We need to explore these opportunities further and to build something new. There are a number of initiatives under way now that lend themselves to interdisciplinary activity. One of these is a proposal for funding from the state for a School of Public Health, which has been described as very interdisciplinary. It would involve not only medical faculty, but all the health sciences as well as social work, psychology, engineering, and other disciplines. As I've gotten to know Iowa better, I've also discovered that it isn't very easy to do, to combine disciplines in a project.
People often have to get together outside of the normal channels.
I want us to look at all aspects of interdisciplinary activity on campus and see how we might take down some barriers and how we might encourage more interactivity. We've done a couple of things already. Back in 1995, an ad-hoc committee was established to write a strategic plan for interdisciplinary activity. They wrote a good plan but most of the recommendations were never implemented. So last spring, I reconstituted that committee with a few new people, to implement the original recommendations.