Chemistry 250 - Being Human in STEM

Being Human in STEM (HSTEM) was born out of the 2015 Amherst Uprising, a student protest that brought students, faculty, and staff together to reckon openly with racial and other systemic inequities at Amherst College. Co-created by students to continue those authentic conversations across disciplines and hierarchy, HSTEM is an interactive course that combines academic inquiry and community engagement to investigate interdisciplinary literature on the ways in which identity and context shape persistence and belonging in STEM.  Over the past decade, HSTEM courses at 15 institutions have centered student voice and agency in reshaping their STEM communities through student-created campus interventions, critical inquiry, and the creation of brave spaces. In this HSTEM iteration, we will ground ourselves in the core HSTEM reading and community practices. However, considering the precarity of DEI, higher education, STEM funding, and public and federal trust in evidence-based research, rather than proposing campus change, we will undertake a collective action project to co-create an updated HSTEM curriculum to meet the current moment. Together, we will research national debates, apply HSTEM principles, and design course content and practices that prepare participants to make the case for education and STEM—while envisioning how they can be reshaped to be more just, inclusive, and resilient. 

Coursework includes at least six hours a week outside of class dedicated to reading, reflective writing, and project work. Class participation expectations are grounded in building community across differences, active engagement in critical discussions that challenge assumptions and confront biases, and sharing in-progress work in a public campus salon.

Course enrollment is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors and is limited to 18 to support seminar discussions and project work.
 

Offered Spring Semester: Professor Jaswal.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference will be given to ensure a mix of majors and class years.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: An emphasis on critical reading, active engagement in discussion, including some facilitation, written reflections, and contribution to a final written or digital group project drawing from course materials, discussions, and independent research, which will be used as the basis for an oral presentation in a community salon.