Integrating Knowledge Academically and Personally

Tell us a bit about your background. Where did you grow up and what were your main interests?

I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. My father, who is a business professor at Sheridan College, encouraged me and my sister to pursue STEM fields and arranged for us to attend summer Engineering Camps. Even though I was good at STEM and enjoyed it, I always wanted to explore other fields as well. I sought greater creativity, was interested in connections between my classes and tended to question why various forms of knowledge even existed.

How did you decide to join KI when you entered the university?

In my last couple of years of high school, I did a lot of research into university programs. The Arts and Science program at the University of Guelph seemed interesting, and I really loved the campus. I ended up applying to 10 different undergraduate programs at 5 universities, ranging from engineering to criminology. However, I was drawn to Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo because of how unique it was. The core courses seemed to tackle a broad range of ideas and equally importantly, I would have a lot of flexibility in selecting courses from other faculties on campus. I chose KI because of the freedom it would give me to make the cross-disciplinary connections that most interested me.

Which class have you found most valuable so far? Why?

INTEG 221, Dr. Plaisance's class on the social nature of knowledge was transformative when I took it and continues to inspire me. This course presented some mind-expanding questions, such as "Why am I who I am today?" "How does my social location and standpoint affect my understanding of the world?" "How can bridges be built between different ways of knowing?" It completely changed my concept of the world and myself.

There seems to be a strong sense of community within KI. Can you describe some of the activities that help to build this?

Léa Rousseau and I were co-chairs of KISS, the Knowledge Integration Student Society in our last year of study. KISS organizes events, raises money in support of the second years' field trip to Europe, and generally helps to build community and encourage connections. And then there is the big KIds/little KIds project. Incoming students are partnered with more advanced students so that they can get oriented faster, feel welcomed, and get student advice. KI students are also encouraged to connect with KI graduates.

What advice are you giving to the new first year students?

• Spend a lot of time on course selection. Actively seek out courses that interest you and that you feel can most contribute to your future. When you are motivated and interested, classwork is exciting.

• Seek out active learning. This is emphasized in KI courses–so much so that I can barely sit through a traditional hour-long lecture anymore. Truly engaging classes make learning so much easier.

• Drop a course if you think that’s what’s best for you. Taking 5 courses every term is not a requirement, and you don’t want to jeopardize your general wellbeing to be ‘on time’ for your degree. If you are generally enthusiastic about learning yet find that you are forcing yourself to go to class, it may be time to re-think your schedule.

At the risk of quoting a line from a Spiderman movie, it seems that with KI you have great freedom in and great responsibility for your own learning process.

Yes. We have the opportunity to integrate forms of knowledge from various disciplines and even more importantly, to integrate our new coursework and experiences into our understandings of ourselves and the world.

This interview is part of a project conducted by Dr. Mary Stewart during her two-month fellowship at the University of Waterloo in the fall of 2022. Thank you to Dr. Stewart for her work in highlighting the transdisciplinary nature of the KI program and its community members, and to Fulbright Canada for making this opportunity possible.