Interdisciplinary Studies Major
Program Overview & Goals
You have never been one to stick to the script. At Hendrix, you can write your own major.
Your interests are wide, and they do not fit into a neat category. Maybe you are as intrigued by art as you are by science, or as invested in literature as you are in economics. Categories do not matter. Curiosity does.
Hendrix College’s Interdisciplinary Studies major does not ask you to stay in one lane. In fact, we encourage you to go outside it. To get started, you will consult with professors in at least two different disciplines to develop a major that matches your interests. The only rules: Whatever you come up with should be interdisciplinary, and it cannot duplicate an existing major.
Working with faculty, you will draft a list of courses and a clear, cohesive set of learning goals to achieve before you graduate. And when you do, you will not just have a degree. You will have one as unique as you.
Via Hendrix
A college education helps you build toward the future. But building takes blueprints, which is exactly what you will get Via Hendrix. This program connects your coursework with a full-semester professional experience, comprehensive advising, and the flexibility to explore your interests, ensuring you graduate with direction and purpose.
Careers & Outcomes
Our Interdisciplinary Studies degree can lead just about anywhere, and that is where you will find graduates of the program. You could pursue a pre-professional or graduate degree, go into the arts, conduct scientific research, or teach. Whatever you choose, Hendrix will help you get there.
Co-op Opportunities
There is hands-on learning and there is the co-op—an immersive, semester-long professional experience that every Hendrix student completes before graduation.
Roadmap to the Interdisciplinary Studies Major
Hendrix helps you prepare for life after college by making sure you ask the right questions at the start of your journey. As an Interdisciplinary Studies major, the answers determine your path.
Year One
You begin with the First Year Experience foundational course, which encourages you to explore everything Hendrix has to offer. This course helps you form meaningful connections, discover new academic interests and passions, and approach your college journey with purpose and confidence.
Year Two
By the spring of your sophomore year, you will be deep into the process of mapping your Interdisciplinary Studies plan with faculty. That guidance goes beyond course selection: It connects academics, experiential opportunities, and personal growth.
Year Three
You will put everything you have learned into practice through a co-op, a semester-long, for-credit professional work experience related to your major. It is a full-time job or research experience where you will make a real contribution.
Year Four
By now, the future you have been planning for is coming into view. But even if your goals have not changed, you have. Via Hendrix’s Senior Experience integrates reflection, learning, and preparation for whatever comes after graduation.
Featured Classes
Interrogating Medicine, Narrative Studies, Mathematical Physics, Indigenous Studies, and Sports Marketing. These are just a few of the Interdisciplinary Studies majors Hendrix students have pursued in recent years. They draw from all corners of our campus, and the hundreds of courses in our catalog.
POLI 205
Southern Politics
Study the past and present of politics in the South. Examine demographic changes that have altered the region’s political culture, the persistent impact of race on the South’s politics, and the region’s changing role in national politics.
ECON 340
Environmental Economics
Environmental issues can cost society, but solving them comes with a price as well. Learn to use economic tools to evaluate externalities, costs, and benefits, while also building your understanding of resources and sustainability.
BIOL 155
Evolution and Diversity of Life
Using local ecosystems as a backdrop, you survey the diversity of life and the mechanisms and principles of evolution. You also explore the wide variety of organisms within the region in a group lab project.
CSCI 235
Intelligent Robotics
Put robots to work using artificial intelligence. Implement techniques such as subsumption, planning, machine learning, vision, neural networks, localization, and mapping to control actual robots in the lab.
Meet the Faculty Advisor
Interdisciplinary Studies majors learn from faculty across disciplines. You might study with an accomplished artist, an award-winning scientist, or a business owner—it all depends on the program you design.
Gretchen Renshaw
Associate Professor of Music
Associate Provost of Budget and Development
Related Programs
With 30 majors and 33 minors, we may already offer exactly what you are looking for. These are just a few of the programs you can choose:
Your Next Steps Via Hendrix
Your education is what you make it, and the Interdisciplinary Studies major at Hendrix College is yours to shape. Talk to us and find out what it means to build an education suited to your interests.