Interdisciplinary Super-Centers and the Transformation of the American Research University

Abstract

Using 15 years of data on Stanford University collaborations on grants, dissertations, and publications, we apply methods of social network analysis to examine how the creation of two new interdisciplinary institutes affects traditional, department-based collaboration patterns. We find the centers ratchet up activity and lead scholars to form bridging communities of two sorts: one localized and emblematic of a future professional school, and another circulatory and focused on increasing the efficiency of communication across units. This results in a layered, matrix-type structure that research universities may adopt in the future. This new organizational structure preserves disciplinary stability and quality, on the one hand, and enables more immediate adaptation and response to pressing societal and environmental pressures, on the other.