Welcome Back to Where We Are Now: Update on Students and Studies

Coker College's fall semester is revving up, and the Interdisciplinary Studies Center is picking up momentum. This is the third year that we are offering the major in Interdisciplinary Studies, and with five graduates out the door and five more expected for December 18 graduation, I think it's working!

The Center has moved from its somewhat obscure corner on the second floor of Davidson Hall to a location so exposed to traffic that it takes a true extrovert to staff: walk into the main doors and step through the open door to your left! I am not serving coffee all day long, but I will chat with you about Interdisciplinary Studies, help you put an individualized course and major plan together, and advise you about options to move toward graduation, career, and graduate school preparation. (I will also, and this comes with the territory, direct anyone who asks where the restrooms are located.)

With whom am I working this semester? Well, I have nine students enrolled in the introductory course (IS200 now also counts for credits in a General Education Pillars area, which is of interest especially to transfer students), and they represent Business, Music, Psychology, Biology, Dance, Communication, Theater, Computer Science, History and English - or rather: those are all disciplines these students are working with, but their focus is on the intersections between them. We are just getting started on the text book and internships, and I am looking forward to a challenging and fun semester with this group. Let's see where they will take their academic studies!

Five students are currently working on their Senior capstone projects, assembling their discipline advisors and writing up the framework of their plans. They are considering internships, research, and projects to show off the skills and knowledge they have acquired in their years of college studies. I will keep you posted on their progress.

So, what are our graduates up to? I talked to two of them in the last couple of weeks.
I followed up with Emily'rose Shepherd, Coker College BA in Interdisciplinary Studies Spring 18, who combined Computer Science with Business and Communication. She is working as a technician in a computer shop in Columbia, "diagnosing symptoms, replacing parts, clearing viruses, installing Windows and such." The company owner will support further training (A+, Network+, Security+ certifications), and after Emily'rose has been working in the store for a while, she will go out and help clients on-site. According to her, "It'll be a pretty great place to work!"

I also talked to Cameron Flotow, Coker College BA in Interdisciplinary Studies, Spring 17, who worked on the intersections of Computer Science, Math, and Communication/Marketing. He is currently teaching at Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School, and he is excited to be in the classroom to share his passions for computer science, math, and communication with his young charges. "This is our second week, and everyone seems to be enjoying my class, for the most part," he reports - no surprise, with a teacher as energetic and creative as Mr. Flotow in charge! Of course he is also doing the yearbook.

What else is new? My colleague Alyssa Reiser Prince (ART) and I are headed to the annual conference of the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies in October - that will be in Detroit, and we will talk about our student travel adventure on Bear Island last April. And a couple of weeks later, I will head to Austin to present an overview of Coker's Interdisciplinary Studies program at the Yes We Must Coalition conference. I think those meetings will serve to inspire and inform the next years of our Coker program.