Skip to main content
Close
A-Z
Quick Links

Is Interdisciplinary Studies Right for You?

If you want to create your own degree and take control of your education, Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) may be right for you. Our students construct their own academic experience that is customized to their needs.

Students can build their own personalized degree plan by selecting courses from various disciplines that relate to their specific interests. Some students design their own major that SLCC doesn’t offer. And other students specialize in multiple areas (combining two or more majors) without increasing their time to graduation. Students should be ready to commit to IDS with clarity about their educational goals and unwavering dedication to completing their self-designed degree.

Our broad approach to learning and academic success focuses on integrating general education with specific academic disciplines. From this approach, graduates of the IDS degree will be better prepared to transfer to four-year institutions in pursuit of a specialized bachelor’s degree or on their way to successfully face a demanding and evolving workforce.

Program Guidelines

Are you creative and proactive? Do you want to build your own IDS degree?

Get in touch with the IDS Coordinator to get started! Create a customized associate of science (AS) or associate of arts (AA) degree that is not currently offered at SLCC. Your finalized degree plan must then be approved by the Associate Dean of General Education.

The possibilities of what you can design are quite vast considering the number of courses, programs, and disciplines to choose from across the Utah State Higher Education (USHE) system. Examples of IDS majors from USHE institutions include the following combinations:

  • Business and Spanish
  • Integrative Health Science
  • Music Business and Technology
  • Social Justice Education
  • Wildlife Biology
  • Marketing and Web-based Design
  • Medical Terminology and Technology
  • Photography and Psychology
  • Public Health

To create an AS or AA degree plan, students choose from 2 options:

  • Complete 2 blocks totaling 24 credits from 2 academic disciplines, such as anthropology and business.
  • Complete 24 credits in an academic discipline where SLCC does not offer a formal AS or AA program, such as gender studies.

IDS students pursuing an AA degree should build 5 credits of foreign language into their degree plan.

In either option, students are required to complete 34 total credits of General Education. They are also required to complete the 1-credit IDS 1050 Foundations of Interdisciplinary Studies, and the 2-credit IDS 2050 Capstone. These 2 courses will culminate in a capstone project geared towards the student’s research, scholarly or career interests.

In all cases, IDS is a prospective degree option, meaning that students design their program early on and then take courses — not take courses and then design the program after the fact.

Transfer Summary

SLCC partners with several USHE institutions to provide seamless transfer options for IDS students. We have Articulation Agreements with other Interdisciplinary Studies departments at the following universities:

Please see the Advising Guide for additional transfer information.