The Interdisciplinary Studies Program (ISP):
A Unique Academic Adventure
Are you Adventurous? Outspoken? Committed to Social Justice?
Find your voice and shape your education with ISP!
●Join a friendly community;
●Learn from supportive professors;
●Participate in open discussions and interactive classes with more than one professor per class;
●Develop your critical thinking, team-work and leadership skills
●Learn for a Purpose; Learn by Doing
First-year students take ISP 100 plus two additional courses, one of which may be ENG 101 (ISP only).
Speak with an advisor to select the courses that best suit your needs and interests.
To see what ISP students have been up to recently, see
ISP: inspiring students since 1973!
What is Interdisciplinary Studies?
Interdisciplinary is the belief that that all knowledge is interrelated and that he world outside of college is not split into disciplines or subjects. An interdisciplinary approach aims to gain a fuller, richer and more complete sense of the world by thinking of the world from many different angles.
What students are saying about ISP:
“ISP was an amazing experience. It let me explore my interests in innovative ways with Professors and students that made me feel as if I was part of a community. ISP was a place where I could express my opinions, feel a sense of belonging, but most importantly, be challenged to be my best self.”
Nicolas Montano, Thurgood Marshall Scholar, 2013
“ISP’s unique classes are a refreshing change from standard college courses and the active classroom environment means there is never a dull moment and the faculty are nothing short of amazing. All the professors truly care about the students and are exceedingly passionate about teaching. Overall, being a part of the ISP community has been one of my favorite experiences at John Jay, and one of the most memorable.”
Elvira Kirilko, John Jay Valedictorian Class of 2015
The Interdisciplinary Studies Program (ISP)
FALL 2018 Courses for Freshmen
ISP is a vibrant student-faculty learning community. First-year students take ISP100 plus two additional courses, one of which can be a special ISP-only ENG 101 class. Your advisor will help you select the courses that best suit your needs and interests.
Time / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday8:10am
-
10:40am / ISP 122:01
Those People!
Stereotyping in America
Montano / Dominguez
[US Experience] / ISP 112: 01
Travel and Transformation
Haw / Perez
[World Cultures]
ENG 101: ISP1
9:25-10:40am
Dalisay
[College Composition I] / ENG 101: ISP1
9:25-10:40am
Dalisay
[College Composition I]
11:00am
-
1:30pm / ISP 100
Justice: Who’s In and Who’s Out?
FY39: Crowder / Carter
FY40: Haw / Scott
FY41: Montano / Sarna
FY42: Brulin / Perez
[Justice I] / ENG 101: ISP2
10:50-12:05
Rosenberg
[College Composition I] / ISP 147:01
Life Stories
Madrazo / Williamson
[Individual and Society] / ENG 101: ISP2
10:50-12:05
Rosenberg
[College Composition I]
ENG 101: ISP3
12:15-1:30
Rosenberg
[College Composition I] / ENG 101: ISP3
12:15-1:30
Rosenberg
[College Composition I]
3:15pm
-
5:30pm / ISP 145:01
Why Gender Matters
Turan / Wilson
[Individual and Society] / ISP 122:02
Those People!
Stereotyping in America
Montano / Dominguez
[US Experience] / ISP 110:01
When Nature Roars: Global Catastrophe and Human Responsibility
Turan / Carter
[World Cultures] / ISP 112: 02
Travel and Transformation
Haw / Perez
[World Cultures]
For further information, see
Or please contact us at ; (212 237-8460) or stop by the ISP offices 6.65 NB.
ISP 100: Justice: Who’s In and Who’s Out? / FY39: Susannah Crowder / Kristy Carter FY40: Richard Haw/ Kofi ScottFY41: Nico Montano/Shirley Sarna FY42: Adriana Perez/Remi Brulin
Monday 11:00-1:30 / College Option, Justice Core
Drawing on texts from the humanities and the social sciences, this General Education course will explore how justice—as a word, an ever-changing concept, and a shifting reality—affects and controls individual lives. It will consider such crucial issues as the scope of justice, the definition(s) of what is just, and the problem of how individuals respond to injustice, and it will do so from an interdisciplinary perspective.
ISP 145:01 Why Gender Matters / ZeynepTuran / Jamia WilsonMonday 3:15-5:45 / Flex Core, Individual and Society
Gender has a profound impact on the social, psychological, and economic status of the individual and, to a large extent, determines how one knows oneself and interacts with others. Through the lenses of literature, medicine, anthropology, philosophy, biology and contemporary feminist thought, this introductory course will examine gender as it stands at the crossroads of race, class, politics, sexual orientation and personal identity.
ISP 122: o1 and 02 Those People! Stereotyping in America / Nico Montano/GiazuEnciso DominguezTuesday 8:10-10:40 and 3:15-5:45 / Flex Core, US Experience in its Diversity
This course examines the origins, history, and psychosocial effects of stereotypes as they are represented in our national culture. Through analysis of representations of group difference in literature, art, drama, and film, students will explore the nature of American stereotypes and the many ways they reflect and shape the political, social, and cultural landscape in the U.S.
ISP 147:01 Life Stories / Christen Madrazo / Jason WilliamsonWednesday 11:00-1:30 / Flex Core, Individual and Society
Our individual life stories are shaped by myriad forces: biological needs; family dynamics; the political, geographical, and socio-economic circumstances in which we find ourselves; historical events; and our own unique quirks, strengths, and failings. By reading memoirs and biographies and writing autobiographical essays of their own, students in this General Education course in the “Individual and Society” area will explore the ways that these forces interact in human lives.
ISP 110:01 When Nature Roars: Global Catastrophes and Human Responsibility / ZeynepTuran/Kristy CarterWednesday 3:15 – 5:30 / Flex Core, World Cultures
As much as we like to think of ourselves as master of the universe, human civilization exist under threats from the great destructive powers of nature as well as our own capacity for large-scale destruction. This course explores the causes, effects, and consequences of natural and man-made catastrophes within and across national, regional, and global boundaries, and the moral, ethical, and legal dimensions of preventing and responding such crisis.
ISP 112: o1 and 02 Travel and Transformation / Richard Haw/ Adriana PerezThursday 8:10-10:40 and 3:15-5:45 / Flex Core, World Cultures
This course will explore what happens when people travel, when they leave the comfort and security of the familiar and venture into the unknown, to learn, encounter, adapt and clash with new and unfamiliar people and cultures. It will examine the cultural assumptions we bring along when we travel and the racial, ethnic, gender and class perspectives that underpin our notions of the world through which we move. It will interrogate, analyze and critique the narratives we construct about other people, other cultures and other places, and consider how our encounters with other cultures transform us, just as we transform them. This course draws on texts from the humanities and social sciences, and will consider representations of travel in drama, film, literature and the fine arts.
ENG 101 Exploration and Authorship: An Inquiry-Based Writing Course / ISP 1: Yasmin DalisayISP 2 and 3 Amy Rosenberg
Monday and Wednesday 9:25-10:40
Tuesday and Thursday 10:50-12:05, 12:15-1:30 THEY SCHEDULE? / Common Core, College Composition I
This course introduces students to the skills, habits, and conventions necessary to prepare inquiry-based research for college. While offering students techniques and practices of invention and revision, this theme-based composition course teaches students the expectations of college-level research, academic devices for exploring ideas, and rhetorical strategies for completing investigative writing. Students prepare a sequence of prescribed assignments that culminate in a final research paper. These assignments provide small manageable task that explore the process of the normally overwhelming research paper. The course grade is based on the quality of revised writing in a final portfolio.