Family and Consumer Sciences University Faculty Perceptions of Interdisciplinary Work

The overall purpose of this article is to describe research focusing on two questions: What is family and consumer sciences (FCS) higher education faculty members' understanding of interdisciplinary work? What have faculty learned from their interdisciplinary experiences about facilitators and inhibitors? The researcher used Seidman's three-question, in-depth interview protocol with 9 participants in a large, midwestern, land-grant university. Qualitative analysis of audiotaped interviews revealed that faculty had different understandings, but there was consistency with the levels of interdisciplinarity in Klein's taxonomy of interdisciplinarity, plus an integrative level. The following facilitators and inhibitors of interdisciplinary faculty work emerged from the analysis: developmental experiences, faculty qualities, time commitment, team composition, group qualities and dynamics, institutional structures and policies, and status and rewards.