Laying the Foundation for Transdisciplinary Faculty Collaborations: Actions for a Sustainable Future

Linda Vanasupa, Lizabeth Schlemer, Roger Burton, Courtney Brogno, Ginger Hendrix and Neal MacDougall
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Linda Vanasupa: Materials Engineering Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
Lizabeth Schlemer: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
Roger Burton: R. Burton and Associates, 5 Coldhill Road South #511, Mendham, NJ 07945, USA
Courtney Brogno: English Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
Ginger Hendrix: American Rookie Freelance, 2990 Hemlock Ave., Morro Bay, CA 93442, USA
Neal MacDougall: Agribusiness Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 5, 1-36

Abstract: How can academicians who desire a sustainable future successfully participate in transdisciplinary projects? Transcending our hidden thought patterns is required. Paradoxically, the disciplinary specialization that enabled the industrial era and its metaphors now function to undermine our ability to recognize and participate in the transformational learning that is needed. In this paper, we offer a post-industrial era metaphor for transdisciplinarity—that of complex dynamic system—that has helped us to work through the unexpected experiences encountered in the process of transformative learning. These insights are based on an ongoing transdisciplinary research collaboration (2008–present) using action research methods; we focus on the faculty experience. Accepting the metaphors of complex systems, we describe the systemic conditions that seem to repeatedly reproduce the emergence of transformative learning for participants, as well as what one might expect to experience in the process. These experiences include: conflict, existential crisis, transformation and renewed vitality within the necessary context of a safe and caring community. Without the adoption of complexity metaphors, these elements would have been overlooked or interpreted as a hindrance to the work. These insights are intended to serve as socially robust knowledge to support the effective participation of faculty members in sustainability projects of a transdisciplinary nature.

Keywords: emergence; complexity; transformative learning; transdisciplinarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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