Academic Programs
Science, Technology and Society
Dr. Jeffrey Tang, Coordinator
Phone: (540) 568-2758
E-mail: tangjd@jmu.edu
Web site: http://www.jmu.edu/sts/
Science, technology and society (STS) is an internationally recognized field of interdisciplinary study that integrates social scientific and humanistic studies to better understand the natural and human-built world. The minor in STS offers students the opportunity to critically examine science, technology and medicine as expressions of human cultures, past and present. Students learn to scrutinize the ideas, values and materials embedded in the world they inhabit today and to relate them to other times and places. They explore how choices made within various social, economic and political structures influence the development of science, technology and medicine. They also see how the adoption and diffusion of ideas, artifacts and techniques can then influence individuals, society, politics and culture. Courses in this minor draw students together from diverse majors across the campus and encourage open inquiry into the role of science and technology in society.
The minor in STS is open to all undergraduate students at JMU. Courses taken to complete the STS minor can also be used to satisfy the student's major, as well as General Education requirements.
The STS minor requires 18 credit hours with at least one course each from the history, sociology and ISAT courses listed below.
| Required Courses | Credit Hours |
| Choose one: | 3 |
| ISAT 131. Technology, Science, and Society | |
| SOCI 315. Science, Technology, and Society | |
| HIST 327. Technology in America | |
| Elective courses | |
| Choose five from at least four different programs/majors | 15 |
| ANTH/ARTH/HIST 492. American Material Culture | |
| ANTH/SOCI 313. Processes of Social and Cultural Change | |
| ANTH 340. The Invention of Race | |
| ANTH 360. Medical Anthropology | |
| ANTH 373. Anthropological Perspectives on Environment and Development | |
| ARTH 303. History of Design | |
| ARTH 474. The New Media and Contemporary Art | |
| ARTH 476. Modern Architecture | |
| GEOG 322. Agricultural Systems | |
| GEOG 325. Environmental Ethics | |
| GEOG 344. Economic Geography and Development Issues | |
| HIST 305. History of Science and Christianity | |
| HIST 326. The Automobile in 20th Century America | |
| HIST 327. Technology in America | |
| HIST 328. History of Science, 1534 – 1859 | |
| HIST 329. History of Science Since 1859 | |
| HIST 405. Travel and Exploration | |
| HIST 427. U.S. Environmental History | |
| HIST 443. Modern American Technology and Culture | |
| HIST 481. Early Modern Europe: The New Worlds of Exploration and Science | |
| ISAT 231. Political Economy of Technology and Science | |
| ISAT 311. Role of Energy in Modern Society | |
| ISAT 411. Energy Economics and Policy | |
| ISAT 421. Environmental Policy and Regulation | |
| ISAT 456. Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Biotechnology | |
| ISAT 471. Transportation: Energy, Environment and Society | |
| ISAT 477. Complex Systems and How They Fail | |
| PHIL 300. Knowledge and Belief | |
| PHIL 395. Philosophy and Scientific Inquiry | |
| SOCI 311. Sociology of the Environment | |
| SOCI 316. Space, Time and the Human Social Environment | |
| SOCI 366. Sociology of Knowledge | |
| SOCI 375. Medical Sociology | |
| WRTC 350. Science and Technology in Literature | |
Special topics courses not listed can be applied to the minor with prior approval of the program coordinator.
