PROGRAM IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND VALUES

Director: Associate Professor Peter Taylor

The Program

Science and technology are increasingly important sources of change in the world. The Program in Science, Technology, and Values offers students the opportunity to examine historical, socio-political, cultural, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of science and technology. It encourages both science and non-science students to analyze, in a focused way, the impact of science and technology on other social institutions and the impact of those institutions on science and technology.

In addition to an undergraduate program of study, the program promotes a set of graduate offerings, runs the Intercollege Faculty Seminar in Humanities and Sciences, and sponsors the annual New England Workshop on Science and Social Change.

Requirements

Students in the program complete a group of science and/or mathematics courses, and a group of courses focusing on science, technology, and values. For matriculated students, successful completion of the program is recorded on official university transcripts when they have met all graduation requirements.

I. The science/math component

Students must complete four science or mathematics courses, at least one of which must include a laboratory component. This can be accomplished by completing the natural science/ mathematics distribution requirement or a science/math major for students seeking a B.S., or by taking one course in addition to the distribution requirement for students seeking a B.A.

Courses which count as science/mathematics courses for the purposes of this science/math sequence include any courses in biology, chemistry, physics, earth and geographic sciences, environmental, coastal and ocean sciences, mathematics, and computer science at the 130 level and above. The following courses also count: PSYCH 260, 270, 439, 466, 469, and 475; ANTH 105, 212, 241, and 316.

II. The science, technology, and values component

Six courses are required. At least three of the six courses must be taken at the 300 level or above. Students may transfer in up to three of these courses and may take one course of the six on a pass/fail basis. The following is a list of qualifying courses as of 4/30/2005. Consult www.stv.umb.edu for updates to this list.

Area 1: Philosophy and Values (at least two courses must be taken from this list)

PHIL 220 (Environmental Ethics)
PHIL 222 (Moral Issues in Medicine)
PHIL 307 (Technology and Values)
PHIL 346 (Philosophy of Science)
PHIL Z481 (Advanced Philosophy of Science)

Area 2: History and Politics (at least two courses must be taken from this list)

CHEM 476 (Historical and Philosophical Background of Selected Chemical Theories)
ENVSTY L246 (Environmental History)
HONORS 246 (History of Eugenics)
HONORS 252 (Number in Nature and Culture)
POLSCI 240 (Politics, Probability and Human Health)
POLSCI 348 (Science and Public Policy)
POLSCI 367 (Politics by Internet)
POLSCI 370 (Darwinian Revolution)

Area 3: Electives in other fields of science and technology studies

ANTH 357 (Culture, Disease, and Healing)
ANTH 358 (Comparative Health Care Systems)
ART 230 (Architecture, Design and Society)
COMSTU 250 (Analyzing Media)
COMSTU 300 (Information Technology and Human Communication)
ECON 345 (Natural Resource Economics and Sustainable Development)
ECON 349 (Economic Approaches to Environmental Problems)
ENGL G184 (Technology and the Soul)
ENGL G186 (Gender and Science Fiction)
ENGL G187 (Examining Consciousness)
ENGL 334 (Science Fiction)
ENVSTY 364 (Environmental Justice)
ENVSTY 401 (Environmental Problem Analysis and Policy Formulation)
HONORS 290 (Imagining Mars)
HONORS 290A (Darwinian Medicine)
HONORS 290A (Environmental Crime and Justice)
HONORS 290B (Computers and Humans)
HONORS 290F (Thinking Science)
INTR-D 126 (Science for Humane Survival)
MATH 370 (History of Mathematics)
PHIL 265 (Sanity and Madness)
SOCIOL 384 (Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care)
SOCIOL 386 (The Sociology of Mental Health and Illness)
SOCIOL 440 (Sociology of Knowledge and Ignorance)
WOST G210 (Gender and the Body)
WOST 260 (Women’s Health Care)

In addition, qualified advanced undergraduates may choose as electives, with the permission of the instructor, the following graduate courses:

CRCRTH 611 (Seminar in Critical Thinking)
CRCRTH 619 (Biomedical Ethics)
CRCRTH 640 (Environment, Science and Society: Critical Thinking)
CRCRTH 645 (Biology in Society: Critical Thinking)
CRCRTH 652 (Children and Science)
ECOS 697 (Risk Analysis in Environmental Health)
ENGL 663 (The End of the World)

For information about CRCRTH courses, see the “Critical and Creative Thinking” section of the university’s graduate bulletin or www.cct.umb.edu.

Information and Advising

Current information about course offerings, faculty, and activities of the program can be viewed at www.stv.umb.edu. The director and members of the advisory board will advise students how to meet the requirements of the program through the selection of a coherent, focused group of courses. Students interested in the program may contact Professor Millman at the Department of Philosophy or Professor Taylor in the Graduate College of Education.