Bachelor of Arts in Communication

at Mount Saint Vincent University Canada

Our graduate programs in Family Studies and Gerontology program will help you develop a deep understanding of the key issues that affect this field: family dynamics and development, or individual and population aging. You can focus your studies on Family Studies or on Gerontology. Family Studies considers individuals and families across the life-course, as well as the programs and policies that affect families. Gerontology focuses on issues related to aging and the challenges that older persons encounters.

Professional and research skills
This program will prepare you to either pursue further academic studies, or to build your career by putting your research and critical thinking skills to work as you merge theory and practice in the field. As a graduate student, you may be able to participate in research projects through Nova Scotia Centre on Aging (NSCA), and you’ll have access to the state-of-the-art facilities in the Maritime Data Centre for Aging Research and Policy Analysis.

Our Sociology and Anthropology program strives to challenge the way students understand and engage with some of the most complexes and pressing social issues of our time. The program's offerings are diverse and well-balanced, with a cross-cultural, comparative focus and strengths in the areas of gender, globalization, and the life course.  Read more about the program »

Skill Development
Mount's undergraduate degree in Sociology and Anthropology is designed to provide you with transferable skills that will serve you well in your future career path or studies.  

• Analytical and critical thinking
• Improved writing and presentation skills
• Understanding the role of research, gaining skills in interviewing and data collection

Our Masters programs in Studies in Lifelong Learning prepare students with knowledge and skills to take leadership roles as lifelong educators. Our graduate students benefit from our small classes, knowledgeable instructors, hands-on experiences, and an exciting curriculum. Whether they are interested in supporting learning in formal education institutions, families, communities, or workplaces, students find our program rich, engaging, and pertinent. Our students come from many different educational and workplace backgrounds. The common denominator is that they are interested in how learning occurs across the lifespan. Often they are currently involved or would like to become involved in teaching other adults.

Acquiring new skills
A graduate degree in lifelong learning will provide you with a wealth of academic knowledge and research that will be effective in the workplace, and best-practice methods for sharing information with others, and more – including:

• Understand the process of learning across the lifespan
• Design educational programs (workshops, seminars, curriculum)
• Strategies for teaching effectively
• Improved communication skills
• Increase your capacity for creativity

Connect Through Practicum
Students in the program gain practical experience through a practicum. The practicum is a full unit course that provides students with an opportunity to take some of the concepts, theories and ideas that they have learned about in the program and put them into practice. Over the course of two semesters, students will work with their practicum instructor and a mentor at their practicum site to develop and carry out a “hands-on” project that fits with their particular interests.

The practicum requires approximately a hundred and fifty hours of work, is voluntary (so no payment can be received for this work), and is usually done with a community organization although sometimes it is done in the student’s place of work, provided the practicum tasks are clearly above and beyond work that they would be paid for.

The Communication Major is a multidisciplinary program which draws from a variety of approaches, theories, methods and other resources to analyze communication in social, political and cultural environments that are rapidly changing and increasingly complex.  This program is designed to meet the needs of students interested in an undergraduate degree in Communication, grounded in a foundation of communication and media theory, research and ethics.  Students who have an interest in media literacy, interpersonal, small group and organizational communication as well as the sociopolitical aspects of communication within today's society are well-suited for this program.

Program Objectives
Students enrolled in the COMM Major program (having selected Communication as their major) will complement core strengths in Communication with required courses from a number of related disciplines as well as elective courses.  Together, these elements work to provide students with an introduction to the dynamic context in which communication occurs

The objectives of this program are to:

• Encourage students to develop a broad understanding of communication theory;
• Contribute to the advancement of communication as both a field and a discipline;
• Provide enhanced opportunities for students to study the contextual nature of communication in its various forms;
• Develop within students an appreciation of the processes which define human communication;
• Develop within students an appreciation for and awareness of ethical communication.

Our program in Family Studies examines contemporary issues that affect this field: family dynamics and development. The faculty in the Family Studies & Gerontology department will help you understand the field of Family Studies, which focuses on family dynamics and diversity within an increasingly complex society. These studies will help you to understand the trends, challenges and developments in the health and human service delivery system and the disciplines that support it.

A graduate degree in Elementary & Middle School education will help you to become a more creative and effective teacher or educational administrator.  In this program, you will focus on curriculum and teaching, discovering how theory affects and informs educational practice. Students can complete an MA or an MEd in Elementary and Middle School Education.

What you will study in Elementary & Middle School Education
Our Master’s programs in Elementary & Middle School Education focus on curriculum in order to help you to become a more effective teacher. You will study the theories that support teaching practices in elementary, middle, and junior high schools focusing on one or more subject areas central to the elementary and middle school curriculum: science, social studies, mathematics, language arts, or French.

The Mount has a unique historical connection to the education and advancement of women. To this day, we remain committed to the education of women, and have a well-established women's studies program. Students can declare a minor, major, or honours in the undergraduate women’s studies program. Women’s studies places women’s experiences and knowledge at the centre of critical inquiry. Students in women’s studies courses learn about the ways in which women’s societal position can be transformed. In examining the accomplishments and struggles of women, it considers the complexities of race, class, sexual orientation and ability, from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives.

This certificate provides a solid foundation in the field of accounting. It will be of interest to those working in the accounting field and to those with non-business university degrees working in administrative positions.

Philosophy, said Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle, is “thinking hard.” And what do philosophers think hard about? The most fundamental questions you can ask about what exists, how we should live, and what we can know.

Using imagination and careful reasoning, students who sign up for a philosophy course at the Mount get a chance to think hard about questions like these:

• Does God exist?
• Are there basic principles that tell us what to do about poverty or war?
• Is any action really right or wrong?
• Do we have free will?
• Is science the only path to truth?

Philosophy students learn to think for themselves about deeply rooted cultural assumptions, and so experience a kind of intellectual liberation that can be empowering for both women and men. As a side-effect, philosophy courses will give you critical thinking skills you can use to advantage in any other course as well as in your career.

At Mount, we are aware that the business world is both thought-provoking and diverse. Our program will equip you with essential leadership skills. These skills will prepare you for your career in business, whether you choose to become an entrepreneur or work in a large corporation, a small business, or a not-for-profit organization.

International Option – With our International Option in Business Administration you can explore opportunities to study for a semester at a partner university outside of Canada.

In your second year, you will be eligible to enter the Co-operative Education BBA program. If you choose this option, you will complete three paid co-op work terms. Each work term is a full unit of academic coursework. That means that the Co-op BBA consists of 23 units of study over four years. Each co-op work term is in your field of study and consists of a minimum of 13 weeks of full-time, paid employment.