Transdisciplinary curricula are gaining prominence in higher education for their potential to address complex, real-world challenges. Yet as more postsecondary institutions encourage faculty to adopt transdisciplinary teaching, little is known about how faculty experience and make meaning of this work in practice. This qualitative study examined the experiences of 17 faculty members from diverse disciplines who participated in a multi-year, NSF-funded transdisciplinary initiative across three postsecondary institutions. Drawing on theoretically informed thematic analysis guided by psychological empowerment (Spreitzer et al., 1999) and pedagogical design capacity (Brown, 2009), we explored how faculty perceived the professional and instructional impacts of implementing a sustainability-focused transdisciplinary curriculum. Findings indicate that faculty highly valued their participation, reporting enhanced professional fulfillment, stronger collaborative networks, and renewed purpose in their teaching – exercising creativity and agency in adapting the curriculum to their disciplinary contexts. Faculty thrived when the work felt meaningful, when they felt competent and autonomous, and when they moved beyond delivering materials toward actively reshaping them. While participants faced institutional barriers including time constraints, heavy workloads, and limited structural support, they consistently emphasized the lasting value of transdisciplinary teaching. These findings underscore the need for sustained institutional investment to support faculty engaged in transdisciplinary curriculum development and implementation. Concrete steps may include course-release time for curriculum adaptation, funding for course redesign, structured cross-disciplinary collaboration, and formal recognition of transdisciplinary teaching in promotion and tenure processes.
