Degree Design Day - First Fridays

Degree Design Day was a success in February! Make a note on your calendar for each First Friday as a time you can focus solely on your INDS degree proposal. All INDS students are invited to attend! You will receive helpful guidance from an INDS advisor, plus get feedback from other INDS students. Even if your proposal has been passed, this is your opportunity to give back to other INDS students. Food and drinks will be available!  

Degree Design Day
When: Friday, March 6th
Where: INDS Conference Room, Fine Arts 529
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Consider Bringing: a laptop and/or USB stick (we will also have a few computers available for you to use), your latest proposal draft, creative energy!

INDS welcomes new Adjunct Professor David Friedensohn

Professor Friedensohn will be teaching a new course for INDS entitled “The American Entrepreneur in the 21st Century.” Mr. Friedensohn has over 20 years of media, entertainment and internet business management experience. Mr. Friedensohn has worked on new business development for such companies as NBC, BMG, Viacom, National Geographic Television, Prodigy, and many others. In the last 10 years he has been CEO of three different early stage Internet companies, sold two of them to publicly traded companies and exited another through an initial public offering. Mr. Friedensohn has an AB from Dartmouth College and a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia University.

Welcome Our New Advisor, Mr. James Jones!
We are happy to announce a new team member to Interdisciplinary Studies, Mr. James Jones! As an undergraduate, James studied Psychology and Management Information Systems. As a graduate student he completed an MA in Anthropology and additional graduate hours in Philosophy. He also had the opportunity to live in India and study Hindi language for an extensive period of time. More recently, James worked in Texas as an academic advisor in an Honors College and as a general advisor for undeclared students.

Because of his own educational experiences, James is excited about the opportunities for interdisciplinary thought that students can take advantage of through INDS. He welcomes discussion with any prospective or current INDS student who wishes to establish connections between academic disciplines or further develop their project ideas.

When you stop by the INDS offices or classroom, be sure to welcome him to UMBC and INDS!

INDS offers two new courses for Spring 2009:

INDS 430A “The American Entrepreneur in the 21st Century” taught by Mr. David Friedensohn.

The growth of global telecommunications and data networks has made starting up a business faster, cheaper and more efficient. Multi billion dollar companies like Google, Under Armour, and Starbucks spring up to achieve market dominance, seemingly overnight. In the 21st Century, the entrepreneur is the new rock star. This course, The American Entrepreneur in the 21st Century, will instruct on how, what, when and where to start a new business. Students will develop skills in interdisciplinary research and problem solving, in oral and written communication, and in the analysis of new business challenges through fact based analysis and documentation. Through the use of literature, both fiction and business based, and through filmed entertainment sources, students will review the history and the psychology of the successful American entrepreneur. The use of in depth online data sources will aid in developing business premises which will then be debated and documented in formats that lead to proposals that are tested and ready for launch into the marketplace.

INDS 430B “Travel Narratives and the Formation of Global Identity” taught by Dr. Lisa Pace Vetter.

Travel narratives have always been, and continue to be, important sources of insight into the formation of identity through encounters with "the other". Travel narratives are works of literature in their own right. But they also reveal important historical details and cultural practices of a particular era, and shed light on the inherent tensions and yearnings of the human condition. Travel narratives explore the relation between particular or individual experience and a plurality of cultures. Finally, travel narratives offer insight into nationalism, multiculturalism, imperialism, colonialism, and the emergence of racial, ethnic, and sexual/gender identities. This course will examine a selection of western and nonwestern travel narratives written by male and female travelers from the perspectives of several disciplines, including literature, history, anthropology, philosophy, and political science.