IDS Faculty and Staff

Dr. Jeffry C. Davis serves as the IDS program director and advisor. In addition to advising, mentoring, and coaching IDS students, Dr. Davis teaches the IDS Senior Seminar, which serves as a capstone to the major. As the author of one of the core texts of the IDS program, Interdisciplinary Inclinations: Introductory Reflections for Students Integrating Liberal Arts and Christian Faith, Dr. Davis has shaped the IDS program to integrate substantive academic inquiry with spiritual and vocational reflection. In 2018, Dr. Davis launched the annual competitive Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Honors Symposium, which welcomes select students from CCCU colleges to engage in a week-long intensive program of interdisciplinary inquiry at Wheaton College. 

Dr. Davis is the Assistant Editor for the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, the scholarly publication of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research. He has published articles in several peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals, including the following: Expositions: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities; the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies; Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture; Providence: A Quarterly Journal of Interdisciplinary Writings from a Judeo-Christian Perspective; Synergy; and Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity.

With over thirty years of teaching experience and scholarship, Dr. Davis brings a passion for rhetorical theory, writing pedagogy, vocational discernment, and interdisciplinary inquiry to his work with students. Dr. Davis serves as Professor of English and Dean of Humanities at Wheaton College.

As a Professor of Physics and Philosophy, Dr. Robert Bishop serves as the John and Madeleine McIntyre Chair of Philosophy and History of Science at Wheaton College. In the IDS program, Dr. Bishop teaches the Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies Seminar. This course gives IDS majors the opportunity to explore interdisciplinarity from a variety of perspectives, focusing on natural science, social science, history, and theological inquiry. Dr. Bishop was the primary editor of one of the course texts, Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Determinism, a collection of refereed essays from experts in physics, philosophy, mathematics, and cognitive and social science exploring the concept of determinism.

Among Dr. Bishop’s recent publications is The Physics of Emergence (2019), which examines case studies to explore the concept of contextual emergence in physics. He also co-authored Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins: Cosmology, Geology and Biology in Christian Perspective (2018), which addresses a religious audience, explaining scientific theories about the origins of life, the earth, and the universe. Dr. Bishop serves as a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, the Area Editor for Philosophy of Science in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and a member of the editorial board for Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith.

As the IDS Program Coordinator, James Sharpe works with both prospective students and current IDS majors. She manages the IDS application process, assessing eligibility, coaching applicants, and guiding students. 

James graduated from the IDS program at Wheaton in 2018. Since then he's worked in Chicago and D.C. in various capacities, but eventually landed in graduate school at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), where he is pursuing a PhD in English - Rhetoric. In addition to coordinating the IDS program, James serves as the Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Humanities. 

Have questions about the IDS major? Reach out to James at IDS@wheaton.edu with your questions.