Provost explains IDS courses

LEXIE THAYER
PHOTOGRAPHER

AIDAN SHAPIRO
STAFF WRITER

11/3/2025

With Fall semester beginning to wrap up, Alma College students are registering for Winter classes. An important part of Alma’s graduation process is Interdisciplinary Seminars (IDS). These classes aim to combine two different areas of learning into one cohesive class. 

“In the last few years, the faculty developed a whole new curriculum for what’s usually called general education. Basically, all things that are required outside your major,” said Sean Burke, Provost at Alma. 

Burke explained that IDS courses are “team taught” by faculty from different subjects—one from each department relevant to the specific class. 

“The idea is that students are experiencing a look at something that’s not specific to their subject, as well as getting to look at it from multiple perspectives,” said Burke. 

This upcoming Winter semester there are four IDS courses being offered. Composition and Collaboration; Divine Aesthetic; Disease, Public Health, and Society; and Aftermath of Empires. 

“One of the courses is a music professor and a dance professor (Composition and Collaboration) and it’s basically a course on how to think creatively and how to co-create with other people,” said Burke. 

Divine Aesthetics is about thinking visually and interpreting visual communication. The class is taught by faculty from the New Media Studies and Art and Design departments. 

“In a post-COVID world, one of our courses is Disease, Public Health and Society. How do societies approach health and disease?” said Burke. 

Maestros of War is a political science and music faculty-taught class about how music has been used to drum up support for war. 

“How has music been used to celebrate victory and war? How does that work? How do you become a responsible user of music?” said Burke. 

Another IDS course that has previously been offered is Tolkien and Worldbuilding, taught by Steuard Jensen of the Physics department and Laura von Wallmenich of the English department. Von Wallmenich also serves as Alma’s Associate Provost. 

“It was like an English class, and it was mostly discussion based, but there were some group work elements. What I really enjoyed was the classroom discussions,” said Nate Toth (‘25). 

Tolkien and Worldbuilding covers how the author of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, created the world of Middle-Earth and how his real-life experiences, such as being a soldier in the First World War, influenced his work. 

“It was really fun just hearing their [professors’] different points of view. Sometimes, they would get into little things they would disagree on, which was always a good time to listen in on,” said Toth. 

Over the course of the semester, Toth read The Lord of the Rings in its entirety and discussed its messages and content with his classmates and professors. 

“We read the three Lord of the Rings books, which can be a little reading-intensive, but not unmanageable. I thought it was a really good time,” said Toth. 

IDS courses become available for students in their junior year but can wait until senior year if necessary. Every student enrolled at Alma College must take one IDS course before graduation. 

“I think it’s best to just find something that interests you. If you have a professor you already know, that is a good entry point too,” said Toth.