STV Diploma
The STV Diploma will be available to all UW undergrads beginning Fall 2025.
Why should you consider the STV Diploma? You'll stand out, with a unique set of skills:
- the ability to view the role of technology in society from a variety of critical perspectives;
- the ability to analyze technology-society problems and solutions, in collaboration with peers from other academic programs;
- the ability to communicate views on society-technology interactions effectively, both orally and in written form.
Students from all faculties who complete the Diploma are more fully aware of the complex relationships that technology has with contemporary society. You also come away with an analytical skillset that will help you thrive in the new AI- and technology-driven environment of the 21st century.
How do I get the Diploma?
Here's the great thing: no explicit enrolment is necessary!
Just complete the four courses from the required list below at any time with a minimum cumulative average of 70%. There's two core STV courses, one critical theory and ethics course, and one critical thinking course. Maybe you have one of these courses already! Then, when you apply to graduate, you let the Registrar know that you've completed all the STV Diploma requirements. That's it!
If you do want to enrol officially, after September 2025 you can get in touch with your undergrad advisor and ask for a program change to add the Diploma.
What about courses that aren't on the list?
We did our best to assemble a list of current courses from across campus that fit our program objectives. But we may have missed a few, and new courses get created all the time. And technology and society issues tend to show up in many departments and programs. So maybe you already took a relevant course, or there's one you want to take that isn't on the list. If so, get in touch with the Director, Scott Campbell to review your case!
More questions?
Get in touch with the Director, Scott Campbell.
STV Diploma Course Requirements
Complete two fundamentals courses, one critical theory and ethics course, and one critical thinking course with a minimum cumulative average of 70%.
Fundamentals
Complete 2 of the following:
- STV100 - Society, Technology and Values: Introduction (0.50)
- STV202 - Design and Society (0.50)
- STV205 - Cybernetics and Society (0.50)
- STV208 - Artificial Intelligence and Society: Impact, Ethics, and Equity (0.50)
- STV210 - The Computing Society (0.50)
- HIST212 - The Computing Society (0.50)
Critical Theory and Ethics
Complete 1 of the following:
- BME381 - Biomedical Engineering Ethics (0.50)
- CIVE491 - Engineering Law and Ethics (0.50)
- ENGL320 - History and Theory of Pre-Internet Media (0.50)
- ENVE391 - Law and Ethics for Environmental and Geological Engineers (0.50)
- GEOE391 - Law and Ethics for Environmental and Geological Engineers (0.50)
- ENVS105 - Environmental Sustainability and Ethics (0.50)
- GBDA306 - Ethics and Values in Design (0.50)
- - Professional and Business Ethics (0.50)
- PHIL224 - Environmental Ethics (0.50)
- PHIL226 - Biomedical Ethics (0.50)
- PHIL228 - Ethics and Artificial Intelligence (0.50)
- PHIL259 - Philosophy of Technology (0.50)
- PHIL315 - Ethics and the Engineering Profession (0.50)
- SOC232 - Technology and Social Change (0.50)
- SOC246 - Mass Communication (0.50)
- STV302 - Information Technology and Society (0.50)
- STV304 - Technology in Canadian Society (0.50)
- STV305 - Technology, Society and the Modern City (0.50)
- STV306 - Biotechnology and Society (0.50)
Critical Thinking: Issues and Applications
Complete 1 of the following:
- AE101 - History of the Built Environment (0.50)
- ANTH106 - Technologies of Being Human (0.50)
- ANTH303 - Anthropology of Digital Media (0.50)
- ARCH142 - Introduction to Cultural History (0.50)
- CS492 - The Social Implications of Computing (0.50)
- ECE458 - Computer Security (0.50)
- ENGL108D - Digital Lives (0.50)
- ENGL208B - Science Fiction (0.50)
- ENGL294 - Introduction to Critical Game Studies (0.50)
- ENGL295 - Social Media (0.50)
- ERS215 - Environmental and Sustainability Assessment 1 (0.50)
- ERS270 - Introduction to Sustainable Agroecosystems (0.50)
- ERS294 - Spirituality, Religion, and Ecology (0.50)
- ERS372 - First Nations and the Environment (0.50)
- GBDA303 - Data and Society (0.50)
- HIST203 - Methods of Public History (0.50)
- HIST216 - From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: A (Long) History of the Internet (0.50)
- INDEV262 - Introduction to Global Emerging Cities (0.50)
- INTEG121 - Collaboration, Design Thinking, and Problem Solving (0.50)
- LS213 - Surveillance Studies (0.50)
- LS329 - Security and Governance (0.50)
- MSE442 - Impact of Information Systems on Organizations and Society (0.50)
- NE109 - Societal and Environmental Impacts of Nanotechnology (0.50)
- PACS201 - Roots of Conflict, Violence, and Peace (0.50)
- PACS315 - Engineering and Peace (0.50)
- RCS285 - Spirituality, Religion, and Ecology (0.50)
- SCI200 - Energy - Its Development, Use, and Issues (0.50)
- SCI252 - Quantum Mechanics for Everyone (0.50)
- SCI267 - Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (0.50)
- SOC213 - Surveillance Studies (0.50)
- SOC329 - Security and Governance (0.50)
- SYDE261 - Design, Systems, and Society (0.50)
What happened to the STV Option?
The STV Option was removed from the undergraduate calendar in 2024-25, but remains available to any student enrolled before 2024. There may be extra paperwork, so get in touch with the Director of CSTV, Scott Campbell.
