Dr. Kathleen Sheppard, associate professor of history and political science, has been named the director of the Center for Science, Technology and Society (CSTS). The center provides an intellectual space for scholars and students to work together on critical issues related to scientific and technical problems and controversies from a global humanistic and interdisciplinary perspective.

Sheppard earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in the history of science from the University of Oklahoma. She also holds a master’s degree in Egyptian archaeology from University College, London, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology from Truman State University. She is a historian of science who focuses on women in American and British Egyptology at the turn of the 20th century. Her work includes scientific biography and correspondence, through which she asks questions about spaces in which knowledge is created by people in a particular social, political and cultural context.

Sheppard is the vice president of the National Chapters’ Council for the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) and is on the ARCE Missouri Chapter board. She is also the Centennial Program Committee chair for the History of Science Society. Her most recent publications focus on both epistemologies of Egyptology, Tea on the Terrace: Hotels and Egyptologists’ Social Networks, 1885-1925, and the importance of scientific networks for creating disciplines, The Correspondence of John Tyndall, Volume 12.

Sheppard’s appointment is effective July 1. Sheppard replaces Dr. Kristine Swenson, who has served as director since August 2019.

“Dr. Swenson has done an outstanding job in growing the center and its contribution to faculty success and visibility,” says Dr. Kamal Khayat, vice chancellor for research and innovation. “I am delighted to have Dr. Sheppard step into this role, and I look forward to working with her.”