a college.

Panel: Resources for Capstone/Graduate Courses [Room 1130]

Rick Szostak, University of Alberta, Alberta; Machiel Keestra, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands; Marcus Tanner, Texas Tech University, Texas; Kim Loudermilk, Emory University, Georgia; and Peter Wakefield, Emory University, Georgia.The purpose of this panel is to discuss what sort of resources might be particularly useful for capstone or graduate courses. The presenters will discuss both resources and curricula, and invite audience participation in identifying resources and resource needs.

Papers: Theorizing Interdisciplinarity: The Problematics of Divisive Language [Room 1150]

The Act of Othering Interdisciplinary Teaching through Writing

Katrine Lindvig, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.The paper raises the notion of othering: when we increasingly talk and write about interdisciplinary teaching as something unique, outstanding and completely different from monodisciplinarity, are we then, conversely, impeding the growth and institutionalisation of the very thing we are trying to promote?

The Paradox of Substance: Considering The Rhetorical Canon and Interdisciplinary Studies

S. Andrew Stowe, Anderson University, South Carolina.This presentation will explore the ways that the rhetorical canon can inform understandings of

interdisciplinary procedure. By considering Kenneth Burke's paradox of substance, rhetorical theory, and interdisciplinary procedure, this presentation will seek to expand considerations of interdisciplinary practice.

The Color of Interdisciplinarity

Brian McCormack, Arizona State University, Australia.The Color of Interdisciplinarity matters both because of the thought it inspires and the practice it recommends. This presentation begins to survey the ways that interdisciplinarity is color.

Papers: Refining Interprofessional Education through Community-Academic Partnerships [Room 1140]

Interprofessional Community Partnerships and Practicum Experiences

Cindy Versteeg and Tonia Peachman‐Faust, Algonquin College, Ontario.Providing interprofessional community health practicum opportunities is paramount to skill development in health professionals. By creating learning opportunities for students to work and function within an interprofessional team on community health promotion projects, knowledge transfer to skill development takes place. Come hear feedback from students, faculty and community partners.

Facing Challenges and Embracing Opportunities: How Can We Develop Meaningful Interprofessional Medical Education Curricula within Communities?

Suzanne Brandenburg, University of Colorado, Colorado.Optimized patient care requires a well-coordinated team of health professionals, yet embedding meaningful interprofessional training opportunities across health professions education curricula is challenging. During this round-table discussion, opportunities for collaborating with community stake-holders to provide integrated clinical experiences that benefit students and patients alike will be explored.

Open Space: Networking [Rooms 12102 & 12110]


11:45 am to 12:00 PM - Break

12:00pm to 1:30pm - Keynote Speaker and Lunch [Rooms 12102 & 12110]

Indigenous Health Equity and the Promise of Interdisciplinary Approaches

Chantelle A.M. Richmond, Western University, Ontario.

1:30 PM to 1:45 PM - Break


Workshop: Successful Sustainable Interprofessional Education Workshops [Room 1110]

Cindy Versteeg, Tonia Peachman‐Faust, Jennifer Munoz, and Angela Nuelle, Algonquin College, Ontario.Faculty from several programs at Algonquin College will talk about their role in the delivery of various interprofessional workshops. The organization and content, along with opportunities, challenges and strategies for developing and delivering sustainable interprofessional experiences to students will be discussed.

Papers: Student-Directed Pedagogical Practices [Room 1120]

PPLE College: An Introduction to a New Interdisciplinary BSc Programme

Noah Millman, Radboud Winkels, and Madeleine Moret, PPLE College -University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.This presentation will introduce a new small-scale intensive interdisciplinary programme at the University of Amsterdam. There will be an overview of the structure followed by an in-depth explanation of both the course and programme components that make it both unique and innovative.

Human Rights and Entrepreneurship: An Interdisciplinary and Experiential Approach to Solving Wicked World Problems

Tami S. Carmichael and Rebecca Leber‐Gottberg, University of North Dakota, North Dakota.This presentation, focusing on student work and learning outcomes, details the interdisciplinary learning experience created between Humanities, Social Science, and Entrepreneurship at the University of North Dakota. Students worked collaboratively to study Wicked World Problems while gaining the hands on entrepreneurial skills they could use to tackle those problems.

Cultivating Individualized Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Students

Benjamin Brooks, New York University, New York.This presentation will discuss a new program at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study that seeks to effectively assist individual interdisciplinary students in identifying and engaging with opportunities

pertinent to their scholastic/career interests, including fellowships, scholarships, awards, internships, and volunteer experiences, but that speak more directly to traditional, discipline-based students.

Workshops: Gaming for Health Education [Room 1130]

Connecting the Dots: Gamifying the Introduction to an Interdisciplinary Graduate Course

David B. Earle, Braintrust, Denmark; Katrine Lindvig, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and Line Hillersdal, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.This paper investigates gaming as a way to create coherence and integration in interdisciplinary courses that consist of monodisciplinary perspectives gathered around a joint topic. The case for the paper is a board-game used in an introduction to a graduate course on obesity research in a Danish university health faculty.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cardiovascular Disease Education through Game Design

Maniraj Jeyaraju and Stephen Freeland, University of Maryland, Maryland.This presentation will address an interdisciplinary project-based learning approach to game design in the health education field. The game design process, challenges, and the importance of disciplinary stakeholders and mentors will be highlighted. Underscoring this student-led game development is the need and value of applied interdisciplinary thinking.

Panel: Ancient Origins and Modern Interdisciplines [Room 1150]

Wendell Kisner and Raphael Foshay, Athabasca University, Alberta.This panel explores the relevance of interdisciplinary possibilities opened up in ancient pre-disciplinary texts, on the one hand, and contemporary movements away from the disciplinary enclosures of modernity and into lateral interdisciplinary directions, on the other hand. Contributions address connections between these two bookends of the disciplinary period, a period which emerged out of the European Middle Ages and which now, if not coming to an end, is being put in question.

Panel: Me, Myself, and Others: Emotional Wellbeing and Higher Education [Room 1140]

Scott Crabill, Oakland University, Michigan; David Lau, Oakland University, Michigan; Charlie Rinehart, Oakland University, Michigan; and Matthew Lau, Simpson College, Iowa.Cognitive development has been the focus of Higher education for centuries. Unfortunately, students are increasingly coming to college with greater emotional and mental challenges. This panel will feature presentations, poems, prose, and performances exploring Bloom’s Affective domain and the purview of education within this forgotten domain of learning.

3:00 – 3:15 PM - Break: Refreshments Served


Panel: Four Perspectives on Promoting Indigenous Health: Views from Indigenous Women, Men and Health‐Care Providers [Room 1110]

Brock Pitawanakwat, University of Sudbury, Ontario; Maurice Brubacher, Trent University, Ontario; Lloy Wylie, Western University, Ontario; and Tricia McGuire‐Adams, University Ottawa, Ontario.This panel envisions the promotion of Indigenous paradigms of healing and well-being that are grounded in Anishinaabe holistic concepts of health. The panel will present perspectives from Indigenous Elders, health-care providers, women and men. These perspectives can offer guidance for reshaping the provision of health-care together with Indigenous people.

Workshop: Teaching Interdisciplinary Research to Students [Room 1120]

Ger Post and Joris Buis, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.The workshop will guide you through the process of doing interdisciplinary research. The same process as you will teach your students. The session will provide hands-on explanations and illustrations to inspire you and your students.

Papers: Experience-Near Approaches to Child Development [Room 1130]

Adolescent Identity and Perceived Sibling Position: A Focus on Novel Study in the Secondary Classroom

Cynthia M. Morawski, University of Ottawa, Ontario.Through the lens of Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology, and via Louise Rosenblatt's transactional practice of living through a text, this session focuses on close readings of several adolescent novels in relation to perceived sibling position and adolescent identity, with a special focus on practical application in the secondary English classroom.

How Do Individuals Diagnosed with Mental Illness and their Family Members Envision and Create Together Potential Futures Worth Striving For?

Jiameng Xu and Melissa Park, McGill University, Quebec.Using a narrative-phenomenological interpretive framework, I will describe, from a first-person perspective, the experiences of a mother and caregiver whose son had been diagnosed with mental illness, to provide a view of how individuals living with mental illness and their family members strive towards hoped-for possible futures and possible selves.

A Participatory Research Study on Crisis Management in Child Mental Health

Marjorie Montreuil, McGill University, Quebec.Coercive practices in child mental health are routinely being used by the interdisciplinary team, but raise significant ethical concerns. This study explored the institutional norms, structures, practices and corresponding moral experiences around crisis management in child mental health, with the aim to address these ethical challenges using a participatory approach.

Workshop: Making the Complex Visible: Drawing Interdisciplinary Concepts [Room 1150]

Nick Sousanis, San Francisco State University, California.This hands-on workshop will offer participants practical skills for visually expressing interdisciplinary concepts. The presenter will share from his comics to demonstrate how working visually reveals unexpected connections and new insights. Participants will engage in drawing exercises (no prior drawing experience required!) to work through concepts from their own research.* Remote Presentation only.

Workshop: Mapping Histories of Interdisciplinary Intersections [Room 1140]

Kathleen Greene and Diane Lichtenstein, Beloit College, Wisconsin.We will present our professional memoirs as well as invite participants to draft their own narratives. We will be guided by these questions: How have we contributed to sustainable interdisciplinary structures or programs? How has our work affected student learning? How has interdisciplinarity contributed to our intellectual and academic well-being?



4:30 pm to 4:45pm - Break: Refreshments Served

4:45pm to 6:00 pm - Concurrent Session # 6

Performance: “We are in Her and She is in Us”: Rematriating the Sky Woman Narrative Through Performance [Room 1110]

Kahente Horn‐Miller, Carleton University, Ontario.Performative interpretation of Sky Woman story as part of an interdisciplinary project about rematriating the Haudenosaunee creation story, bringing her off the page, out of the history books and back into life. This work transcends disciplinary boundaries, she moves from researcher, to storyteller, to woman, and finally to performer.

Panel: Going Feral: Establishing Integration as an Essential Feature of the Curricular Wilds [Room 1120]

Cynthia Brandenburg, Michael Kelly, Michael Lange, David Mills and Craig Pepin, Champlain College, Vermont.What happens when a ten year-old interdisciplinary general education program reassesses the relationship between its original intention and current practice? How does an evolving conception of curricular integration complicate an academic department? This panel will examine the organic growth of a planned curriculum and consider potential next steps.

Workshop: Using Literary and Philosophical Texts in Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies [Room 1130]

Simeon Dreyfuss, Independent Interdisciplinary Scholar, Oregon.Literature can be a vehicle through which students discover interdisciplinarity. This workshop examines texts used in an introductory course. Literature invites students to design degrees which integrate knowledge connected to their goals. The purpose of this workshop is to share, and invites participants to discuss texts they have used.

Panel: Theater: Ways the Most Interdisciplinary of the Arts Promotes Wellness [Room 1150]

Gretchen Schulz, Oxford College of Emory University, Georgia; Tanya Augsburg, San Francisco University, California; Pauline Gagnon, University of West Georgia, Georgia; Karen Moranski, Sonoma State University, California; and Allison Upshaw, University of Alabama, Alabama.Aristotle saw drama as providing a cathartic experience affirming psychic and societal health, but sometimes artists (like Shakespeare in his day and Shange and Sulkowicz in our own) work to send audiences away feeling less well, less comfortable in their views, than before—an outcome healthy in its own way.

Forum: Emerging Scholars Forum - Health, Wellness and Sustainability [Room 1140]

James Welch IV, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Oklahoma.An opportunity for graduate students to describe their own interdisciplinary work, exchanging hopes,

concerns and ideas with established interdisciplinarians, and explore career opportunities in interdisciplinary fields. Although the conference theme of health and wellness will be discussed, this is an open forum and all students are welcome to attend.



6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - Dinner Circles

Day 3: Saturday, October 29, 2016


8:00 am to 9:15 am - Breakfast & GUIDE Sessions [12102 & 12110]

9:15 am to 10:30 am -Concurrent Session # 7

Papers: Coming Together to Enhance Patient Care [Room 1110]

Best Practices in Prenatal Health Promotion: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Rebecca Chedid and Karen Phillips, University of Ottawa, Ontario.This presentation discusses an interdisciplinary approach for best practices in prenatal health promotion and program planning. Effective prenatal health promotion requires a theoretical and evidence based approach, needs assessments that identify populations at risk, interprofessional and interdisciplinary collaborations and engagement of key stakeholders from the community.

Managing the Transitions of Neonatal Patients from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: The Role of Interprofessional Collaboration

Myuri Manogaran, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Ivy Bourgeault, University of Ottawa, Ontario; and Thierry Daboval, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ontario.

This research examined how interprofessional collaboration can act as a catalyst for efficient and effective transitions of care from a high-risk neonatal unit to care in the community.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in the Implementation and Evaluation of a Unique Inter‐Professional Model of Patient Care in an Academic Health Center

Elham Sadeh, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario; Salma Debs‐Ivall, The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa, Ontario; Michael S. Kerr, University of Western, Ontario; and Ginette Lemire‐Rodger, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ontario.Objectives of the presentation: To share an innovative & unique interprofessional model of patient care. To describe the involvement of multiple disciplines and healthcare professionals in IPMPC’s development, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability. To share the findings from the evaluation of the impact of the model

Papers: Revolutionizing University Culture: Breaking Down Disciplinary Divides [Room 1120]

Transforming an Entire University: Moving from a Traditional Discipline-Based Model to an Interdisciplinary Model of Teaching and Learning

Scott Robison, Independent Scholar, New Hampshire.Plymouth State University is in a period of transformation. The traditional discipline-based model of teaching and learning is being replaced with an interdisciplinary, "strategic cluster" model. This presentation will include the timeline for the project, challenges met, and feedback from faculty and staff. Feedback from session attendees is appreciated.

The Evolution of an Interdisciplinary Studies Program: A Report from Norfolk State University

Samuel Korsi Dogbe, University of Interdisciplinary Studies, Ghana.Professionals decided to minimize the centrality of the general education curriculum and replace it with an interdisciplinary approach but soon discovered the complexity involved in such an exercise because of the transdisciplinary integrative principles required to resolve problems and issues.

Hacking the Disciplines

Robin Engelhardt, Werner Schäfke, and Jens Dolin, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.This paper points at current conflicts and challenges in practicing interdisciplinarity at the University of Copenhagen - a traditional subject based university. Based on empirical data it formulates six recommendations for improving interdisciplinary teaching and cross-faculty educational programs and emphasizes the usefulness of using students as drivers of interdisciplinary change.

Papers: Re-Modelling Health: Sociological and Organizational Frameworks [Room 1130]

Diagnosing Organizational Disease: Utilizing a Medical Model for Academic Assessment

Timothy T. Stoller, The College at Brockport, SUNY.An exploration of the utility and effectiveness of adapting the medical model of diagnosing diseases to the realm of academic institutions and programming. How might organizational health be defined & promoted?

Sociologists in Medical Schools in the UK: The Workings of Interdisciplinarity in Health Research and Education

Sarah Stahlke Wall, University of Alberta, Alberta.In recognition of the value inherent in interdisciplinarity, medical schools in the UK have sociologists on faculty to prepare physicians to apply sociological principles, knowledge, and methods to medical practice. This study explored the role of those social scientists and the difficulties and successes they experienced in cross-disciplinary work.

Papers: Creativity and Transformation [Room 1150]

Challenging Differences to Foster Integration in Transformative Research

Ulli Vilsmaier, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany; and Bianca Vienni Baptista, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany and Universidad de la República, Espacio Interdisciplinario, Uruguay.We elaborate on practices of differentiation for integration in inter-and transdisciplinary research. We develop a topological perspective by constituting spaces for integration and making research topographies visible and accessible. Further, a case study shows how differentiation and integration can be systematically addressed to support collective efforts for sustainability transformations.

Creativity is Not a Luxury: Exploring the Role of Creativity in Interdisciplinarity, Education and Society

Rajdeep Gill, University of British Columbia and Kwantlen Polytechnic University, British Columbia.In this paper, I will argue for the imperative of sustaining creativity in a society-wide ecology by highlighting its integral cognitive, social, ecological and ethical role. I will discuss the transformative role of creativity in interdisciplinary research and teaching and in specifically advancing integrative understandings of health, wellness and sustainability.

Creativity and the Interdisciplinary Research Process

Rick Szostak, University of Alberta, Alberta.This presentation will discuss how the literatures on creativity and design can be better integrated into the literature on the interdisciplinary research process. The IRP literature has long recognized the need to "create" common ground. The creativity literature suggests several strategies for facilitating the creative aspect of interdisciplinary research.

Papers: Critical Non-Reductionist Perspectives [Room 1140]

Sustaining Critical Practices in Higher Education’s State of Emergency: Compromise, Conflict, and Interdisciplinary Alternatives

John Charles Goshert, Utah Valley University, Utah.Explores intersections of Occupy movements and Digital Humanities pedagogies to consider how commitments to horizontality and individual agency may reinforce rather than challenge neoliberal transformation of political and academic institutions. How can (inter)disciplinary labor and organizations present collective alternatives to privatizing concentrations of institutional power?

Assessing Quality and Efficacy of Traditional Medicine (Jamu) in Java: Perceptions from Traditional Jamu Producers

Julie Laplante, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Maria Costanza Torri, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick; John Paul Nyonator, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Carolyn Szuter, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick; and Tuti Elfrida, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia.Randomized controlled trials (RCT) are used to determine the efficacy of therapeutic practices. The producers of traditional medicine (jamu) in Java determine the efficacy of jamu through a complex sensorial approach based on color, texture, smell, and taste, thus overcoming a reductionist approach based on “scientific” and universalistic paradigms.



10:30 am to 10:45 am - Break: Refreshments Served

10:45 am to 12:00 pm - Concurrent Session # 8

Papers: Health Disparities, Partnerships & Patient Voices [Room 1110]

Bridging Basic Sciences and Translational Research with Narrative Medicine to Address Health Disparities

Amy Leaphart and Erin McCoy, University of South Carolina, South Carolina.A narrative medicine framework outlines strategies that can be implemented within the training of basic scientists and transitional clinician researchers in order to achieve improved focus on the study of health disparities.

Use of Public Health and Library Collaboration Models to Improve Patient Efficacy and Reduce Health Disparities

Patricia Richards, Marywood University, Pennsylvania.Collaboration with public libraries for patient education leads to enhanced patient self-efficacy, improved compliance, better physician-patient communication, and reduced anxiety for patients, their families, and their caregivers. Over time, this model reduces health disparities between high and low income populations and improves overall health outcomes.

Bedside Perspectives of Patient Engagements with Interprofessional Health Teams

Kelly N. Kilgour and Angus McMurtry, University of Ottawa, Ontario.Patients and family caregivers’ perspectives of interprofessional teams and their patient engagements will be highlighted, based on an action research study conducted with two Canadian interprofessional teams. This presentation may assist health professionals to gain a greater understanding of their interprofessional collaboration practices along with patient involvement integration and impacts.

Papers: Exploring Barriers to and Promises for Integrative Learning [Room 1120]

Using an ePortfolio in a Capstone Course for Integrated Studies Majors

Dianna Zeh Rust, Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee.This session will discuss the benefits and challenges of requiring ePortfolios in a capstone course for Integrated Studies majors. ePortfolios have been discussed as a powerful tool to help students make sense of their learning; make connections; and develop their professional identity. Examples of ePortfolio platforms will be presented.

Assessing the Development of Integrative Thinking in an Interdisciplinary General Education Program

Craig Pepin, Ciaran Buckley, Michael Kelly, Michael Lange, David Mills, and Cynthia Brandenburg, Champlain College, Vermont.Relatively few studies have examined the extent to which college undergraduates can develop the skill of integrative thinking. We present the findings of a longitudinal study of a cohort of students on the development of this skill in a professionally focused college with an interdisciplinary Core curriculum.

Bridging the Gap between Interdisciplinary Learning and Community Engagement through Humanities/Science Block Course on “Sustainable Cities: Communities of the Future"

Rebecca Leber‐Gottberg, Mia Park, Francis Samuel, and Cassandra McLain, University of North Dakota, North Dakota.Humanities and Science collide through exploration of technologies and possibilities for future city planning or reimagining current urban environments considering the practical planning needs, political landscapes, and how cities can define what it means to be human. The course utilizes student involvement in the community to ground the course material.

Workshop: Technology for Open Collaboration: How to Harness the Power of the Digital in an Interdisciplinary Studies Curriculum [Room 1130]

Robin DeRosa, Plymouth State University, New Hampshire.This hands-on workshop will introduce the basics of "open pedagogy," and explore how academic technologies can be used effectively in undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies courses and programs to empower students, facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration, and support applied learning.

Papers: Transformative Potentials offered by the Arts and Humanities [Room 1150]

Promoting a Healthy Climate with High‐Impact Practices: The Why Behind Aesthetic Education and Interdisciplinarity in First Year Seminars

Heidi Upton, St. John's University, New York.In recent years, it has become established “fact” in university education that high impact educational practices such as First Year Seminars promote the well-being of entering college students. This session reports on research into philosophical theories behind various educational approaches and their practice in First Year Seminars.

Arts-based Methods and Interdisciplinarity

Genevieve Cloutier, University of Ottawa, Ontario.This study investigates how arts-based methods are being employed in diverse areas of research. A review of the literature reveals that they allow researchers to express their own reflexivity, to collect rich data from participants, and to do so while honouring different ways of knowing and coming to know.

Lived Experiences of Teaching Artists in After‐School Music Programs Focused on Student Social Development

Paul Cortese, Texas Christian University, Texas.This paper examines the experiences of two professional musicians teaching in an after-school program that integrates student social development and music education. I posit that teaching artists undergo a transformative process that destabilizes their engrained beliefs about the purpose of music, enabling them to shift their perspective and realize that music can be used to improve children’s behavioral and social development.

Papers: Securing a Professional Good Life [Room 1140]

Health and the Humanities: Interdisciplinary Pathways to Careers in Health and Wellness

Evan Widders, West Virginia University, West Virginia.The West Virginia University Interdisciplinary Studies program is recruiting students interested in careers in health and wellness. By incorporating a curriculum supplementing technical knowledge with courses

in the medical humanities, we encourage students to understand health in its broader social, environmental, and cultural contexts and prepare them for health careers.

Addressing Marginalization: Promoting Wellness among Emeriti through (Interdisciplinary) Retirement Organizations

Gretchen Schulz, Oxford College of Emory University, Georgia.Many faculty are postponing retirement in fear of the marginalization that often follows. But retirement organizations (like Emory’s Emeritus College) address this fear with programming that offers opportunities for continuing engagement and intellectual camaraderie—with (a big bonus) colleagues from every discipline imaginable. The result? Well being rather than distress.

Re‐conceptualizing the Links between Work and Health in a 'Risk' Society: A Workshop to Explore Interdisciplinary Approaches and Integrated Solutions

George Dutch, JobJoy, Quebec.Job security is being shredded by disruptive forces in our ‘risk’ society that undermine the health and well-being of millions of people. ‘What are humans for? How shall we live? How should society then be ordered?’ are just a few questions that might energize alternative visions for ‘the good life.’

Wellness: Mindfulness Meditation [Room 3105]

Narges Khazraei, University of Ottawa, OntarioNeed to unwind or relax during the conference? This wellness session will introduce you to the concept of mindfulness and then will guide you through a short meditation session.



12:00 PM to 12:15 PM - Break

12:15 PM to 1:45 PM - Keynote Speaker and Lunch [Room 12102 & 12110]

Reading Artifacts

David Pantalony, Canadian Science and Technology Museums Corporation, Ontario.



Papers: Narrating Cancer: A Mosaic of Perspectives [Room 1110]

Cancer Blogging: A Survivor's Story

Rebecca J. Hogue, University of Ottawa, California.Blogs are an under utilized resource for health related information. The author is a breast cancer survivor, blogger, and educational researcher. This presentation merges the telling of her illness story (Pathography) with the reporting of the results of a survey that looked into why people read breast cancer blogs.

Infused: Creative Writing in the Cancer Clinic

Renee Nicholson, West Virginia University, West Virginia.Collaborating with a palliative care physician at West Virginia University's School of Medicine, a creative writer embarks on an interdisciplinary grant-funded expressive writing in a cancer clinic project, focusing on storytelling to improve quality of life and advance care directives with lung and colon cancer patients.

Panel: Catalyzing Interdiscipinarity Across Emory College: An Alternative Model of Interdisciplinary Study [Room 1120]

Kim Loudermilk and Peter Wakefield, Emory University, Georgia.This presentation describes practices of interdisciplinarity at Emory University that diverge from Repko's paradigms by placing a greater emphasis on objects, research questions, and student advising than on explicit articulation of disciplinary perspective, synthesis, and integration. Our new programs place undergraduates at the center of shaping interdisciplinary study.

Panel: Team‐Teaching Integrative Studies: A Roundtable Discussion on the Rewards and Pitfalls of Collaborative Teaching [Room 1130]

Lori Parks, Miami University of Ohio, Ohio; Caryn E. Neumann, Miami University of Ohio, Ohio; Madhu Sinha, Miami University of Ohio, Ohio; and Deborah Hokien, Marywood University, Pennsylvania.This roundtable will present a discussion that focuses primarily on integrative team-teaching, the rewards and pitfalls that come with blending style and strengths along with the attendant communication issues that may arise.

Panel: Constructing Interdisciplinary Common Ground: The Arts and Humanities in Practice [Room 1150]

Heidi Upton, St. John's University, New York; Steven McAlpine, UMBC, Maryland; Simeon Dreyfuss, Independent Interdisciplinary Scholar, Oregon; and Allison Upshaw, University of Alabama, Alabama.This panel convened by the Arts and Humanities Section engages its participants in interdisciplinary problem solving, asking participants to begin to develop strategies of inquiry useful beyond the scope of this panel, illuminating ways to approach complex problems through multiple perspectives and unexpected outcomes.

Panel : Disrupting our Disciplinary Identities [Room 1140]

Michael Lange, Michael Kelly, Cynthia Brandenburg, David Mills, and Craig Pepin, Champlain College, Vermont.This presentation explores the nature of academic identity within interdisciplinary higher education. When a new, interdisciplinary general education curriculum was implemented at Champlain College, many faculty members had their roles and positions in the college radically reshaped. This reshaping had profound effects on their senses of personal and professional identity.

Open Space: Networking (Room 12102 & 12110)


3:15 pm to 3:30 pm - Break: Refreshments Served


Workshop: Provoking Social-Relational Interactions for Men Participating in Chronic Pain Support Groups: Addressing Social Isolation an Interdisciplinary Approach [Room 1110]

Richard , McGill University, Quebec.We intend to demonstrate how social-relational activities for men living with pain through the use of a buddy approach to prevent a lives spiralling out of control, co-create support groups designed by men, for men through interactive activities for men to work together on community projects, while building friendships.

Panel: European Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Higher Education. Part 2: Shared Lessons and Good Practice [Room 1120]

Machiel Keestra, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands; Peter Lawler, University of Manchester, United Kingdom; Katrine Lindvig, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Catherine Lyall, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Merel van Goch, Utrecht University, Netherlands; and Ulli Vilsmaier, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.This session will showcase work being done by AIS members, and their colleagues, based in Europe in order to examine whether distinctively European perspectives on interdisciplinary learning and teaching in higher education are beginning to emerge.

Papers: Interdisciplinary Solutions to Supporting Marginalized Populations [Room 1130]

The Lived Experiences of Immigrant Canadian Women with the Healthcare System at the Intersection of Sex, Gender, Ethnicity, and Immigration

Salma Debs‐Ivall, The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario.Objectives: To describe the feminist intersectionality framework that guided the study. To share an analysis of the literature to date around the Healthy Immigrant Effect. To describe the narrative that emerged from the data analysis of the experiences of immigrant women with encounters with the healthcare system in Canada

Communication about Genetically Modified Food among Immigrant Populations in Canada: A Systematic Review

Zerin Khan and Rukhsana Ahmed, University of Ottawa, Ontario.In this study, we carry out a systematic review to examine existing efforts made to communicate risks/benefits about genetically modified food among immigrant population groups in Canada. Findings will yield insights on incorporating and improving public communication about science related topics to culturally specific members of the public.

Undergraduate Students Investigate an Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Trafficking at Local and International Levels

Raynie Gibbs and Gail Bentley, Texas Tech University, Missouri.This presentation will give attendees a glimpse into how students at Texas Tech University have researched and integrated disciplines to address human trafficking and its marginalized victims at local and international levels. They seek to collaborate with multiple organizations to create a service learning component for undergraduate Integrative Studies courses.

Papers: Broadening Our Methods and Concepts of Health [Room 1150]

The Concept of Wellness: Holistic, Complex and Interdisciplinary

James Welch IV, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Oklahoma.Although conventionally associated with healthcare, the concept of wellness is broad and

interdisciplinary. This paper will explore this complexity and demonstrate the ways in which its multiple dimensions form an integrated whole. This conceptual framework can facilitate policy makers, health providers, communities and individuals in establishing and maintaining wellness.

Socratic Methods in Contemporary Education: Medical School “Pimping,” Law School Grilling, “Great Books” Seminars, Executive Workshops, Gentle Grade School Conversations

Mark Ingham, University of Ottawa, Ontario.Socratic methods are used and abused, condemned and praised. Do Socratic methods corrupt the youth or better educate doctors to save lives under emergency room pressure? An extensive literature review across disciplines shows contradictory accounts and conflicting research. I will briefly review the research before beginning a Socratic seminar.




5:00 pm to 5:30 pm – Play: Approaches to Knowledge [Room 12102]

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm – Conference Synthesis [Room 12102]

Conference Synthesis

IOTA Honors Society Awards & Announcement 2017

Refreshments provided

interdisciplinary approaches to health, wellness and ... · web viewan outline of a piloted...

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