But Walt, a member of the Working Group on Concentrations, says he is less certain that the proposal will concretely endorse interdisciplinary study.

“The question of interdisciplinary work always gets discussed in one form or another,” he says. “But I don’t think the thrust of our work has been on ways of actively promoting that.”

Despite the focus on interdisciplinary work, Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory says interdisciplinary study at Harvard can be complicated by bureaucratic difficulties.

“There are lots of interdisciplinary committees...and they are great if enough faculty have time to participate in them and hear from their colleagues in other disciplines,” he says. “But there is such administrative overload here it’s hard to take advantage of all those possibilities.”

Homi K. Bhabha, Rothenberg professor of English and American literature and language, says that even connecting faculty members between departments can be difficult.

“It’s not just a question of departments linking together, you have to have people that link departments together as well as curricular initiatives that foster rigorous interdisciplinary thinking,” he says.

CROSSING OCEANS

While the Faculty endorsed easing the barriers to study abroad in spring 2002, examining the value of an out-of-Cambridge experience has been an additional focus of this review.

The review’s recommendations will include yet another push for study abroad.

“There will be a strong push to promote it and also to look for sources of funding because you can’t promote it without being able to help students pay for it,” Harris says. “Having not heard a word of dissent yet, I can’t imagine that it won’t be a recommendation to expand opportunities for study abroad.”

Harris adds that other kinds of international experiences, including summer internship and educational programs, should also be expected to surface in the recommendation to the faculty.

But not all faculty members share the sentiment that the College ought to do more to actively promote study abroad. Professor of Psychology Daniel M. Wegner says he feels Harvard needs only ensure that students who wish to go abroad are able to do so, not that it actively converts students to the idea of study abroad.

“I’m not sure it’s a key part of a college career,” he says. “Given the intellectual opportunities at Harvard, I’d be disappointed to have to go abroad and study in France.”

Gross, however, has expressed strong support for providing more international experiences for students.

He says students should have the expectation of partaking in “a significant international experience, whether it’s an internship; a language, maybe taken during the J-term; or an experience abroad” during their undergraduate years.