IAS Mission Statement
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences provides a rigorous liberal arts education that draws connections across academic disciplines and links classroom learning to practical experience across diverse fields. As a faculty and staff, we inspire our students to engage creatively and ethically with the concerns of the region and the world. We dedicate ourselves to integrative research, innovative and effective pedagogy, and dynamic curricula that prepare students for careers and lives in complex and changing environments. As part of a public university, we provide access to this unique educational experience for an inclusive community of students, staff, and faculty. Read more.
About IAS
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) is a dynamic site of pedagogical and scholarly innovation at the University of Washington. Our mission statement demands that we develop academically challenging programs of study flexible enough to respond rapidly to changing research questions and regional needs, including those of non-traditional and traditional students.
The goal of the IAS faculty and staff is to educate students and conduct research through modes of inquiry that stretch across disciplinary boundaries. This endeavor requires that we cultivate an understanding of how multiple disciplines create knowledge about the world and a capacity to develop new avenues of exploration. The result is a learning environment where complex problems - not singular disciplines - dictate the directions of student and faculty inquiry.
The interdisciplinary degrees offered by IAS are not available everywhere. Through experiential learning inside and outside the classroom, these degrees offer students the opportunity to create new knowledge about the world and to make a difference in it. This type of engaged scholarship is also what excites faculty and staff about working in IAS.
Bruce Burgett, Professor and Director
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences