The Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies offers a flexible curriculum for those who wish to reach beyond traditional academic boundaries to pursue cross-disciplinary study and achieve unique professional goals. Students in this program work closely with a faculty advisor to articulate career goals and identify learning activities such as courses, internships, research projects, and independent studies.
Sample specializations:
- Alternative Education, including Montessori and Reggio Emilia Inspired Models
- Environmental Studies
- Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Social Change
- Integrative Holistic Health
- Mindfulness Studies
- Intercultural Education
- Women and Gender Studies
- Yoga Psychology
This two-year, 36-credit program is offered in a low-residency format, in which students start each year with an 8-day residency on Lesley’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During the residency you’ll take classes, meet with faculty members, conduct research, and network with peers. Between residencies you’ll continue your studies in your home community and communicate regularly with faculty and peers via email, phone, and online tools
View the program of study for the M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies
Sample Course Descriptions
Ways of Knowing: How We Make Meaning
3 credits
Ways of Knowing is a course in philosophy providing a framework for exploring western epistemology as one characteristic way of knowing. We will question whether the western paradigm is the only way to configure reality, and if investigating the world through other lenses can also lead to scientific understanding, deep analysis, and rich inquiry. This course is intended to deepen the student's academic depth, critical reflection, and cross-cultural understanding.
Praxis: Integrating Theory into Practice
3 credits
Taken in the student's penultimate semester, Praxis works to deepen the student's inquiry skills while they design their Thesis/Capstone. Students develop competency in interviewing techniques, hermeneutic research, and qualitative/quantitative data gathering techniques, as they assess their prior learning, reflect on the relationship of that learning to current and planned professional practice, and construct their thesis proposal.
Identity Culture & the Politics of Difference
3 credits
This course focuses on intercultural interactions and what each of us brings to these encounters. Cultural self-awareness, identity, value systems, and worldviews are explored, along with their impact on behaviors across cultures. The influences of individual and group prejudices and their impact on interactions and cultural transactions (both domestic and international) are explored.
Spiritual Dimensions of Leadership
3 credits
An examination of how spiritual factors influence effective leadership and foster community life. Contemporary theoretical perspectives on leadership and spirituality are explored, as well as prominent political figures that have used a spiritual approach to leadership. Experiential arts exercises are used to deepen understanding and develop practical leadership and community building skills.
Faculty Spotlight
Sharlene Voogd Cochrane
Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies
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Frank Trocco
Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies
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