Interdisciplinary Studies

Course Listings

IDS 061X Model United Nations (1)

A student-led, activity-based co-curricular class that culminates in an inter-varsity conference that stimulates diplomacy at the United Nations or other international bodies. Students learn about international affairs by adopting the role of diplomats representing a foreign country and articulating its foreign policy positions. They gain hands-on experience in researching their country's foreign policies and specific topics in international affairs, in learning rules of debate and other forms of preparation for the conference, and in intensive simulation of international negotiations in the conference.

• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Felker

IDS 062X Intercollegiate Debate (1)

Preparation, practice and competition in debate. Students travel to tournaments on other campuses. Significant research is required.

• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 101 College Colloquium (4)

Topical seminars designed to pursue significant issues and questions of special interest to instructors and students. Seminars invite students into the intellectual life of the university, model rigorous engagement, and help them develop qualities of good scholarship -- effective writing, careful reading, critical thinking, and cogent argumentation. Seminars do not count toward majors or minors. Required for all entering firstyear students.

• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 101X Colloquium Extension (1)

The Colloquium Extension supplements the College Colloquium's emphasis on critical and creative thinking, communication, and active class participation at the college level by introducing new students to the practices, skills, and attitudes that will make them successful at Willamette. Practices include such study skills as time management and organization; balancing time for study with extracurricular, social, spiritual, and physical activities; and reviewing their strengths, goals, and values. Skills include the navigation of university and local resources, including online systems (SAGE) and offices; working with peers and mentors to maximize opportunities for growth; and financial planning. Through common experiences and discussion, Colloquium Extension encourages students to adopt attitudes that promote growth and resilience, that give them agency in their college education, and that embrace the Willamette motto and mission.

• Co-requisite: Enrollment in College Colloquium
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: First-year Experience Coordinator, Staff, and Colloquium Associates

IDS 102X Maximizing The Study Abroad Experience (1)

This course is required for students accepted to study abroad through Willamette University. Students will attend pre-departure orientations, complete culture-learning assignments, complete an evaluation, and participate in a re-entry activity. The goal of the course is to prepare and assist the student in maximizing the learning potential of the study abroad experience. NOTE: Cannot take both IDS 102X and IDS 203.

• Prerequisite: Must be approved by the International Education Committee to study abroad for at least one semester on a Willamette University Sponsored Program.
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Lou

IDS 105 Transition to College Learning (2)

Students will be introduced to the academic environment and culture of Willamette University, learning about the academic support/advising system, registration and degree planning, technology services and general strategies for a holistic approach to success as University students. In addition, students will explore what it means to think critically: how knowledge is acquired in a given discipline, the interpretation of data, logical reasoning, methods of analysis of ideas and the synthesis of one's arguments, problem solving, the scientific method, and modes of argument. Students will learn how to effectively use the Writing Center and the Hatfield Library, employ strategies for textbook reading assignments, take effective notes, meet expectations for academic writing, talk with advisors and professors, participate successfully in classroom discussions, and use effective time management strategies.

• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Cardinal-Lanier

IDS 107X Willamette Emergency Medical Service (1)

This course provides credit for participation in Willamette Emergency Medical Services and is only open to students licensed as EMRs or EMTs by the Oregon Health Authority. WEMS provides EMS services to the Willamette community. This course offers continuing education through EMS drills, lectures and exercises that cover all aspects of emergency medical care at the EMT-Basic level. Topics that will be covered include, but are not limited to, trauma and medical assessment, blood pressure and pulse monitoring, respiratory management, basic first aid, CPR, and immobilization of bone/joint injuries. Students in the course are required to be active participants in the WEMS program and will complete a minimum of 5 (24 hour) shifts during which they will be available to respond to medical emergencies on campus. This course may be repeated up to four times for a total of 4 semester hours.

• Prerequisite: Instructor consent
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Ettinger

IDS 109 Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Intercultural Learning (2)

This course is designed for incoming WU international students to examine the role of culture in the US higher education system. Using cultural frameworks to structure their inquiry, students will analyze situations on the WU campus from their own cultural perspective and discuss their perceived similarities and differences. The framework will include such topics as individualism versus collectivism, high/low power distance, neutral/emotional expression, and internal/external focus of control. By focusing on this framework, students will be introduced to the academic environment and culture of Willamette University as they explore how academic systems, such as advising, academic support, registration and degree planning may be defined by cultural assumptions. The role of technology in this cultural context and intercultural implications within the classroom will also be considered. In addition, students will examine the student/professor/advisor relationship in terms of high context/low context communication styles and make implicit WU and US cultural values and assumptions explicit by gathering data through interviews, surveys and observational forms.

• Prerequisite: First semester, degree-seeking and exchange international students only.
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 123 Performance of Literature (4)

Study of the art of interpreting to an audience various forms of poetry and prose -- fiction, description, memoirs, folk tales -- through voice and gesture. Public presentation is a required part of this course.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Offering: Alternate falls
• Instructor: Clark

IDS 125X STEMinar (1)

Students participating in Willamette University's STEM Scholars/Fellows program will enroll in this course each semester they participate in the program. In this course, students will receive curricular and co-curricular supports targeted at helping them persist and succeed in STEM fields. Topics covered in the course will include Identity, Academic Preparation, Career Development, and Experiential Learning.

• Open Only to STEM Scholars/Fellows
• Offering: Every Semester, Fall 2018-Spring 2023
• Instructor: Fisher

IDS 137 Quantitative Problem Solving for Science (4)

Students will develop and strengthen their ability to use mathematical reasoning to model the physical and natural world, and deepen their understanding of the connections between mathematical concepts and the physical processes described by those concepts. The course is designed for students taking, or planning to take, introductory science classes, particularly students who do not feel their problem solving skills were well developed by high school math classes. Students should be familiar with mathematical techniques at a level of algebra 2 and/or pre-calculus, but are not expected to have taken calculus.

The course focuses on the process and habits of mind needed to tackle unfamiliar problems, rather than on introducing students to new techniques. Topics will include: measurement (units and unit conversion, rate, concentration, intensive and extensive quantities); change and functional dependence (linear, polynomial, exponential and logarithmic); working with multiple unknowns (linear and non-linear systems); 2- and 3-dimensional geometry (coordinate systems, vectors, 2- and 3-dimensional trigonometry); and measurement statistics (random vs. systematic variation, scatter, uncertainty in the mean).

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Mathematical Sciences
• Prerequisite: Consent of Instructor only
• Offering: Fall semester
• Instructor: Dewey Thorsett

IDS 138 Introduction to Applied Statistics (4)

This course introduces students to the logic and procedures of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis as they applied in social and natural sciences. It emphasizes quantitative reasoning skills involving assessment of data quality, original analysis, careful interpretation of claims and effective communication appropriate to reading and preparing both popular press and scientific reports. Topics include correlation/regression, ANOVA, and selected non parametric procedures, with statistical software used to support systematic attention to graphical exploration, power, effect size, and confidence interval estimation. Applications will cover multiple disciplines but will give added attention to examples from the natural sciences.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Mathematical Sciences
• Prerequisite: Cannot take after earning C- or above in ECON 230, PSYC 253, MATH 138, or credit for AP Statistics or equivalent course transferred for credit
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 148 Peer Academic Coaching (2)

This course is designed for students who want to learn how to become Peer Tutors, Academic Coaches, Writing Consultants, Peer Mentors or simply learn how to best engage in collaborative learning. Students will learn how to connect learning theories to study strategies to help peers improve their learning. Using student development theories, students will learn how to identify and support peers undergoing crucial transitions, both socially and personally. Lastly, each student will demonstrate and be evaluated on their understanding of the theories and their applications through peer observations and role play.

• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Clark

IDS 170 Skills for Navigating College and Careers (2)

This course introduces and explores four areas that may be difficult for students: executive functioning, social interaction, self-advocacy and self-regulation. Students will identify how these issues affect specific populations and themselves personally. Students will also identify their personal strengths and the interventions and strategies that will best support their success in college.

• Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 175 Introduction to Leadership Development - Putting Knowledge Into Action (2)

This course is an introduction to leadership theory and development. Informed by Social Change Model for Leadership Development, the Relational Leadership Model, and the Strengths-Based Model, this course examines historical perspectives in leadership, various perspectives and ethics of leadership, as well as impacts on groups and communities. Students will develop their own authentic leadership identity through reflecting and applying readings, class discussions, debates, presentations, and guest speakers. Class culminates in a large group project where students engage local agencies to produce an leadership product that fits a community need.

• Offering: Every Semester
• Instructor: Schneider

IDS 180 Perspectives in Health Careers I (1)

This course will be offered to first-year and sophomore students. The course is intended to supplement academic advising for students planning health care careers with support in career discernment and professional preparation. Topics may include identifying and applying for experiential opportunities, goals identification and self-assessment, and practical preparation for post-graduate applications. The course will include exposure to healthcare fields through visiting speakers, in-class exercises, and readings intended to help build understanding and capacity in cultural competence.

• Course is offered as Credit/No Credit
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Pre-health faculty

IDS 194 Insight Internship (1-4)

Internships provide opportunities for students to work in a for profit company, a government office or agency, a non-profit organization, or even within an on-campus program. Internships for credit require that students set learning objectives that are related to vocation discernment; information, theories, and processes specifically related to the internship; and transferable job skills. In addition to the work of the internship itself, students will complete regular written reflections about what they are learning and complete a final report. Internships are completed during the Fall, Spring, or Summer months.

• Offering: Fall, Spring, Summer
• Instructor: Scotese

IDS 199 Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Independent Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

IDS 202 Convocation: Reflecting on Campus, Community and Cosmos (2)

An action and reflection seminar resulting in the production of the University Convocation each week of the semester. Students will research issues that academia can and should address and invite to the University Convocation public intellectuals and artists who can speak to an educated general audience of students, faculty, staff and local citizens. Reading, discussions, conversations with faculty and community leaders will lead to the planning, publicizing, presiding and hosting of the University Convocation series.

• Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or consent of instructor
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 203W Intercultural Study within Cultural Immersion (4)

Course is designed to facilitate and promote the experiential learning process in an intercultural context. Introduces students to the value of cultural comparison that illuminates both similarities and differences. Improves the overall study abroad program by providing essential pre-departure and re-entry training designed to capitalize on the cultural immersion experience. Prepares students to learn from the psychological and conceptual challenges they will face during each phase of the experience. Examines the advantages and disadvantages of culture study, including the contrast of internal and external perspectives, and the concept of critical self-consciousness. Encourages and challenges students to continue learning about other cultures and other perspectives.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered
• Prerequisite: Only students participating in an off-campus, cultural immersion program are eligible
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Lou

IDS 205 Chemawa Indian School Partnership Program (2)

This service-learning course introduces students to the history of, and contemporary challenges in, Native education. Students serve as tutors and mentors at Chemawa Indian School, learn from and with Chemawa students, and are mentored by Native educators. Tutoring covers academic subjects such as reading, math, science, and social studies. Mentoring may include hosting Chemawa students on the Willamette campus for academic and social events. 

Weekly class sessions, in general, will have two components. We will allow time for (1) checking in and debriefing. and (2) addressing substantive topics dealing with contemporary Native education and lived experiences in what is now the United States. 

Students will need to apply for the program, and pass a federal background check upon enrollment to the course.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Social Sciences; PDE
• Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 207X Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training (1)

This course is an introduction to CERT for those wanting to complete training or as a refresher for current team members. It contains six modules with topics that include an Introduction to CERT, Fire Safety, Hazardous Material and Terrorist Incidents, Disaster Medical Operations, and Search and Rescue. This course is a combination of 21 classroom and laboratory hours taught by a certified CERT instructor.

CERT is a program created to engage everyone in America in making their communities safer, more prepared, and more resilient when incidents occur. Community-based preparedness planning allows us all to prepare for and respond to anticipated disruptions and potential hazards following a disaster. Through pre-event planning, people work together to help reduce injuries, loss of life, and property damage. This pre-event planning also helps utilize existing resources until professional assistance becomes available.

• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Stout and various CERT certified instructors

IDS 208 Sustainability and Design (4)

This course is intended to introduce students to sustainability in design. This course will focus on fundamental concepts in design, sustainability practices, and communication practices between designers and users. The course will partner with the community to offer potential practical solutions in sustainability.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; PDE
• Offering: Alternate Spring Semesters
• Instructor: Steck

IDS 212 Child Trafficking (4)

This course examines child trafficking, or the movement of children for the purposes of exploitation. The course will take a case-study approach using readings and field experiences in a single country to examine the complex factors involved in both the perpetuation of, and attempts to reduce or eradicate, child trafficking. The course will address several forms of child trafficking, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, and child begging. Particular attention will be paid to specific historical, political, and structural features within the field country that enable or exacerbate child trafficking, as well as the relationship between governmental and non-governmental (including faith-based) responses to child trafficking.

• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Stevens

IDS 214 Food Justice (4)

Introduction to issues of food justice and food sovereignty globally and locally with a practicum component to include farm work and service learning on campus and community settings and partnership with Marion Polk Foodshare’s local food systems project.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; PDE; World Engagement: Service Learning
• Offering: Alternate Years
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

IDS 215 Willamette Academy Service Learning (2)

This service learning course introduces students to issues of educational access and equity in the Salem-Keizer community. Students volunteer at Willamette Academy (WA) and, in turn, learn from and with the WA students, families, and staff. Tutoring will be on-site, covering basic academic subjects such as reading, math, science, and social studies. Mentoring involves hosting WA students on the Willamette campus for academic and social events. Additional volunteer opportunities will be available, subject to instructor's consent, based on volunteers' strengths and interests, and WA needs. Weekly class sessions, in general, will have two components: students will debrief their service experiences and study substantive topics dealing with educational access and equity, with specific attention to issues that historically underrepresented students face in gaining access to higher education. This course can be taken up to two times for a total of four semester hours.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: World Engagement: Service Learning
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 222 Fundamentals of Neuroscience (4)

This course covers fundamental principles of the development, function, and occasional malfunction of the human nervous system, the methodologies, discoveries, and frontiers of this interdisciplinary area of inquiry. Lectures and mandatory laboratories are designed to challenge students to think in new ways about the relationship between brain, body, and behavior.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Natural Sciences
• Prerequisite: First and second-year students only, or consent of instructor
• Offering: Alternate springs
• Instructor: Stavrianeas, Stewart

IDS 224 Disease Prevention (4)

This course will investigate the prevalence, etiology and social impact of several common diseases and disabilities as they relate to aging and physical inactivity. The class will specifically focus on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, diabetes, cancer, and both classic and current research publications. Students will additionally gain practical laboratory experience with common clinical tests used in the assessment and diagnosis of these disorders.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Natural Sciences
• Prerequisite: First and second year students only
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Lockard

IDS 229 Topics in Cross-Cultural Studies: Japan, the United States, and the Pacific Rim (4)

Designed as an introduction in cross-cultural studies of the Pacific rim with particular focus on the United States and Japan, this course will explore topics like the environment and sustainability, social movements, economic and political development, or race and class in a comparative context. Students will critically explore and debate individual and community values manifested in these topics, and analyze the social, cultural, and historical forces behind those values. Half of the enrolled students in the course will be American Studies Program (ASP) students.

• Offering: Fall semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 230 Rites of Passage in Japan and the United States (4)

This course focuses on the events of birth, marriage, and death as they are socially constructed by way of symbols, rituals, and myths. Initially, attention is directed to theoretical foundations and the constructs of symbol, ritual and myth themselves. Readings are drawn from anthropology, communication studies, linguistics, and sociology. Thereafter, focus turns to each of the events-birth, marriage, and death-and the ways that various cultures make them meaningful. The constructs examined earlier in the term are applied to selected case studies from Japan and the United States. Half of the students enrolled in the course are American Studies Program (ASP) students.

• Offering: Fall semester
• Instructor: Fauss and TIUA Staff

IDS 240 Science Communication and Outreach (2)

An innovative, experiential interdisciplinary course in science communication. This is a service learning course focused on communicating science to a broad audience with an emphasis on elementary and middle school aged children. Students will develop hands-on science teaching activities. They will also explore what it means to be a mentor and will develop cultural literacy as they work with and present to underserved groups.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: World Engagement: Service Learning
• Prerequisite: Sophomore status or above and consent of instructor
• Offering: Fall Semester
• Instructor: Butler

IDS 249 Professional Development (1-3)

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop guided professionalizing experience in a variety of domains, including job-shadowing, university committee service, and community development projects. Depending on the focus of their co-curricular work, students will receive relevant individual or group mentoring, guided readings or trainings, and structured opportunities for reflection and growth.

• Course is offered as Credit/No Credit
• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: World Engagement: Service Learning
• Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 264 Devising and Collaborative Creation (4)

This course will introduce some of the many and various processes by which ensemble-created performance works and installations are generated and produced. Analysis of the aesthetics and processes of both historical and contemporary devising companies will be mined to create a vocabulary of devising for the use of the class/ensemble. Specific emphasis will be placed on devising theory as pathway to praxis.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Cole

IDS 270X Transfer Colloquium (1)

Orientation to learning at Willamette for students who have begun their education elsewhere, or whose January start precludes enrollment in College Colloquium. Introduces new students to discussion and critical thinking in a liberal arts context through engagement with a current topic of relevance to students. Connects new students to resources available across campus.

• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Clark

IDS 275 Career Planning and Decision Making (1)

This course provides a foundation for the acquisition of lifelong career development skills including: self-assessment, career research, career decision-making, and the identification of experiences which enhance and build upon a liberal education and aid in the development of marketable, transferable skills. Course activities will balance career theory with practical, applied assignments.

In this half-long course, students will complete assessments, analyze their previous experiences, family background, strengths, and transferrable skills in order to develop a plan for next steps in their career planning process. They will also learn how to strategically use online research tools and in-person networking to further their knowledge of career options. They will identify experiences such as internships, research, or volunteering that will add to their professional strengths and help them fine-tune and assess their career goals.

• Course is offered as Credit/No Credit
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Lapour, Devereux

IDS 276 Job and Internship Search Strategies (1)

This course is designed to help students craft a strategic job search that aligns with their skills, strengths, interests, and career goals culminating in a Career Action Plan. It introduces lifelong career development skills including: 1) Self-awareness, 2) Career Research, 3) Networking, 4) Job Search Strategies, and 4) Tailoring resumes and cover letters. Course activities will balance career theory with practical, applied assignments.

• Course is offered as Credit/No Credit
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Devereaux, Lapour

IDS 299 Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Independent Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

IDS 303X Colloquium Leadership (4)

Students will enroll in Colloquium Leadership after having been selected to serve as Colloquium Associates in the First Year Experience program. Working alongside a College Colloquium instructor, they will be embedded in a CC course, as well as attending and helping to lead CHASE activities. They will serve in a mentorship role with first-year students, helping them transition to Willamette and meet academic and community expectations.

• Prerequisite: Junior standing and instructor consent
• Offering: Fall, Annually
• Professor: Bishop; Faculty First-Year Experience Director

IDS 322 The Idea of Europe (4)

This course will examine the emergence and development of cultural identities in Europe, with a particular focus on the emergence and development of a conception of "Europe" and "European" from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. In order to understand these notions more clearly, it will be pertinent to study what was NOT Europe/European throughout this same time period.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years in fall or spring
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 323 Semester in Ireland (4)

Taught in Ireland during the semester in Galway program, this course examines selected topics in Irish literature, history, culture, politics, or the arts.

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Study Abroad Directors in Ireland

IDS 330 Bodies in Public (4)

In a public world where bodies experience injustice, inequality, suffering, violence, and a lack of control, how have humans responded with conceptions of grace, pleasure, identity, and beauty? How do bodies become public sites for contested power relations, medical or legal regulation, or the justification of inequality? How do we experience desire, longing, health, violence, harm, sickness, death, limits, and borders in the body? And how can we reimagine bodies in public? This course explores conceptions of the body, the soul, desire, and power in key texts drawn from the fields of politics, history, religion, philosophy, art, and poetry from pre-modern, modern, and contemporary authors.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities; PDE; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Gutterman, Petersen Boring

IDS 334 Field Studies: Environmental Studies and Sustainability in Japan (4)

A three and one half-week course conducted in Japan in collaboration with our sister institution, Tokyo International University, as a part of an initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment. Formal activities will include classes in Japanese language and Japanese environmental history. In addition to readings and lectures, students will take part in fieldtrips and excursions to libraries and museums, municipal and prefectural offices, and other relevant sites where sustainability-related community activities take place, including forests, etc. Students will engage in volunteer and community-based service learning activities, and observe conservation practices where possible. Besides direct observation and reflection, students will participate in data collection, organization, and analysis.

• Course is offered as Credit/No Credit
• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: World Engagement: Service Learning
• Offering: Post-session
• Instructor: Bowersox, McCaffrey, Pike

IDS 336W Field Studies in Ecuador: A Perspective on Latin America (4)

A post-session field studies course centered in Ecuador at several geographical locations and focusing on topics related to the natural sciences, language and culture, the arts, sociology and political science. Emphasis will be on a historical and modern approach to study of the interrelationships among indigenous and Spanish-speaking groups, the interaction between culture and environment and the tremendous biological and geological diversity in Ecuador. It will also explore the impact of development, economics and land reform on the environment and its people.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered
• Offering: Post-session
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 343 Field Studies in Chicago (4)

This is a four-week off-campus program. It employs readings as well as guided tours of different racial and ethnic communities, the commercial centers, architecture and museums; explorations of the visual arts, music, theater; a service learning internship; and a seminar to investigate and reflect upon the complexity, diversity and problems confronting modern urban America from an interdisciplinary perspective. Arrangements are supported by the Urban Life Center in Chicago.

• Offering: Post-session
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 353 Inner Life of Activism (4)

Students in this course will investigate current and historical intersections between political activism and the inner life, learn from what resources sustain activist and civic leaders in the world, and reflect on their own engagement with the issues and movements they care about. How do we transform systems and stay grounded? How does systemic inequity affect health? How can we cultivate resources for mental/spiritual well-being and maintain our own health when working for more equity? The course utilizes an approach from the discipline of Contemplative Studies called “critical first-person learning,” in which students try out a variety of contemplative/spiritual practices and then critically reflect on them. Specific topics to be examined include: cultivating joy and flourishing in the face of darkness and loss; storytelling and wellness practices that cultivate resiliency, compassion, and courage; contemplative practices as aids to speaking truth to power; the promise and pitfalls of empathy; and care for self and community in response to intergenerational trauma and systemic oppression. Course materials will include readings, podcasts, poetry, film, and art.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

IDS 380 Perspectives in Health Careers II (1)

This course is intended to supplement academic advising for students planning health care careers with support in career discernment and professional preparation. Topics may include identifying and applying for experiential opportunities, choosing professional programs, and practical preparation for post-graduate applications including personal statements and application essays, practice interviews, and post-Willamette planning. The course will include exposure to healthcare fields through visiting speakers, in-class exercises, informational interviews, and readings intended to help build understanding of issues in healthcare practice. 

• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Cooper, Duncan

IDS 390 Independent Study in Art, Technology, and Multimedia (1-4)

This course is intended for the qualified advanced student who wishes to do an intensive independent study in an area not covered by an existing course in the Arts, Technology, and Multimedia minor. The course should focus on the use of technology in creating artistic works, and an appropriate department category should be identified. Arrangements must be made with a faculty member before registration.

• Prerequisite: One starred course from the Arts, Technology, and Multimedia minor.
• Offering: Every Semester
• Instructor: Arts, Technology, and Multimedia faculty

IDS 396 Chemawa Indian School Partnership Program Internship (2 or 4)

This internship is designed for students who have prior experience with the Willamette University Chemawa Indian School Partnership Program and desire to have more significant involvement with the Partnership. Specific internship placements at Chemawa may vary; examples include placement as AVID interns in Chemawa classrooms or as interns that support other elements of the Partnership such as the nightly tutorial program or the college readiness program.

• Prerequisite: IDS 205
• Offering: Every Semester
• Instructor: Howard

IDS 399 Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Independent Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

IDS 413 Interdisciplinary Capstone Project (4)

A capstone experience for students with approved Special Majors who wish to undertake intensive independent research, writing, and/or creative work on a topic appropriate to the Special Major, normally to be offered as an independent study. The student must submit a proposal to the three Special Major advisors in the semester before the capstone project will be completed, accounting for a schedule of steps toward the complete project, work demanding at least 12 hours per week, and a presentation or public display of the final project.

• Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing, and an approved special major
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: CAS Faculty

IDS 425X STEMinar II (0)

STEMinar II is a course designated for tracking purposes for the NSF funded S-STEM grant. Students who participate in the program during their junior and senior year will enroll in the course but receive no credit.

• Prerequisite: IDS 125X
• Offering: Every semester
• Professor: Fisher

IDS 429 Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in Independent Studies. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

IDS 489W Advanced Writing and Research (4)

This course is for juniors and seniors who wish to undertake intensive independent research and writing on a topic of their choosing, in order to gain experience managing a project with the length and complexity of a future senior capstone project. The Seminar will provide instruction in finding productive points of contact in research across disciplines (drawing on student's previous academic writing and class member interests), framing research questions, writing a research proposal, developing a methodology or theoretical approach, conducting library research, evaluating sources, and structuring a substantial essay. Seminar participants will write and revise their papers in stages, read and respond to papers of others, integrate feedback into their written work, and present a version of their final projects for a live audience.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered
  
• Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing. Will complete a capstone project (senior thesis) within the following two semesters. Not currently enrolled in senior thesis hours. Consent of instructor.
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Staff

IDS 499 Presidential Scholars Program (4-16)

The Presidential Scholars Program permits selected seniors the opportunity to complete a substantial project of study, research, or creative work that will contribute to their academic growth. The Undergraduate Grants and Awards Committee selects scholars annually from the junior class on the basis of the strength of their proposed project, record of academic achievement, intellectual caliber, and independence of character. Presidential Scholars' projects will consist of a maximum of sixteen semester hours in total, no more than twelve semester hours in a single semester.

• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Staff