In keeping with the service-oriented purpose of the interfaculty initiatives, the second-semester continuation of the class sends the students into the field to work with Native American communities and produce a research paper.

Among the destinations: the Native American Indian Center of Boston, the Wampanoag tribe on Gay Head and other communities in New England and in the West.

Regardless of whether the interdisciplinary approach "Nation Building I" takes will become a viable model for other classes, students and faculty involved with the course say they enjoyed working with the new style.

"It's exciting. You don't just have one individual aspect, but different people's views on different aspects," Fash says. "I've learned a lot myself."

He says the unified goal of the course--to solve the problems of Native Americans--makes the overall structure coherent, although a bit "daunting."

"There is also cohesiveness in cultural unity," he says.

Ranco agrees. "I think it works. It's gelling."

He adds that the professors do not just "give their two cents" on their own narrow field, "but try to reflect on other fields as well. It's an exploration for them."

The students generally praise the interdisciplinary approach.

"This class takes a topic like casinos [on reservations] and analyzes it through many lenses, giving students a remarkable vantage point," Proctor says.

However, Proctor says she thinks the syllabus strays too far from the topic of nation building and too much into anthropology and history.