It is useful here to distinguish different types of program. There are, first, “interdisciplinary studies” or “liberal studies” programs whose foremost intent is to prepare students for interdisciplinary analysis of a wide range of topics. It is transparently necessary for such programs to teach students how to perform interdisciplinary analysis. There are also thematic interdisciplinary programs such as environmental studies. These draw upon insights from multiple disciplines – often in separate courses. Students can fail to integrate understandings from these different courses if not given practical advice on how to do so. Last, there are “interdisciplines,” fields such as gender studies that have solidified over time into quasi-disciplines with a favored set of theories, methods, and research questions. These may be able to operate as disciplines do, but students might still benefit from an appreciation of interdisciplinary research strategies since they often encounter literature from diverse disciplines. We suggest elsewhere that the challenges of Cross-Cultural Understanding are similar to the challenges associated with cross-disciplinary communication; if so, then programs with a cultural focus may especially benefit from familiarity with interdisciplinary strategies for communication.