THE OFFICE WITH A LINE I would walk by the copier printing, up the stairs with the three creaky ones at the top, and down the hallway past every professor’s office on the second floor of White Hall for our weekly “Mountain Laurel” meeting during my junior year at NGU. One door seemed always open, with a line of students inside and out.
Upperclassmen had been warning me for as long as I could remember: never walk into that office ¬— unless you want to walk out as an interdis major.
Maybe all these years later, I still have the fear of being converted to his major if I go in, so Dr. Gregory “Greg” Bruce and I decide to meet at my office instead for our interview. I feel lucky to have three hours with the teacher students vie to see to change a class, ask a ques- tion, get advice.
On campus, Bruce plays the archetypal sage, with blue eyes that look nearly into your soul and light up when the conversation, inevita- bly, turns philosophical. Tin, he stands at six foot four. He has a white beard and glasses, to boot. And he peppers his speech with words like “chiasm” and “limerence” like you already know them.
He tells me, shortly into our conversation, that
his strength is “helping students figure out their voice,” and I believe him.
To be sure, Bruce, who’s headed the Interdis- ciplinary Studies (BA) Department at NGU going on 15 years, is in the perfect position to direct students with myriad interests or a mixed bag of earned credits; with IDS, they can select not just one die-cut major, but two or three areas of study to create their own tailor-made degree. Convincing students that interdis will help them find personal fulfillment comes nat- urally for Bruce because it’s so personal to him.
DINNER WITH DERRIDA Bruce tells me he first came to NGU in 2003 to become the “expert in the posties,” as he calls them, like postmodernism and post-colonial- ism. He felt that he could provide more than just the “Cliff Notes version” of those ideolo- gies, since he had literally eaten steak with the likes of Jacques Derrida (a household name for any lit crit student) while he earned his doctorate in literature and religion at Emory University.
I ask him if he’s kidding. He assures me he’s serious.
Emory was also the first time Bruce ever heard the term “interdisciplinary studies,” although he’d been believing in it since at least his under-
grad studies at Georgia State University (GSU), where he majored in philosophy and played jazz drums for fun.
How Does Interdis Work?
Select two components to study from participating disciplines. (But really, there are enough credits available to have three areas of expertise.) o Primary component – 24 hours o Secondary component – 18 hours o Elective courses – 18-20 hours
Depending on your primary component, declare your major as either interdis BA or interdis BS.
Each semester, meet with your advisor to set up a course load unique to your chosen components.
Complete the required credits in each component, as well as the two required interdis courses, where you establish an interdisciplinary identity and learn to integrate your chosen areas. o Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies o Senior Seminar
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