Six Steps to Majoring in STS
- Background Research
- Discussion
- Plan
- Declaration
- Advisors
- Final Curriculum Form
4. DECLARATION: If you decide to declare STS, either the B.A. or the B.S., as your major, you must do so on Axess. The STS Office will automatically be notified of and then approve your declaration -- provided you have submitted a draft curriculum form as described in step 3. The Office will also start a major file for you and add you to the STS majors email list.
5. ADVISORS: Identify a faculty member who would be an appropriate source of advice on each of your major components and make an appointment to solicit her/his advice, suggestions, and signature of approval for your plan. Professor McGinn serves as advisor for the STS Core component of most STS majors’ curricula and can suggest faculty members in various departments of the Schools of Humanities and Sciences and Engineering who have offered advice and signed off on the other components for past STS majors. Lists of suggested technical and thematic concentration advisors are also available at the STS Office. NOTE WELL: Do not wait until you are a senior to get your major components approved by knowledgeable faculty members. If you wait too long before doing so, you risk finding yourself in a situation where the individual whom you wish to sign off on your form is on sabbatical or believes your plan lacks an important course that it is now too late to take. Instead, STS encourages you to get all required signatures by the end of winter quarter of your junior year. While the curriculum plan outlined on the signed form is not set in concrete, subsequent changes must be approved in writing by the appropriate faculty advisor.
6. FINAL CURRICULUM FORM: By the end of the quarter immediately prior to the quarter you hope to graduate, your final, completely signed STS Major Curriculum Form must be put into your major file at STS. All three (B.A.)/two (B.S.) faculty signatures must have been obtained, and all courses satisfying major requirements must have been successfully completed, except, of course, for those you intend to complete during your final quarter of study. All signatures of approval for your curricular components must be obtained and all courses meeting major requirements must be completed if you are to graduate. (NOTE WELL: STS honors designation must be conferred simultaneously with bestowal of the STS bachelor’s degree.)
