STS Programs at Colleges and Universities

The names of the degrees offered at colleges and universities that offer undergraduate only and both undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and technology studies (STS) is shown below in Table 2. This list is not exhaustive of every single degree program that exists, but it is comprehensive and broadly representative of the national and international STS scene. We are happy to update the list if we’ve inadvertently missed either well established and emerging programs, people, and places! We offer this as a resource for students and interested others who would like to know where STS has taken root and flourished in the academy.

As represented in Table 2, undergraduate certificates, minors, and majors in STS go by different names, have different major structures, and are positioned within differently named departments, centers, institutes, and programs. The same variation also applies to the naming of graduate degree programs in the field—many names include history, sociology, or anthropology as qualifiers to the systematic study of science, technology, innovation, medicine, and health as objects of study. STS at Wesleyan is distinctive among all these units in building extensive course work in one of the sciences, the possibility of a joint major and an additional social science or humanities concentration into its major structure.

As a historical note, many of the programs that include "Society" in their names have legacy names that date back to before the mid-1990's (e.g., Vassar, Colby, Pomona). Back then, the decision to include “society” was controversial and linked to debates about the centrality of social scientific explanations of the work of natural science. For its part, the STS @ Wesleyan moved counter to these trends, and developed its current transdisciplinary approach integrating sociology with anthropology, history, philosophy, and humanistic studies of science, technology, and medicine. In practice, the suffix to our historical name “in Society” leads to the misleading insinuation across campus and from the outside that our program is focused (merely) on helping others understand the social implications of science and technology. Every course we offer does this in some way or another, but we offer a much more expansive analysis of the dynamic relationships between technoscience and society than this narrow “implications of science and technology” framing allows.

Table 2. Name and Rank of Degrees of STS Programs

	Name and Rank
Undergraduate only
Wesleyan University	BA, Science in Society
Vassar College	BA, Science, Technology, and Society
Colby College	BA, Science, Technology, and Society
Smith College	Minor, History of Science and Technology
Pomona College	BA, Science, Technology, and Society
Notre Dame	Minor in Science, Technology, and Values (5-year dual degree w/arts, letters, and engineering); Minor in Health, Humanities, and Society
Undergraduate and Graduate
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	B.S, Science, Technology, and Society PhD, Science and Technology Studies
Vanderbilt University	BA, Communication of Science and Technology BA and Minor, Medicine, Health, and Society BA/MA, Medicine, Health, and Society
Duke University	Two Certificates, Initiative for Science in Society (Science and the Public; Digital Intelligence Certificate) MA, Bioethics and Science Policy
M.I.T.	BS, Science, Technology, and Society PhD, History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS)
University of Pennsylvania	BS, Science, Technology, and Society PhD, History and Sociology of Science
Cornell University	BA, Science and Technology Studies PhD, Science and Technology Studies
University of Wisconsin	Undergraduate certificate in Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering, and Society Undergraduate Certificate Program (ISSuES) PhD, Minor in Science and Technology Studies
University of California, Davis	BA, Science and Technology Studies PhD, Designated Emphasis in Science, and Technology Studies
University of California, San Diego	Minor in Science, Technology, and Society PhD, in Science Studies (w/ Anthropology, Communication, History, Philosophy, or Sociology)
Harvard University	BA, History of Science PhD, History of Science
Princeton University	BA, History (with History of Science concentration) or Minor in HOS PhD, History of Science (graduate certificate also offered)
Stanford University	BA, and BS, Science, Technology, and Society Graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Society
Brown University	Concentration in Science, Technology, and Society Graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Society
Columbia University	No undergraduate degrees offered through Center for Science and Society
Northwestern University	Adjunct major and minor, Science in Human Culture
Indiana University	Individualized Major and Minors in Medical Humanities, Scientific Skill and Research Integrity MA and PhD in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine (with Library Sciences)
Virginia Tech	Minors in a) Science, Technology, and Society b) Medicine and Society and c) Humanities, Science and Environment MS, Graduate Certificate, PhD, Science and Technology Studies
Arizona State University	BA, History of Science, Technology, and Innovation BS, Science, Technology, and Society PhD, Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology PhD, History and Philosophy of Science

Outside the United States
University of Toronto	BA, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology MA and PhD, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
University of Edinburgh	No undergraduate degrees offered, but numerous graduate programs in “Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies”
King’s College London	BA, BSc, MSc, PhD in Global Health and Social Medicine (and Social Science)
Cambridge University	MPhil, History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine MPhil, Health, Medicine, and Society PhD, History and Philosophy of Science

College of Science and Technology Studies

STS Programs at Colleges and Universities