Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy

The University of Waterloo invites applications for the inaugural Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy. This newly endowed chair in the Department of Philosophy, secured through a national competition, is designed to take an institutional, national and international role in the promotion of scientific and technology literacy. The Department is seeking an established scholar with a record of highly-regarded research and teaching in a relevant field, including Philosophy of Science, Public Understanding of Science, History of Science, or Science, Technology and Society.

The mandate of the Wolfe Chair is to conduct research, teach, and perform public outreach regarding the intellectual foundations, nature and methods of scientific and technological innovation. The Chair will engage in research that advances understanding of key scientific and technological concepts and examines the relationships among science, technology, and broader factors (e.g., social, ethical, political, or economic). The Chair will also have development and leadership roles in the teaching of scientific and technological literacy, both within the University and as public education. The position includes funding for research-oriented and public-outreach events.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadian and permanent residents will be given priority. The University of Waterloo encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, native peoples and persons with disabilities. Candidates should send a letter of application and curriculum vitae, including the names of four academic references, to Professor Tim Kenyon, Chair, Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON, N2L 3G1. References will be contacted only with the consent of the candidate. Review of applications will begin October 15, 2010, and will continue until the position is filled.

History and support

The Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy was conceived by a private donor, based on the conviction that it is essential to foster a public understanding of how science works, and how science and technology both change and are changed by societies. The University of Waterloo shares this conviction and has developed the conception of the Wolfe Chair into the form described here. The Chair has also received substantial monetary support from businesses in Waterloo Region’s knowledge economy.

Aims and objectives

The University of Waterloo’s proposal for the Wolfe Chair identifies two broad motivations for the position.

To ensure that all students, regardless of discipline and academic interests, understand the intellectual foundations, human dimensions and impacts of scientific and technological development. There is a pressing need for undergraduates to be well-informed about the historical foundations of contemporary science and technology, the moral, ethical and philosophical implications of modern technologies, and the broader social, economic, cultural and political realities of the 21st century innovations. We live in an era – unique in history – where the speed of scientific discovery and technological innovation far outstrips our capacity to debate and fully understand the implications of rapid and disruptive developments.

To ensure that all students, regardless of discipline and academic interests, understand the scientific and technology foundations and imperatives of the 21st century. We live in a time where the new “ologies” – nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology – hold both great opportunity and dramatic risk. Companies and countries are building their plans for corporate and national prosperity on fast-changing scientific and technological developments. To graduate any student in the 21st century without at least a foundational understanding of these technologies and a discerning appreciation of their potential – for good and for ill – is to leave them ill-prepared for the personal and collective choices that await them. To graduate students who do not understand the fundamentals of the scientific method and the assumptions and values that underlie our relations with new technologies is to leave them disempowered and unable to grapple with the greatest challenges of their generation.

To achieve these goals, the proposal identifies some concrete aims and responsibilities of the inaugural Wolfe Chair. Scientific and technological literacy requires the establishment of flagship, university-wide courses designed to provide students with an introduction to the main elements of 21st century science and technology. This scientific and technological literacy initiative must be campus-wide in nature, drawing on the best ideas from all disciplines, and producing a high-powered and dramatic introduction to the reality and the implications of scientific and technological transformation.

The courses envisioned are two single-semester senior undergraduate courses and a third course aimed at first-year students. The more basic course will be intended for a broader audience, and will deliver key concepts and essential skills in scientific and technological literacy. The senior courses will also be aimed at an interdisciplinary group of students, but will focus in more detail on the foundations and human dimensions of science and technology. The courses are proposed to include a global perspective.

The University’s vision for this literacy initiative is to use the latest communication technologies in the both the research and the teaching of scientific and technological literacy. Ideally, the program developed by the Chair-holder will function as a collective enterprise drawing on resources from across campus, and indeed all over the world: for example, courses may be developed through Wiki technology, enabling researchers and scholars across the globe to contribute to content development, thereby stimulating research and creating a literacy network of scholars in different fields and from different countries.

Moreover, it is tremendously important that students beyond Waterloo and even beyond Canada develop the skills required to critically assess information transmitted through popular media once they leave academia. Elements of the learning experience for UW’s undergraduates can be made globally available through evolving information technologies. Among the potential ways of achieving these wider national and global aims over the longer term are free electronic courseware, podcasts, or virtual lectures and conferences. The University has existing expertise and administrative support for the development and delivery of such global-outreach methods.

The person and the role

The Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy will be at the centre of the university-wide initiative to bring all students to a basic level of understanding about the scientific and technological innovation environment. The Chair-holder will be an internationally-ranked scholar, known for his/her ability to work across disciplinary boundaries. The Chair-holder will be charged with coordinating these three major courses, conducting research on issues of scientific and technological literacy and taking a national lead, both inside and outside the academy, in promoting expanded debate about the intersection of human, scientific and technological factors.

The Chair-holder will be responsible for coordinating and developing course content and scholarly contributions. S/he will welcome and accept contributions from international researchers, and will host lectures by international partners. The Chair-holder’s activities will stimulate and attract listeners, interlocutors and learners to many aspects of scientific and technological literacy, as relates both to concepts and to the potential social, cultural, ethical, economic and political impacts of scientific and technological innovation in the 21st century. Our vision for the Chair-holder in Scientific and Technological Literacy at Waterloo is to identify an individual who will not only have impact at the highest scholarly level, but who will also be instrumental in raising the level of scientific and technological literacy among the well-educated public sector. S/he will possess the personal, rhetorical and organizational skills to fulfill the various aspects of the mandate and will be prepared to work in cooperation with organizations and administrative structures that can make this happen.

Positions in Philosophy

Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy