With a growing focus on the political and policy dimensions of science and technology, the Science, Technology, and Values minor in the College of Arts & Letters has been renamed the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) minor.
Housed in the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, the STS minor is open to all undergraduate students — including those majoring in engineering, the sciences, and business — to study how science and technology are shaped by, and in turn reshape, politics, law, and public life. From artificial intelligence regulation and data privacy to climate governance, public health, and biotechnology oversight, the minor explores questions of power, accountability, and the public good.
Current STV students will automatically transition into the STS designation — no new requirements have been added to the program, and the curriculum will continue to require one core course and offer a broad selection of electives.
In addition to the new name, the program has expanded its course selection to emphasize the governance of science and technology, the role of science and technology in regulatory and development projects, and public engagement and democratic accountability.
For STEM students, this offers a crucial complement to technical training by highlighting how political and legal frameworks determine what research gets supported, how innovations are implemented, and how risks are managed. For students studying the humanities, social sciences, and business, the minor provides substantive literacy in the sciences and technologies driving today’s most urgent policy debates.
“In a world where decisions about algorithms, climate models, vaccines, and infrastructure are as political as they are technical, our students need to understand not only how technologies work, but how they are governed,” said Anna Geltzer, associate teaching professor in the Reilly Center and director of the STS program. “The STS minor prepares students to be leaders who can navigate and shape those debates in government, industry, law, non-profit organizations, and more.”
Students can learn more at reilly.nd.edu or contact Anna Geltzer.
