Interdisciplinary scholars: negotiating legitimacy at the core and from the margins

Abstract

In response to the incessant calls for interdisciplinary scholarship, universities adopt initiatives and encourage faculty to collaborate across discipline lines. Yet, the literature shows that it is difficult to institutionalise such work as faculty members are heavily influenced by their discipline-bound training. When faculty do participate, they wonder how their work will be regarded. Thus, in this paper, we set out to investigate the experience of STEM faculty who conduct work in the area of K-20 education. We were particularly interested in exploring how these faculty, whom we refer to as boundary crossers, position themselves as scholars and their work as scholarship to their discipline-based peers. Our analysis shows that boundary crossers assume great personal responsibility as their university failed to make firm structural or policy-based reforms in support of this particular initiative. Personal responsibility manifests in three distinct ways: working overtime, unpacking one’s work, and framing one’s work as a public good. We argue that these responses are grounded in a larger sociocultural framework, and that they reinforce the marginal position of these scholars.

Keywords:

• interdisciplinary work
• faculty evaluation
• legitimacy
• organisational reform
• reform sustainability

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Center for Research on Educational Reform for access to the data. Special thanks to the Center Director, Arturo Pacheco, for helpful critiques on the earliest version of this paper. This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Math Science Partnership 2002–2006. Finally, special thanks to AERA 2010 paper reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

1. Science Technology Engineering Maths (STEM).

2. Baez, Curtis, and Taylor were all invited to participate in interviews during year 2008. Baez and Curtis both declined. Robin left the university. Davis and Evans, on the other hand, were not interviewed in year 2006. We limit our use of data to 2006–2009 because both authors were involved in the evaluation at this time.

3. Hispanic is the term used and applied by the university. However, most Hispanics at Southern University are Mexican American students while the majority of international students are Mexican nationals.

4. Teacher education/preparation is Dr Baez’s primary form of K-20 interdisciplinary engagement.