History, Philosophy & Sociology of Science faculty group adopts new, more inclusive name

June 29, 2023

Since 1967, a major feature of the Lyman Briggs College curriculum has been the exploration of science from other disciplinary perspectives and in multiple contexts, not simply science in, for, and of, itself.

In 2022, faculty in the LBC History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science (HPS) group undertook a multi-step process and gathered input from numerous stakeholders, including Briggs students, to change their group name to Science and Society.

This change, which comes in parallel with LBC’s fresh mission, vision, and strategic plan, reflects a desire to better represent the full breadth of training, research, and teaching that our faculty encompass. Furthermore, this name change aligns with LBC's ongoing efforts to promote interdisciplinarity, inclusivity and belonging by affording the intellectual space to pursue faculty's varied research and teaching interests that may be beyond the confines of the history, philosophy, and sociology of science.

As the Science and Society faculty grows in the coming years, they believe this name change will also help them to attract and retain well-qualified scholars from across the social sciences and humanities disciplines. Daniel Thiel, a Science and Society faculty member, writes, "Our name clearly signals to the broader Spartan community that our courses empower students to explore the many intersections between science and society."

Students may be wondering what happens to the name of their major or minor in HPS. Students majoring and minoring in HPS who have already declared will graduate with those majors and minors. As course, major, and minor changes move through the official channels and the Office of the Registrar, we will announce formal name changes. For now, the faculty group itself will be referred to as the Science and Society group, and new major and minor students can anticipate this name change as they plan their studies.