Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies

Spring 2026

Advising for Fall 2026 Registration

This is a great time to reach out to Dr. LeRoy-Frazier to schedule your advising appointment. Email her at leroyfra@etsu.edu or call 423-439-4223. You can also drop in to her Zoom office hours from 3-4 p.m. on Tuesdays (email for the meeting number and passcode).

Did You Know...?

The Center for Academic Achievement at ETSU provides graduate-level writing tutoring and offers both undergraduate and graduate Academic Coaching to help students with motivation, planning, study and test-taking skills, growth mindset, accountability, and more! Learn more at https://www.etsu.edu/students/learning/ and follow the CFAA on Instagram @etsu_cfaa

Program Update

The Archival Studies concentration for the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies is no longer available. Students pursuing this type of study or work may be interested in the Graduate Certificate in Heritage Interpretation and Museum Studies offered through the Department of Appalachian Studies.

Important Dates

April 6

Registration for Fall 2026 Begins

Go to Goldlink > Registration Tools > Registration Status for your specific registration day and time.

May 2-7

Final Exams

May 9

Graduation Ceremonies

Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck’s (2014) TED Talk, The Power of Believing That You Can Improve, may seem obvious to our interdisciplinary minds. We learn and grow and make connections constantly! Even so, how many times have you thought or said “I’m not a math person,” “I can’t draw,” or “I’ll never be able to change my procrastination habit?” The power of growth mindset can initially be as simple as tacking “yet” onto the end of those fixed mindset thoughts. “I’m not a math person yet.” “I can’t draw yet.” “I haven’t been able to change my procrastination habit yet.” Adding this small word to the end of a limiting thought opens the door to possibility. If I haven’t done it yet, what is the next step in learning or practicing so it can happen eventually?

Why does growth mindset matter?

Growth mindset provides numerous benefits including increased intrinsic motivation, stronger reasoning ability and self-esteem, resilience, persistence, improved academic performance and even better mental health (Schwab 2025). For those of us with goals as educators, parents, or mentors, it is particularly important to embrace and share a growth mindset. Fortunately, resources abound to support educators and parents in fostering this helpful mentality. Stanford University Teaching Commons shares several tips for cultivating a growth mindset in students.

Be transparent. Share growth mindset ideology with students and tell them why it is important. Help them see where they may hold a fixed mindset.
Confront fixed mindset. Remind students that skills are not innate and can be improved through practice.
Be a growth mindset role model. Share your own experience with fixed mindset and with struggling and learning challenging material or skills. Look up information you don’t know and show students your process.
Be intentional in asking questions. Use open-ended questions that allow students to talk through the thinking process, not focus on answers they already do or do not know.
Praise effectively. Rather than praising students for their talent or intelligence, praise them for effort, persistence, and resilience. Do this especially when students go above and beyond in their learning – coming to office hours or revising work they initially got wrong, for instance.
Design assessments that support growth mindset. Use feedback and revisions to help students learn to respond and improve. Remind students that challenges are opportunities to learn.
Teach learning strategies in addition to content. Share resources on how to study and best practices for taking tests, rather than expecting students to already possess these skills. Debrief as a class after a challenging assignment or test.

Nick Schwab (2025) details several activities that can be used in the classroom to help foster growth mindset, or could be modified for personal use. For example, after completing an assignment (regardless of the feedback received), we can reflect on the process of how that assignment was completed, identify several decisions or actions that contributed to the outcome, and use each decision or action to think about how that information can support future success. This can apply whether the contribution was positive or negative. For example:

Action or Decision	Impact or Outcome	How to Use This Information
Forgot to double check assignment details before submitting paper	Left out an important section, lost points on grade	Copy and paste assignment details into my Word document so it’s easily accessible
Met with a writing tutor	Received help with grammar, structure, and clarity that improved final draft	Schedule a tutoring session two days before the next paper deadline

How can this help me?

Maybe you already know how growth mindset could be helpful for your students, kids, or mentees, but it can also help you! You very likely already have a strong skill set for the things you do personally and professionally, but do you ever feel intimidated by the person in class who always seems to know the answer? At some point, most of us struggle with negative self-talk or imposter syndrome.

When we are stuck in a fixed mindset, we may avoid things that we “know” we don’t do well. Rather than embracing effort and difficulty head on, we may default to our comfort zone and just hope we don’t have to find out where the boundaries of comfort turn into uncertainty or outright discomfort. I bet you also know students who have changed programs, or maybe didn’t finish their degree, because it just felt too challenging. Maybe you have stopped pursuing a dream or goal because it was a struggle. This isn’t to say that goals can never be changed or that we can never decide that a degree or a job or any other decision no longer meets our broader goals or purpose. We should not, however, let mindset get in the way. Kaitlin Gallagher (2014) summarizes Dweck’s action steps toward developing a growth mindset as such:

Notice when you’re stuck in a fixed mindset. This might sound like “I didn’t get a very good grade on this assignment, so I don’t think I’m cut out for this degree” or even “everyone else always understands and I never do.”
Use your ability to choose. Identifying that you need support is not failure. Even “failure” isn’t failure, when you use the experience to learn and grow.
Respond to challenges with growth mindset. Instead of “I can’t” or “I never,” try “this will get easier with more practice” or “I have learned from this experience and will do better next time.”
Move forward with growth mindset. Try new things and stretch your skills. We can grow through discomfort.

What’s next?

I hope this introduction or refresher will inspire you to adopt growth mindset as a tool in your personal and professional toolkit. Watch Dr. Dweck's TED Talk. Read articles or books on mindsets. Talk about what you learn and reflect on whether there is a situation in which you’re being held back by a fixed mindset and how far you will go if you embrace the power of “yet.”

References

Dweck, Carol. “The power of believing that you can improve.” November 2014, TEDx, Norrköping, Sweden, video, 10:10, https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve.

Gallagher, Kaitlin. “Fixed vs Growth Mindsets: What I wish I knew before entering grad school.” Inside Higher Ed, Published February 27, 2014. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/fixed-vs-growth-mindsets.

“Growth Mindset and Enhanced Learning.” Stanford | Teaching Commons. Stanford University, Accessed January 27, 2026. https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/learning-activities/growth-mindset-and-enhanced-learning.

Schwab, Nick. “9 Growth mindset activities and strategies for students.” ClickView, Published February 6, 2025. https://www.clickvieweducation.com/blog/teaching-strategies/growth-mindset-activities.

Conference Opportunities

Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs

The 50th annual conference of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs will be held July 16-18, 2026 in Dallas, TX. This year’s conference theme is “New Beginnings: Knowledge in Motion.” The call for presentations is open until April 13, 2026 and can be found here. Additional information about the conference is on the organization’s website.

Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

The Association for Interdisciplinary Studies is holding their annual conference October 29-November 1, 2026 in Panama City Beach, FL. This year’s conference is titled, “Translational Research and Teaching: Bridging Knowledge, Practice, and Community” and proposals for sessions, papers, panels, workshops, and roundtables are due April 24, 2026. Proposal information can be found here, and more information about the conference is available on their website.

Need help with travel funding for a conference?

Apply for Graduate Student Transportation Funds through the Graduate School. Find more information here. Clemmer College also has funding available through Student Unique Funding Requests, available here.

Reflecting on Spring... Planning for Fall

The midpoint and end of the semester are timely opportunities to reflect on your experiences and goals and make a plan to build on your success. You can use the reflection questions below to think and write about or even discuss during your advising meeting.

What were some of the memorable parts of this semester?
What were three lessons you learned over the semester?
Review your planner or calendar for the semester, if you use one. If not, reflect on your average day or week this semester. Are you happy with how you spent your time? If not, what steps can you take next semester to improve?
What are some of your accomplishments this semester? What are you proud of?
How are you different now than you were at the start of the semester?
What or who are you especially grateful for this semester?
List three ways you could improve next semester. What concrete steps can you take toward these goals?
From 1-10, how do you feel overall about this semester?

*Questions modified from Passion Planner End of the Year Reflection (available at https://passionplanner.com/collections/goal-setting-worksheets/products/end-of-the-year-reflection)