Georgetown University undergraduate students in Georgetown College can study the intersection of technology and ethics in society through new major, minor and concentration programs launching this fall.

Beginning in fall 2022, undergraduate students will have the opportunity to major in Computer Science, Ethics, & Society and minor in Interdisciplinary Studies in Tech, Ethics, & Society. Developed as a result of the Georgetown Tech & Society Initiative’s endeavors, the programs mark the start of at an undergraduate level. Founded in 2019, the Tech & Society Initiative connects students, fellows and professors to collaborate on projects and coursework that re-imagines ethics and policy in the digital age. 

The new programs will present students invaluable opportunities, according to Meg Leta Jones, who represents the Communication, Culture, & Society program on the Tech & Society steering committee and who helped design the new undergraduate programs. 

“The new program includes a major and concentration in Computer Science, Ethics, & Society that will provide a new path for Georgetown students who want to be a different breed of computer scientist and a minor in Tech, Ethics, & Society that provides any Georgetown undergraduate student the opportunity to pursue highly interdisciplinary unique contributions to the issues they find most interesting and pressing,” Jones wrote to The Hoya. 

Students who major or minor in these new programs can use the skills they learn to become anything from journalists, activists, corporate designers and policy professionals, Jones said. 

Jones said the creation of the new majors came in part from student demand.

“We see a lot of enthusiasm from students looking for more courses and opportunities in tech policy and ethics, design justice, algorithmic bias, misinformation, AI governance, block chain policy, internet history, privacy, data protection, surveillance capitalism, platform regulation, etc,” Jones said. 

Increased conversations regarding technology and ethical practices on campus indicated to the program designers that there was a demand for classes in the field, according to Carly Comparato (COL ’22), an Ethics Lab student fellow. 

“They’ve been asking us questions about how students find out about new majors, what information would be crucial to people considering this course, how it should be presented, how the word spreads,” Comparato said in an interview with The Hoya. 

The Ethics Lab, a team of Georgetown philosophers and designers, focuses on ways to ethically tackle global technology issues, according to Comparato. 

Combining ethics and technology is crucial in the development of technology, according to Jason Farr, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of philosophy who is teaching a course on ethical issues in tech and society this semester.

“We want to make sure that the next designers and developers of tech, the next policy makers and regulators lawyers and advocates, and the next generation of tech users can develop an ethical orientation and toolkit that will enable them to meet some of the biggest challenges of our lifetimes, and meet them responsibly,” Farr wrote to The Hoya. 

Farr’s Tech, Ethics, and Society course is an introductory class in the three new programs, according to Farr. 

The new programs will allow students from different academic backgrounds to explore issues in tech, according to Ethics Lab Founder and philosophy Professor Maggie Little. 

“Part of what makes these programs unique is that the new Major and Minor will have integrative aspects — where students from Computer Science and students from the humanities get to jointly explore key issues in responsible tech,” Little wrote in a statement to The Hoya. 

The Ethics Lab is currently holding discussions to determine how students and parents want to participate in the new program, according to a university spokesperson. 

“Ethics Lab is holding separate discussions with current students, current parents and alumni practitioners in technology development and policy fields to hear how they might want to participate in the undergraduate program. The program aspires to host discussions and connect students with networking and internship opportunities,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya 

Rosy Arora (COL ’25), who applied for the Ethics Lab student fellowship, said incorporating ethical practices into education is essential to changing the perspective of the field at large. 

“I think we can always be better people. In the age of technology, it’s easy for people to take advantage of technology and how widespread it is, how many people it affects,” Arora said in an interview with The Hoya. 

According to Arora, it is important to consider ethics throughout one’s career. 

“I guess as we get older it’s important to keep in mind that you have to be asking ethical questions when you’re considering decisions,” Arora said.