Interdisciplinary research is MU’s hallmark. Examples of first-rate collaborative environments include the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, and the Health Activity Center.
Since its inception in 2009, Mizzou’s Interdisciplinary Innovations Fund has awarded more than $400,000 in grants to support student-centered interdisciplinary projects that use information technology to develop innovative approaches to teaching, research, and service.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs
There are a number of interdisciplinary degree programs at Mizzou. These programs are characterized by faculty coming together from different colleges and departments to create cutting-edge courses of study that prepare students for the quickly shifting world of academic and industry research and practice.
The University of Missouri hosts several interdisciplinary academic programs. In programs that are not housed in an academic department, tenure-track faculty are full members of these programs, although they retain tenure homes in other units. Non-tenure track faculty may have a primary appointment in the interdisciplinary program or elsewhere on campus.
The faculty in interdisciplinary degree programs constitute formal faculty bodies with rights and responsibilities defined by the program’s by-laws and in accord with the roles defined for faculty in any curricular program. That is, the formal faculty of MU’s interdisciplinary programs exercise primary authority over those programs’ admissions standards, curricular structure, and academic requirements, as well as participating in teaching courses, advising students, and undertaking other academic responsibilities related to the interdisciplinary program.