Degree Requirements for Science, Technology, & Society
General Requirements for the Major or Minor
General university degree requirements stipulate that 1) at least four units of the major or three units of the minor be taken in residence at Puget Sound; 2) students earn a GPA of 2.0 in courses taken for the major or the minor; and 3) all courses taken for a major or minor must be taken for graded credit. Any exceptions to these stipulations are indicated in the major and minor degree requirements listed below.
Requirements for the Major
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Science, Technology, and Society is awarded on the basis of a course of study agreed upon by the student and a committee of faculty members. During the sophomore year or by the first semester of the junior year, a student who intends to major in Science, Technology, and Society should meet with the director of the Program to select a faculty member as an advisor. The student and advisor form a committee that includes the advisor and others members from the Advisory Committee for the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. The committee may include faculty outside the program if the student's interests overlap with that faculty member's discipline. The student works with the committee to select a coherent set of courses that advance the student's educational goals. The committee usually seeks a balance between breadth of coverage and focus in the student's particular area of interest. The committee will also ensure that there is sufficient concentration in STS courses (in distinction from courses in cognate disciplines that are accepted as electives). The contract goes into effect after it is signed by the student, the committee members, and the director of the Program and is filed in the Office of the Registrar. The contract is reviewed periodically and justified modifications are permitted.
Requirements for the Contract in Science, Technology, and Society
Every contract should consist of a minimum of 12 units distributed as follows:
- Introductory Surveys: 2 units.
- STS 201 Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society I: Antiquity to 1800; and
- STS 202 Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society II: Since 1800. Preferably taken in the first or second year.
- Methods course: 1 unit.
- STS 350 The Interdisciplinary Study of Science and Technology. Preferably taken in the fall semester of junior year.
- Philosophy and Science: 1 unit.
- One course chosen from PHIL 332 Philosophy of Science; or PHIL 220 Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Philosophy. (A different course in philosophy can be approved by the STS director.) Preferably taken in the spring semester of junior year.
- Electives: 5 units.
- See the list of electives below. Students must take at least one course each from categories one, two, and three. The remaining two courses can be taken from any of the three categories.
- Ancillary Courses: 2 units.
- Two courses in the natural sciences. Preferably in the same natural science. Preferably taken in the first or second year.
- Capstone course: 1 unit.
- Taken in spring semester of the senior year.
- STS 480 Senior Research Seminar in STS.
Notes
- Students must maintain a grade point average of at least 2.00 in all contract courses and a grade point average of at least 2.00 in the upper-division (300-400 level) courses in the contract.
- Students must complete at least four units of the required upper-division (300-400 level) contract courses at Puget Sound. One of these 4 units may be a course taken as part of a study-abroad program, subject to approval in advance by the student's contract committee.
- Students must gain approval for the contract before completing upper-division coursework. Courses completed before the contract is approved are subject to review by the committee prior to inclusion in the contract.
Each year, the STS program will name one graduating major a Mott Greene Research Scholar for a distinguished senior research project. All graduating majors are eligible to be considered for Honors in the Major.
Requirements for the Minor
A minor consists of 6 units distributed as follows.
- Introductory Survey: 1 unit.
- One course chosen from STS 201 Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society I: Antiquity to 1800; or
- STS 202 Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society II: Since 1800
- Electives: 3 units.
- See the list of electives below. Students must take at least one class from each of the three categories.
- Methods course: 1 unit.
- STS 350 The Interdisciplinary Study of Science and Technology
Electives
- Studies of Particular Scientific Disciplines
- ECON 221 History of Economic Thought
- PHYS 299 History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy
- PSYC 325 History and Systems of Psychology
- STS 100 Apes, Angels & Darwin
- STS 301 Technology and Culture
- STS 314 Cosmological Thought
- STS 330 Evolution and Society Since Darwin
- STS 344 Ecological Knowledge in Historical Perspective
- STS 345 Science and War in the Modern World
- STS 347 Better Living Through Chemistry
- STS 348 Strange Realities: Physics in the Twentieth Century
- Special Topics in Science, Technology, and Society
- CONN 354 Hormones, Sex, Society, & Self
- CONN 357 Exploring Animal Minds
- CONN 410 Science and Economics of Climate Change
- ECON 365 Economics and Philosophy
- ENGL 348 Illness and Narrative
- HIST 317 European Intellectual History, 19th and 20th Centuries
- PHIL 220 Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Philosophy
- PHIL 330 Epistemology: The Theory of Knowledge
- PHIL 332 Philosophy of Science
- SOAN 360 Sociology of Health and Medicine
- STS 310 I, Robot - Humans and Machines in the 20th and 21st Centuries
- STS 318 Science and Gender
- STS 325 Highway to History: A Study of the Automobile Industry
- STS 340 Finding Order in Nature
- STS 352 Memory in a Social Context
- STS 354 Murder and Mayhem under the Microscope
- STS 361 Mars Exploration
- STS 366 History of Medicine
- Policy and Values in Science and Technology
- BUS 478 Environmental Law
- CONN 320 Health and Medicine
- CONN 393 Cognitive Foundations of Morality and Religion
- ENVR 325 Geological and Environmental Catastrophes
- ENVR 335 Thinking about Biodiversity
- HIST 364 American Environmental History
- PHIL 105 Neuroethics and Human Enhancement
- PHIL 285 Environmental Ethics
- PHIL 292/BIOE 292 Basics of Bioethics
- REL 292/BIOE 292 Basics of Bioethics
- SOAN 352 Work, Culture, and Globalization
- STS 302 Cancer and Society
- STS 324 Science and Race: A History
- STS 333 Evolution and Ethics
- STS 370 Science and Religion: Historical Perspectives
- STS 375 Science and Politics
- STS 378 Weapons of Mass Destruction