Center History

The Science, Technology, and Society Center was inaugurated by Dean John Lie of International and Area Studies in Spring 2005. Its initial co-directors were Cathryn Carson (History) and Charis Thompson (Rhetoric and Gender & Women's Studies). The Center's program was launched in Fall 2005 with a series of public lectures and consultations with faculty.

Initial funding for STSC has come from the Berkeley Research Futures program, the University of California Humanities Research Institute, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, and the Office of the Dean of IAS.

Berkeley Futures Grant

In Fall 2004, UC Berkeley's Vice Chancellor - Research awarded IAS a Berkeley Research Futures Grant for STS. This competitive program provides seed money for faculty to develop large multidisciplinary research grant applications.
Our successful STS proposal called for the development of a network of Berkeley scholars engaged in inquiry into the origins, growth, and consequences of scientific and technical knowledge and practice. It pointed to the campus's outstanding faculty in the full spectrum of scholarship, giving it the potential to become a center of international renown. The Berkeley Futures Grant found its first realization in the creation of the Science, Technology, and Society Center in Spring 2005. The award supported the writing of a major grant proposal for extramural support. Co-PIs on the Berkeley Futures Grant were John Lie (Dean, IAS) and Cathryn Carson (Co-Director, STSC).