Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Studies and Forensics (Joint Majors)

at Trent University Peterborough Canada

Media dominate our world and shape our perceptions of reality. In this popular program, students navigate and engage with the theory, principles and practice that shape our ever-changing media landscape. In Media Studies, you’ll examine the influence of advertising and ideology, the political economy of media corporations, the foundations of media arts, and the ecological impact of media technologies. You’ll also benefit from our interdisciplinary curriculum, learning across subjects from the arts and sciences, and across environments from the classroom to the community to prospective career paths through the co-op stream. Through the Media Studies Co-op degree, you will get the full picture of media, from influence on ideology to individual imaginations.

Resume Boosters:

• Explore your strengths and career interests, and graduate with 12 months of work experience (and income) through the new four-year B.A. co-op option, giving you the competitive edge for future job prospects.
• Chart your own course by taking classes from a dozen contributing departments including Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Computer Science, and Political Studies
• Take workshop, internship, and community-based research courses with professors and media professionals and gain experience working with organizations like Artspace, Global TV, Trent Radio, and the ReFrame Film Festival
• Get hands-on as you build a portfolio of your work with media new and old: compose music, code video games, write blogs, create podcasts, take photos, and report the news

Politics impacts all aspects of life, and importantly, quality of life. In Political Studies at Trent, you will find yourself debating and exploring ideas around democracy and global politics as you examine power relations and relationships between the state, business, and citizens. It is exciting and enlightening to learn how these relationships influence each of our lives, and more broadly, political, economic, and social change nationally and internationally. Our small class sizes and interactive student-professor relationships build confidence, skills, and knowledge for a variety of careers.

World Politics
Studies how human societies deal with various forms of global change (economic, cultural, and political). A principal objective is to enable students to develop an understanding of how the international system is shaped by the great historical turning-points and understand key concepts in international relations.
World Politics emphasizes a critical understanding of the many dimensions of ‘globalization’:

• International political economy
• Peace and security issues
• Nationalism
• Foreign policy
• Democratization
• North American economic integration
• The centrality of the European Union, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region in redefining world order

Making sound decisions. Managing business growth. Creating short-term and long-term strategies. Each of these actions (and more) are rooted in a sound understanding of accounting. This specialization allows students to not only gain a thorough understanding of accounting, but also make and gain critical career experience and connections through the specialization’s co-op stream. Across three work terms, you can explore different areas and analysis of accounting, get paid, and prepare for a potential future as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) or other professional track.

Resume Boosters:

• Explore your strengths and career interests, and graduate with 12 months of work experience (and income) through the new four-year B.B.A. co-op option, giving you the competitive edge for future job prospects.
• Prepare for your CPA designation or springboard into an M.B.A.
• Complete 100-hours of hands-on professional experience through an internship with business sector companies and organizations
• Network with industry experts and organizations through program-led events

Trent’s B.E.S.S. degree is perfect for students who want to bring science and arts together to understand and solve key environmental issues. You’ll gain an understanding of the scientific aspects of contemporary environmental issues, how they’re linked to policy and planning decisions, and how that can lead to an environmentally sustainable future.

Climate Change Science & Policy (Specialization):-
Dive into the challenges and solutions for climate change—environmental, economic, political, social—and build a strong foundation of knowledge and skills that equip graduates for the growing number of climate-related careers.

Climate change is the leading global environmental issue, but its impacts extend beyond the natural world, into business operations, politics and policy development, social justice movements, law and more. If you find yourself trading the car for public transit, reviewing a company’s environmental initiatives or participating alongside millions of others in global Climate Marches, this specialization is for you.

Trent’s Climate Change Science & Policy specialization draws on faculty specialties in Trent’s School of the Environment (TSE) and from affiliated departments, providing students with a robust, well-rounded education that could lead to a variety of careers supporting climate solutions that can have profound impacts on societies for future generations.

Resume Boosters:-

• Graduate from one of only two climate change-focused programs in Canada
• Develop a broad-base of skills and background in the science of climate change and policy perspectives related to it
• Learn from and work alongside professors who are experts in their field and practicing climate change practitioners, such as the first-ever Canada research chair in environmental geoscience
• Study in the Trent School of the Environment, a research-intensive unit that nurtures collaboration with diverse faculty specialties and expertise as well as opportunities for applied learning
• Benefit from access to state-of-the-art labs and facilities in Trent’s DNA, Life & Health Sciences Building and Water Quality Centre

More than simply the study of numbers, mathematics is a powerful tool that is crucial for helping us make sense of the world around us. In this program, you’ll learn about the fundamental structure of the universe and the limits of human reason. The expertise and skills developed in this program are in high demand in the job market, as mathematical science careers are estimated to be one of the fastest growing occupation sectors in the coming decade.

Statistics (Specialization)
Numbers can reveal a lot about an individual, a society, or even a whole nation. Through a specialization in Statistics, students pursuing a degree in Mathematics will learn to incorporate pure math, big data, and computing to navigate the knowledge interwoven in numbers, paving the way for career success in everything from medicine and communications to marketing and technology.

Knowledge in both arts and science is key to understanding the complicated issues of today’s world – from global warming and medicine to human rights and politics, and everything in between. In this unique program, you will gain the skills needed to take on the most complicated subjects and communicate about them effectively – key attributes of success for lawyers, doctors, journalists, business leaders, and environmental scientists. Here, you will have the opportunity to experience the very best of both areas of study, while benefiting from the ability to customize your degree with flexibility. The options are virtually endless.

Resume Boosters:-

• Develop a broad knowledge-base and skill set that is highly adaptable to any career path you choose
• Gain professional experience performing and presenting independent research for the Arts and Science Colloquium
• Take advantage of several internship opportunities within one or more of your chosen majors
• Participate in a community-based research project with guidance from faculty members in a variety of disciplines

There has never been a more exciting time to study Computer Science. Society is in the midst of a technology revolution, which is fueled by the advancement of knowledge in computing. The ability to create, manipulate, and speak the language of technology has become some of the most valued skills applicable to almost every industry. When you study Computer Science at Trent, you’ll get a chance to develop your skills in designing, implementing, and integrating software applications – everything from supercomputers to game boards. This degree will equip you with the skills required for a successful career in the ever- changing tech sector.

Resume Boosters:-

• Pursue the competitive co-op stream: graduate with 12 months of relevant experience through three paid work terms in the information technology industry
• Work with real-world clients from industry, government, and education through third year internship course and fourth year project course
• Undertake an undergraduate research thesis and investigate a specific field of interest with the expert guidance of your prof

Co-op Option Overview:-
Students in the Co-op option are required to pay an administrative fee for each work term. These nonrefundable fees are set by the University. Co-op students are also responsible for tuition and incidental fees related to their study terms and costs related to any Trent courses taken while completing a work term

Advantages of Co-op Option:-
Co-operative education is an opportunity to get a head start on a career. It permits students to develop key skills, explore career options, and graduate with 12 months of relevant experience. The Co-op option assists graduating students in achieving a competitive edge while generating experience within the industry. 

Students who successfully complete the specified number of Co-op work terms receive a Cooperative Education Designation on their degree. This special designation signals to future employers that such students are not only well educated but experienced in the workplace. 

When you study English Literature at Trent you are able to pursue your passions through poetry, prose, plays and other texts. Whether you are enthusiastic about novels or enjoy the succinctness of critical writing, in English at Trent you can explore the lasting impact of how we write and share stories of the human experience. Explore the written word across time periods ranging from medieval romance to the Harlem renaissance to contemporary graphic fiction. You’ll also get career-ready with creativity, critical inquiry, and strong communication skills, and through the English Literature Co-op stream’s you can put your writing styles and language skills to the real world test while gaining valuable career experience.

Resume Boosters:

• Explore your strengths and career interests, and graduate with 12 months of work experience (and income) through the new four-year B.A. co-op option, giving you the competitive edge for future job prospects.
• Take your love of books global and travel to a globally-known literary heritage site - from the fjords of Norway to the paths of pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales - by competing for the Barbara Rooke Travel Prize
• Gain the skills you need to become a published author contributing to Chickenscratch, an annual anthology of creative writing that puts students in the editorial seat
• Engage with acclaimed authors, including professors and guests hosted through Trent’s Writers Reading series, and explore a range of hands-on learning experiences including dramatic performance, music, creative writing, peer-assessed active learning, or blogging
• Participate in seminar and workshop classes that provide opportunities for discussion, critical thinking, and interaction with leading scholars and teachers who care about their students

Create a unique educational focus based on your passions and interests, with an interdisciplinary knowledge base
Trent’s joint major programs give you full license to create a degree that's uniquely your own, by combining courses in the arts, sciences, or professional programs. Have a passion for social justice? Combine your Politics degree with Gender & Women’s Studies. Interested in all things tech? Join Media Studies and Computing Systems. Mix and match programs that best appeal to your interests, preparing yourself for a future with more possibility.

Combine degrees. Expand your horizons.
At Trent, you have the flexibility to combine nearly any two programs of your choice. To help you narrow it down, here’s a list of some of our most popular combinations:

• Media Studies and Psychology 
• Anthropology and History 
• English and Media Studies 
• Biology and Psychology 
• Anthropology and Psychology 
• Environmental Studies and Biology 
• Anthropology and Sociology 
• Geography and Canadian Studies 
• Computing Systems and Media Studies 
• Economics and Philosophy 
• Economics and Psychology 
• English and Psychology 
• Psychology and Sociology 
• Computing Systems and Economics 
• English and Sociology 

You can also explore the popular joint major combinations within our professional programs like Business Administration and Forensic Science.

Information Systems:-
Virtually every organization and field of study rely on computers in order to succeed in today’s hyper-digital age. As an Information Systems student, you’ll look for better ways to accomplish tasks using computing technologies, exploring how the world processes, manages, and communicates information. Over the course of your degree, you’ll develop a unique understanding of technical subjects such as databases, networks, data visualization and telecommunications, as well as non-technical matters such as ethics, law, and digital culture.

Business:-
You want to become an innovative business leader or entrepreneur. No other program will help you get there better than Trent’s exclusive Bachelor of Business Administration. By examining corporate, self-employment, online, small business, and other business models, you’ll learn the fundamentals of leadership and management, gaining a deep understanding of the organization of business and its role in today’s highly-digital world.

Resume Boosters:-

• Gain the diversity of knowledge today’s employers are looking by studying and specializing in not one, but two academic disciplines
• Hands-on learning experiences abound in all Trent programs – gain the competitive edge on your resume

Anthropology is the study of the human experience, from our earliest ancestors to contemporary digital society. You will learn to see humankind as complex social and biological beings with the capacity for language and culture. Drawing on insights from archaeology, and cultural, linguistic, and biological anthropology, you will explore the extraordinary variability in human adaptation, organization and belief, and how the common circumstances we face unite us.

Resume Boosters:-

• Get your hands dirty on a global scale through our archaeological field schools in Greece or Belize
• Dig up the past right here on campus through the Ontario Archaeology Field School, a full-credit Anthro course that runs each summer
• Study different cultures first-hand through a year abroad program in virtually any country worldwide – Ghana, Ecuador, Thailand, France? The choice is yours.