Innovating for Curricular Complexity: Executive Education for Transdisciplinary Challenges

Arthur Lerner-Lam (), Paul DeNoon (), Susan Holgate () and Mariella Broyles ()
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Arthur Lerner-Lam: Columbia University
Paul DeNoon: Columbia University
Susan Holgate: Columbia University
Mariella Broyles: Columbia University

Chapter Chapter 9 in University-Industry Collaboration, 2025, pp 155-174 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Executive education programs offered by universities have a long history of providing targeted, delimited instruction on well-defined topics of operational relevance to varied business and partner constituencies. Emerging society-wide issues, on the other hand, present challenges and opportunities that manifest across a broad and interdependent range of scientific, technical, and socioeconomic disciplines. Increasing client demand for executive training in these complex topics requires innovation in curricula and pedagogy that must cross disciplinary silos within university executive education programs while addressing the complex granular interdependencies that characterize these complex societal challenges. We use the term “transdisciplinary” to denote the combination of multidisciplinary content with these granular interdependencies and intersectionality. We present here a generalized framework for delivering transdisciplinary executive education and offer a case study derived from our experiences with executive education for climate and sustainability. The “climate problem” contains virtually all of the content and design elements of transdisciplinary research and education and is matched by the increasing queries from a broad range of potential university partners for research collaborations and workforce and executive training in the subject matter. Climate and sustainability research, the predicate source of course content in both degree and nondegree programs, is itself transdisciplinary, rapidly evolving, and challenging to instructors and students alike, making it an ideal subject for demonstrating a UI framework for executive education.

Keywords: Executive education; Complex societal problems; Transdisciplinary; climate; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-94913-5_9

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