Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL)

Undergraduate Education and Faculty Affairs Undergraduate Education and Faculty Affairs

By analyzing and understanding different disciplinary perspectives, students can take a multidimensional approach to creating new knowledge, or solutions within their field of study.

Our five-year Quality Improvement Plan (QEP) focuses on interdisciplinary learning to increase student achievement in three common goals: disciplinary grounding, perspective taking and integration. Titled “Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning,” or SAIL, our grant-awarded teams led by top-tier faculty aim to improve students’ ability to think critically about diversity and global issues.

Interdisciplinary learning intentionally incorporates skills and approaches from different fields to generate new insights about pressing global challenges. By engaging in and creating a collaboration between different disciplines, students articulate and analyze different perspectives, acknowledging each discipline’s strengths and limitations and using those cohesively to develop new solutions to complex issues.

Over the next several years, students will have the opportunity to work on a variety of faculty-led projects to engage in SAIL work across colleges and units on UNCW’s campus.

Upcoming SAIL Events

Apply for a SAIL grant!

Self-enroll in the SAIL Canvas Site

The recent grant cycle is closed. Please check back for information on the next cycle.

If you are thinking about submitting an application, but you'd like further guidance, Kelley Hanna, SAIL/CTE Faculty Fellow can meet with you!

Individual Grants Awarded 2025-2026

Pathways to Critical Thinking, Diversity, and Global Citizenship Through an Immersive Experience in Peru | Dr. Ashlee Balena
Environmental Fiction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Research, Writing, Publishing, and Activism | Dr. Michelle Donahue
Spanish for the Professions | Ana Asua
Reimagining Tragedy: Plays, Adaptations, and Cross-Media Analysis | Ruochen Bo
From Villains to Victims: Crime and Punishment in Latinx Literature | Dr. Amrita Das
Religion and Public Life Across Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Approach | Dr. Hikmet Kocamaner
AI in Context: Integrating Philosophy, Sociology, and Economics to Rethink AI’s Social Impact | Sang Teck Oh
From Ritual to Recreation: Examining the Spectrum of Religiosity through Experiencing the New Year in Japan | Dr. Ryan Lidster
Adapting Literature to the Stage: An Interdisciplinary Live Performance Project | Dr. Julie-Ann Scott Pollock

Large Team Grants Awarded

Ports, People, and Profits

UNCW's position as a coastal university gives a unique "port perspective" context for exploring issues of trade and exchange between cultures, societies, and states. This large team of faculty (History, Economics, World Languages and Cultures, International Studies, and Music) will work through explorations of international trade and exchange cases to help students understand that trade and exchange is embedded in social relationships, that patterns of material and cultural exchanges are closely related, that disciplinary assumptions underlay the framing of current debates, and that divergent priorities that arise from discipline-specific perspectives are essential to crafting compromises for policy choices that govern international trade and exchange. Awarded 2025-2028.

Maritime transportation along the Cape Fear River.

Conveying Critical Water Issues

Led by a large team of faculty from English, Environmental Studies, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Public and International Affairs, and Education, this project addresses the challenges of science communication, particularly communication with UNCW students about salient water issues in our community. Students learn about flooding, water quality research, or environmental communication strategies. Then, students collaborate to create science zines that translate this information to students across campus and subsequently to a broader community. Awarded 2025-2028.

Leveraging Knowledge Graphs for Ethical AI

This project addresses the need to develop interdisciplinary methodologies for teaching ethical, accurate AI practices. As AI reshapes industries, tools like knowledge graphs are essential to meaningfully engage students with complex, domain-specific information. They help AI systems accurately interpret data, make transparent decisions, and reduce bias. Focusing on risk communication related to food scarcity, a faculty team project (Computer Science, English, and Sociology departments) equips students with technical and ethical skills by bridging AI expertise with interdisciplinary domain-specific knowledge. Awarded 2025-2028.

People look at a large screen projection during a computing showcase.

Digital Literacy

A large group collaboration across three colleges and UNCW Library will look at how to create better digital citizens who can critically think about what they see online. This will include courses such as Technical Writing and Applied Behavioral Technology, along with faculty professional development opportunities. Awarded 2023-2026.

End-of-Life Education

Faculty in the Gerontology, Philosophy, Psychology, and Respiratory Therapy departments will take an interdisciplinary approach to end-of-life care and decision-making on campus and within the Wilmington community. They will study community needs and work on community engagement projects. Awarded 2023-2026.

Critical AI

Faculty across three colleges will collaborate on examining the impact of artificial intelligence in various disciplines. This will include teaching various courses and hosting an array of events and activities, from AI art exhibits to workshops and presentations. Awarded 2023-2026.

'The Other' in French and Francophone Studies

Through a small-team grant, faculty from the Department of World Languages will take an interdisciplinary approach to French courses looking at aliens in French works of fiction. The courses include ‘Alien Encounters in French Fiction and Cultures’ and ‘Intro to the Francophone World: Cinema of Africa and its Diasporas.’ Awarded 2023-2026.

More Information

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Contact Director Beverley McGuire and Assistant Director Erica Noles for more information and general inquiries.