STS Special Topics Courses

Fall 2024
Each semester The STS Department offers a number of Special Topics courses which satisfy various Restricted Technical Elective categories. Below are the courses offered for the Fall 2024 semester. Generally, STS 330 is a required pre-requisite for the courses, however you are also eligible to enroll if you will be taking STS 330 in Fall 2024 semester. If you encounter an error when registering, please contact Kathy in STS ( Kathleen McCormick) and she will register you.  

STS 381 – Science Communication
Tue/Thu | 9:25am - 10:40am | On-Campus | 93818
Instructor: Prof. Michael Passero
The focus of this course will be communicating scientific information to other scientists and a broad, general audience. The curriculum will address the challenges that professional and academic writers encounter when communicating scientific or technical information. While professional communication in science and technology differs markedly from writing poetry, fiction, drama, or personal essays, this course will explore how science and technical writers can draw from fundamental principles in composition, rhetoric, logic, and communication theory in order to improve their skills in audience analysis, discovery, disposition, and delivery. Also, common rhetorical figures used regularly in science and technical communication such as metaphor, analogy, and modeling will be explored as compositional tools, along with the traditional rhetorical modes of development that serve all academic and professional communication. Various methods of communication will be addressed as well, including formal reports, professional science correspondence, informative brochures, and oral presentations
Course satisfies Technical & Scientific Communication RTE

STS 391 - Generative AI: Choices and Challenges
ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE | On-Campus | 93956
Instructor: Dr. Emma Stamm
Recent years have seen significant growth in the field of generative AI. Today, programs such as ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Midjourney produce novel works of writing, visual art, code, and more. While AI has long raised questions about the stakes of technological progress, these questions may be more urgent than ever before. “Generative AI: Choices and Challenges” explores the possibilities and hazards of this development. The course features three units. In the first, we investigate historical precursors to today’s applications. In the second, we ask if the capacity for creativity may be meaningfully attributed to computers. The third examines the impact of generative AI on students, professionals, and creators. By the end of the semester, students will be able to express original, well-informed perspectives on generative AI as a socio-technical phenomenon.
Course satisfies Impact of Technological Change RTE

STS 394: Global Television & Society
ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE | 93867
Instructor: Prof. Dennis Major
This course examines the ways in which subscription streaming services have impacted television’s role in our global culture.  They have changed the way that many of us integrate television into our everyday lives, allowing on-demand access to vast content libraries.  Students will explore the range of infrastructures, business practices, and distribution strategies that underpin platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and AppleTV+.  Topics will include viewer agency and control, audience surveillance, content curation, and algorithms.
Course satisfies Global Connections RTE