Tech, Ethics & Society Minor

The Tech, Ethics, & Society (TES) Program provides an interdisciplinary understanding, critique, and design of technology. The TES minor is open to any undergraduate in the College, SFS, NHS, and MSB interested in investigating social issues tied to technology. Students who minor in TES will fulfill and create roles that range from journalists and activists to corporate designers and policy professionals.

Program Overview

Leveraging Georgetown’s unique strengths ethics and policy perspectives, the program includes exploration of:

  • Tech policy and ethics 
  • Design justice
  • Algorithmic bias 
  • ICT for Development
  • Digital well-being
  • Feminist game studies
  • Misinformation 
  • AI governance
  • Block chain policy 
  • Internet history
  • Privacy and data protection
  • Surveillance capitalism
  • Platform regulation

Learning goals

1. Appreciation of the scope of ethical, normative, and social issues implicated by emerging data and digital technologies;

2. An understanding of and facility with using normative concepts, frameworks, and methodologies for addressing those issues;

3. Exposure to and exploration of a range of specific topics, from contemporary or historical perspectives, of technology’s transformative powers;

4. Literacy in issues around the ethics and governance of issues in data sciences and digital technologies

Curriculum and Requirements

  • Introduction to Tech, Ethics, and Society (PHIL-2100)
  • 1 philosophy (or ethics) course in digital ethics (PHIL-2101, PHIL-2102, PHIL-2103, PHIL-2201, PHIL-2104, or PHIL-2090)
  • 1 course in technology law or policy (CCTP-6058, CCTP-5018, CCTP-6007, STIA-3334, CCTP-6033, or CCTP-6032)
  • 3 TES electives (totalling at least 9 credit hours), one of which may be replaced by COSC-1010 or COSC-1020

List of electives can be found on the TES program website. 

All students are encouraged to complete the interest form to learn more about the TES minor. Students should get in touch with the Assistant Program Director about declaring the minor. Acceptance into the minor will be based on passion for the issues explored in the program, academic performance, and commitment to the Georgetown community demonstrated through relevant service and/or classroom experience. Students are encouraged to have taken at least one course within the minor requirements prior to declaring.


For more information on the minor, please visit the TES website at https://tes.georgetown.edu/.