Science and Technology in Society

Official word today; both my proposals to the provost were fully funded, not just for one year but on a recurring basis.

I got into this last spring, when I learned that the new general education requirements to go into place in Aug. 2005 included a requirement that all students take a course on Science and Technology in Society. I realized that this wasn't going to work unless more courses were developed and the faculty developing courses learned more about the field of STS. I put in a proposal to the provost for a faculty seminar. I got no response until I got a small grant from NSF; then the university came through with the rest of the money.

Our faculty seminar last fall was successful, and I began making a list of what needed to be done to get courses taught. Feeling that nothing was going to get done in a timely way unless I just did it, I wrote a proposal to be coordinator of STS (and get release time and an administrative supplement) and another proposal for funding for extra sections of STS courses in my college. I wrote down everything I thought ought to be done. It was those proposals that were just funded.

I've been trying to follow a philosophy I think of as water flowing down hill. I don't have a vision of what STS should be on this particular campus, but am simply following whatever opportunities come available and being willing to put in the work. I've gotten farther than I ever expected.