Documenting the Longitudinal Career Development of Recent Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Graduates

• In Event: Exploring Doctoral Career Development

Abstract

Interdisciplinary doctoral programs have become an increasingly common component of American higher education. This paper reports on the results of a study that asked how interdisciplinary scholars experience career development. Using longitudinal data collected from a six-year timespan, I consider those outcomes that result from interdisciplinary doctoral training. The research questions which guided the analysis were: 1) How do scholars who hold a PhD in an interdisciplinary field construct a professional career? 2) What institutional and cultural challenges do such scholars experience in terms of professional outcomes within an interdisciplinary field? 3) What implications for an interdisciplinary doctoral curriculum might be gained from focusing on the longitudinal outcomes of program graduates?

Author

• Karri A. Holley, The University of Alabama