Requirements for a Master's or Doctoral Portfolio

1. Completion of 4 thematically related courses for 12 credits in approved graduate level courses with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better in the courses. One of these courses must be an approved proseminar course (see requirement 2). At least two of the four courses must be offered outside of the student’s home department. Of the four courses, no more than one course may be taken as an independent study/conference course, except in unusual circumstances. Taking more than one conference course requires permission of the Portfolio Program Director Dr. Elizabeth Keating.
   Download a list of approved courses for the Portfolio Program (PDF, 52K)
2. Completion of a proseminar course on current issues in Societal Impacts of Science & Technology. The course will be taught by Prof. Elizabeth Keating (STS, Anthropology) but the content will primarily include lectures by natural scientists, engineers, and social scientists who are members of the STS participating portfolio faculty. The proseminar lecturers will talk about their ongoing research projects and their views on societal impacts of rapid scientific and technological developments from the perspective of their individual disciplines. Courses with similar cross-disciplinary content which can be taken to fulfill the proseminar requirement are: ANT 391 Anthropology of Science, ANT 393 Language and Technology, ANT 393 E-Society: Computer Mediated Communication, ANT 393 Knowledge, Power, and Practice in Science, Technology & Society, GRS 390P Exploring Multicultural Communication: Communicating Across Disciplinary Cultures, and HIS 380K History of Science.
3. Completion of a research project consisting of data collection, analysis and presentation in paper, website, or CD-Rom form of an issue related to social impacts of technology or science.

Additional requirements

In addition to the course requirements, Master's portfolio students must attend two STS Faculty Research Colloquia or Conferences (whichever is offered). By petition to the STS Program office, Master's students may substitute active involvement (i.e. event planning, volunteering) in the Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Graduate Student Conference for attendance at one Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Colloquium/Conference.

In addition to the course requirements, Doctoral Portfolio students must present a scholarly paper at the Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Graduate Student Conference. Students must attend the annual Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Graduate Student Conference and the Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Scholarly Conference each year they are enrolled in the portfolio program. Lastly, all students must keep the STS Program office updated each semester on their progress towards completion of the graduate portfolio program. In addition, upon completion of the program requirements students should notify the STS Program Office.

Although not required, it is recommended that a professor of a portfolio course or an STS Faculty Affiliate be asked to serve on the student's Master's Thesis or Report committee (if the student is in a Master's program which requires a Thesis or Report), or on the student's Doctoral Dissertation Committee.

It is expected that a student enrolled in the Societal Impacts of Science & Technology Graduate Portfolio Program will complete their course of study for the degree and the Graduate Portfolio Program in the same amount of time required for completion of the degree alone.

Portfolio coursework may be counted toward the degree requirements with the graduate adviser’s approval.