The Summer Program to Advance Leadership (SPAL)
SPAL is a comprehensive six-week program that exposes students to Lafayette and college courses. Students in the program take a math course and a writing course, participate in lab modules in the sciences and engineering, and visit local employers of scientists and engineers. They also get to meet the provost, the dean of the College, their class dean, other deans and staff, and many faculty members. Through the program students begin their career counseling, learn about study abroad, and find out about all the other academic opportunities available to them at Lafayette. Read more here.
HHMI-funded Biology Education Initiative (2011-2016)
The HHMI-funded project, Interdisciplinary and Process-Driven Biology Education to Prepare Undergraduates to be Leaders in Science Research and Medicine (2011- 2016), aimed to encourage persistence in the sciences, particularly of students from under-represented groups, through an apprentice-based, interdisciplinary research program in biology. During the multi-year initiative, the College sought to modify the biology curriculum to provide interdisciplinary, process-driven education, and to expand and enhance undergraduate research with the Science Horizons program.
Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholars program
Since 2015, this program has enabled about a dozen women engineering students per year to be partnered with Lafayette faculty mentors to conduct summer research.
CITLS
Lafayette’s Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning & Scholarship (CITLS) hosts a variety of workshops, panels, and other fora to allow faculty to share, exchange, and learn about pedagogical techniques and strategies. Visit the CITLS site here.
Engineering Studies program
The Engineering Studies (EGRS) Program leading to the AB in Engineering features an interdisciplinary curriculum that includes contextualization of STEM content and critical analysis of STEM field history and content. EGRS courses enroll students from across the college. Visit the EGRS site here.
Current Lafayette Classes in Inclusive STEM Studies:
Classes that represent “Inclusive STEM Studies” include the following:
WGS 250: Gender and STEM
This course examines how gender and gender identity-as well as race/ethnicity and sexual identity-intersect with STEM-related areas of inquiry. Using a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, the course investigates how STEM fields both shape and are shaped by ideas about gender. Topics include feminist critiques of science, intersections of gender with technology design and use, gender and the built environment, and the relationship between gender and “doing” STEM work.
AMS/ES 252 Engineering America
This course presents modern engineering as a narrative of contemporary American society: major innovations that responded to societal needs, and to which society responded in art, literature, and other forms. Students will learn about the breakthrough technological developments that underlie modern civilization, in historical and societal context; perform hands-on experiments to help them understand each innovation in engineering terms; appreciate the reflections of these breakthroughs in literature, art, and other societal products; and gain an understanding of the complex interrelationship of science, technology, and society.
FYS 141 Math and Social Justice
This course considers the importance of understanding data and applying mathematics to ask these questions and to explore meaningful answers. Using mathematics that everybody is taught, we’ll try to make sense out of conflicting opinions, so as to discover the importance of quantitative literacy for all citizens in a democracy. Read more here.
A&S 233 Anthropology of the City
This course centers on cities as sites and subjects of anthropological inquiry. Across the globe, urbanization has increasingly defined the landscape of modern life. What makes the metropolis meaningful, and how do spatial forms shape social practices? In what sense does the cultural milieu of the city-material and symbolic, dynamic and diverse-challenge us to critically re-imagine anthropology? How are social identities shaped by the everyday experience of urban communities, commodities, and cultural forms?
A&S 259 Sociology of Disaster
This course examines a variety of disasters from those that are “man-made,” to “natural disasters.” Societal responses to disasters, ranging from moral and political protest movements, on the one hand, to legal actions and legislative efforts on the other, will be examined, along with the scientific and technological responses to these disasters, and the ethical issues that these spawned.