Conferences and Institutes
Each year, the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning invites scholars from around the world to explore a timely topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. Based on using an interdisciplinary approach for nearly fifty years at the College of General Studies, we know that exploring one topic from multiple perspectives generates a more comprehensive and deeper understanding, as it introduces both new information and modes of thinking. We encourage attendees across different academic disciplines to join us to share insights from their area of expertise and ensure a rich and productive discussion.
Upcoming Conferences
Breaking the Feedback Loop: Fossil Fuels, the Climate Crisis, and Democratic Decline
Online Symposium: October 27 & 28, 2026
Keynote Speaker: Daniel J. Fiorino, Director of the Center for Environmental Policy, American University School of Public Affairs, and author of Can Democracy Handle Climate Change? (Polity, 2018) and The Clean Energy Transition (Polity, 2022)
Cosponsored by the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University and the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning (CITL) at Boston University
In the 21st century, the environmental crisis of climate change and the political crisis of democratic decline have been pulled into a single feedback loop, in which each crisis makes the other more severe. As climate change fuels mass-migrations, the resulting spike in xenophobia within developed countries hastens the rise of ultranationalist leaders and policies that weaken democracy and thwart effective multilateral cooperation to address the climate crisis. The resulting rejection of democracy and cooperative climate action increases the likelihood of a more severe climate degradation in this century with greater mass migrations and a more complete breakdown of democratic institutions and multilateral cooperation. The goal of this symposium is to understand these overlapping environmental and political crises and explore effective ways to break the cyclical relationship between climate degradation, ultranationalism, and democratic decline.
Past Conferences
2025 Annual Conference
30th Annual Dickens Society Symposium
2018 Annual Conference
Writing, the State, and the Rise of Neo-Nationalism: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Concerns
2017 Annual Conference
22nd Annual Dickens Symposium on Interdisciplinary Dickens
2015 Annual Conference
Poles Apart, Melting Together: Science & the Humanities Confront the Anthropocene
2014 Annual Conference
THATCamp New England: Humanities, Technology and Pedagogy
2013 Annual Conference
Teaching Globalization: Crossing Borders, Crossing Disciplines
Conference Sponsorships
- 11th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology & Management in 2017
- New England Summer Conference on College Composition & Communication in 2017
- Association for Authentic, Experimental and Evidence-Based Learning Northeast Regional Conference in 2015
- Northeast Victorian Studies Association in 2013
Institutes
Our summer institutes extend the unique CGS learning experience to alumni, parents, and the general public. Exploring a new topic each year, the summer institute draws on the expertise of CGS faculty, while also taking advantage of the rich history and culture of Boston. Participants learn through a series of interdisciplinary lectures, which are complemented by an experiential learning component—two hallmarks of the CGS teaching model.
2014 Summer Institute: Victorian Boston