At a recent retreat, I saw a video made as part of a worldwide congress of Jesuit colleges and universities. It reviewed various activities of the university through the lens of social justice, using the values of the Society as motivators.
To my delight, the commentary treated both the teaching mission of the university and the research mission. Indeed, it tied the role of research in discovery of new knowledge as key to the social justice mission of Jesuit universities. This is completely consistent with work on the “frontiers”; in this case, the “frontiers” of human understanding and knowledge. Unsolved problems in society sometimes need new insights, new knowledge. Research is the domain that produces such knowledge.
Even more delightful was a deduction that issues involving social justice appear to require interdisciplinary research activities. The knotty problems of poverty, equitable distribution of food, energy, and water resources; unrestricted access to education and unimpeded pathways to social mobility—all of these require combinations of diverse sets of knowledge. When universities were organized, they created clusters of faculty members who shared a set of motivating questions for their scholarship—they were colleagues in pursuing deeper understanding of a specific subset of knowledge. They were not necessarily motivated by unsolved problems within the society but rather the passionate pursuit of knowledge. So, the basic issues surrounding what we call “social justice” are not coextensive with the department, discipline, and school structures that exist today.
What the video noted, however, was that energizing the pursuit of social justice within universities might be greatly advanced by interdisciplinary approaches. We can note that almost all social problems affect the poor most severely.
This is completely consistent with the work of many colleagues at Georgetown (e.g., the environment initiative, the health disparities initiative, the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, the social enrtrepreneurship activities, and a host of others).
Further, the Graduate School is identifying sets of faculty throughout the university who want to tackle important social problems (e.g., infectious diseases). When we can identify career paths associated with these problems, we’ll mount new educational programs linked to research. In almost all cases these programs are interdisciplinary in their focus.
Interdisciplinary research is difficult. It requires unusual humility among practitioners, as they learn the language and the perspective of other disciplines. It requires continuous attempts at synthesis, bringing together disparate ideas into a seamless whole. It requires agility, to reject quickly what doesn’t seem to work and to try another approach. It’s notable that more and more research funding agencies have recognized that progress on the thorny issues requires teams of researchers working collaboratively.
The video linking social justice and interdisciplinary approaches to research, when added to similar moves by research funding agencies throughout the world, offers a consistent way forward for universities seeking tackling the world’s ills.
To the point raised by respondent Roepe above, I understand that he and his associates are working on therapies to combat drug resistant strains of malaria. He failed to mention that particular fact, perhaps to avoid the appearance of boasting, so I though I would. It is IMO a particularly important example of interdisciplinary work done at Georgetown to promote social justice.
It integrates, it would seem to me, chemistry, molecular biology, environmental biology, statistics, medicine and public health. There may also be potential synergies between that type of scientific work and the public policy work done in McCourt.
Bill Kuncik, Georgetown MALS
Possible interesting roles for alumni and the Medical School faculty in these efforts. Both the clinical and basic science faculty might have some good input .
Though perhaps not very well known in the general University community, another way Georgetown pursues social justice through interdisciplinary studies and research is the Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) Program in the School of Continuing Studies (SCS). It is especially impactful in that its students are primarily working professionals in DC governmental, political, diplomatic, legal, business and nonprofit entities and institutions, who deal with social justice problems on the job and on a daily basis.
The program offers both Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) and Doctor of Liberal Studies (DLS) degrees. The curriculum requires students to take courses across the humanities, social sciences and (to a lesser extent) natural sciences, which deal with the types of issues to which Provost Groves refers. And while grounded in a particular discipline, each course draws on multiple disciplines in addressing its subject matter. Courses typically culminate in the writing of an interdisciplinary research paper, and the programs themselves in interdisciplinary masters and doctoral theses, respectively.
GLS has over 2000 alumni, including a U.S Congressman, a television anchor and several on-screen reporters, a Marine general and a former presidential press secretary. There is also a corresponding Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (BALS) degree offering for working students at the undergraduate level.
Program Deans John Dolan and Anne Ridder, lead faculty Terry Reynolds and Frank Ambrosio, and dozens of other Georgetown professors have joined forces to produce an especially effective vehicle for advancing the mission Provost Groves describes. As both a current student in the program and a citizen of our country and world, I thank them for it–and SCS and Georgetown as well.
Bill Kuncik, Georgetown MALS
From the remarks above it would seem that interdisciplinary work is a fledgling practice at Georgetown. Although many interdisciplinary groups are not formally recognized by the university, I would venture that in the humanities, the area I know best, about 50% of faculty are engaged in interdisciplinary research of some sort. A quick look at course offerings and publications would make this evident. It’s not just interdisciplinarity but methodological and technological exchange as well. On the other hand, some fields must increasingly focus in on the object of study rather than expand their range. But interdisciplinarity has infused new life into several fields of study.
What an incredibly timely post, Provost Groves! Particularly on the heals of the visit of Pope Francis to the US, and his persistent call that all of us use our strengths and skills – including as researchers! – to support the creation of a more just and humane world. Your post came yesterday – same day that Dr. Diana Guelespe from our Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service presented findings from a grant-funded, IRB-approved research project exploring DC’s Limited Purpose Drivers License for Undocumented Immigrants to members of DC’s Council. As PI, Diana has led a team of student research assistants and community partners since May. It is exciting research that has major implications for DC policy and the lives of our immigrant neighbors. A few weeks ago, CSJ hosted a day-long Global Social Justice Research Symposium; with a grant from the Office of Global Engagement and several campus partners’ support, we tripled the size and scope of this event, featuring 9 students who conducted social justice research this summer and a 2 hour SJ research methods workshop. I’m also teaching a Social Justice Research Methods course this semester and we are hosting a brown bag lunch series featuring GU faculty doing SJ research! Our first speaker is Professor Denise Brennan from Anthropology – Friday, October 2 at 12:30pm in 201A WRG. All of your blog readers are invited to attend. It is awesome to be at an institution where our role as research University coincides so deeply with our Jesuit mission of social justice and pursuit of the common good.
Humility, agility, collaboration. Seems like a great combo but hard to do. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try but those things maybe hard to find in one person and even harder to find in a group of researchers. But it is important to do.
What a great film! A joy to hear so much Spanish. How powerful to take this step way back…to the macro, common good. We are part of something much bigger; there is so much great power to be channeled.
Just this afternoon I attended an “urban studies” get together gathered by Sherry Linkon and Brian McCabe — anyone doing anything related to the city was welcome to come and share. There must have been 20 people across many departments, centers, and programs. Most of us take students into the city. On the bus.
Next step, collaborate.
Thank you for this post, Provost Groves.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Interdisciplinary research in the interests of social justice is indeed difficult. But over the past 70 years there have been regular, huge successes. We can learn from them. Chloroquine cured malaria around the globe for 50 years (and still does in some corners). It saved 100’s of millions of disadvantaged lives. The inexpensive drug came out of hard core chemistry laboratories on two continents working in an interdisciplinary way with biologists, epidemiologists and medical professionals. Isoniazid, which controlled tuberculosis for decades since the 1950’s was first synthesized by a couple of chemists in Prague in 1912 and finally caught on in the biomedical community in the 1940s when interdisciplinary communication related to T.B. picked up a bit. New compounds and other therapies effective against these and many other diseases that keep those in poverty down, as well as better ways to use them, are today coming from many laboratories, again in highly interdisciplinary fashion. Natural scientists are at least as concerned with social justice as anyone else. Adding up the disadvantaged lives saved, at risk families secured, and developing nation economies stimulated with just these two chemicals boggles the mind. And that’s just for starters. The point is, if we are indeed interested in social justice, then perhaps we need to look no further than what science can do in the right environment. These are largely diseases of the poor and the disadvantaged, they have tremendous impact on virtually everything else that affects social justice and they are just two of many scientific problems that do so. Big pharma largely neglects them. Passionate academics do not. So Georgetown *is* the right environment. If we are interested in social justice, then more attention to science would help.
Best
Paul