Bachelor of Arts in Canadian Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

When you commit your stories to paper you enter the realm of creative writing. Your portfolio of writing may take many forms — novels, short stories, plays and screenplays, interactive stories, hypertext documents to name a few — and involve elements that are fictional or imaginative.

The program emphasizes literary writing rather than formula writing, and aims to introduce you to the forms and styles of writing which authors, past and present, have created and explored in their works. It will expose you to the history of formal experimentation and growth in particular genres.

As you advance, you'll be encouraged to explore specialized study in one or two genres such as fiction, poetry and playwriting.
Important eligibility information: This program is intended for students with a year of undergraduate studies and is not for direct entry from high school. Students may apply after completing their first 48 credits by presenting a portfolio containing work in both poetry and prose fiction as evidence of writing experience.

Highlights of the creative writing program:

• Many of the graduates of York's Creative Writing program are writers: of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, TV shows, screenplays, and criticism.
• Among them have been winners or finalists for major awards: Canadian Authors Association awards, the CBC Literary Prizes, the Commonwealth Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Pat Lowther Award in poetry, the National Magazine Awards, the Bronwen Wallace Award for Canada’s best emerging writer, the Thomas Morton Prize, and others. Recent graduates are publishing in journals and are active in the literary community, some starting presses and magazines.
• Learn more about writing by attending the "Creative Writing Readers Series," which provides an opportunity for you to meet and hear contemporary Canadian writers read or perform their own prose or poetry.
• The Creative Writing Faculty awards acknowledge the achievements of writers in the program in poetry and fiction.

Ever wish someone listened to you as a child? Our Children, Childhood and Youth program focuses on the experiences, knowledge and concerns of children. You will learn ethnographic techniques specific to children and their cultures. You'll analyze children's voices in contemporary and historical contexts and gain an understanding of the human condition from the child's perspective. You'll also participate in community-based partnerships and be encouraged to take part in advocacy work.

Children, Childhood and Youth explores global childhood experiences in philosophical and social terms and their personal, societal and human consequences. Attention is paid to the nature and significance of children's culture – distinguishing between culture created by adults for children and the culture of children themselves. You will learn how to engage children, discern children's voices in historical and cultural contexts and come to understand the human condition from their perspective.

The Children, Childhood and Youth program is truly interdisciplinary, incorporating expertise and courses from programs such as sociology and psychology. Courses include:

• Introduction to Children, Childhood and Youth Studies
• Global Cultures of Children and Young People
• Research with Children and Young People
• Honours Research Project
• Internships / Practicums

Students in our program access to a variety of unique advantages:

• York is home to the Canadian Children's Culture Collection, a major archive of child-related materials including York-based studies and unique toy collections designed by children. York is also home to the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, which supports research in health, education, relationships and development of infants, children, adolescents, emerging adults and families. Additionally, York hosts the Alexander F. Chamberlain speaker series, which features lectures and seminars from leading scholars in the Children's Studies field.
• Learn with professors that are actively involved in research with children and young people in Canada and around the world, covering a range of topics from literature and ethnomusicology to critical race studies and the global cultures of children and young people
• You will have the opportunity to enhance your studies and add to your university experience by participating in an exchange program with the Children’s Studies program at the National University in Galway, Ireland. You also have the opportunity to explore the cultures of children and youth in international contexts such as Limpopo, South Africa, by taking an international field study course.
• Join a child/youth-centred club or association. Local chapters of the advocacy groups "Free the Children" and "Right to Play" are found on York's campus and play an important role in the program. The York student club Peace by PEACE works with children, empowering them to prevent, manage and resolve conflict peacefully.
• The Children, Childhood & Youth Student Association (CCYSA) offers students an opportunity to gain further knowledge of children and their cultures; to advocate for children's rights; to build lasting friendships and partnerships in the community through social and cultural events, advocacy projects, and information sessions; and to provide resources for its members such as mentoring, leadership training, and volunteer opportunities.

Participate in the Canada-Taiwan exchange program sponsored by the Department of Human Resources Development Canada.
China, Japan and Korea — seats of ancient civilizations and modern societies of immense global significance — form the basis of this program. Bridging East Asia's dynamic modern milieu and its rich history, you will gain an appreciation of the importance of Chinese, Japanese and Korean language, literature and fine arts and of the political, economic and social impact of these nations.

New courses are being developed that deal with the areas of Southeast Asia that sustain close cultural ties with East Asia. Course offerings include:

• Culture and Society in East Asia
• East Asia: Tradition and Defiance
• Japanese Culture, Literature and Film
• Asian Art: Zen Painting and Poetry

The health of the environment has become an urgent global concern. As we better understand how human survival and well-being depend on a healthy environment, public interest and awareness of the impact of human activities on other organisms and ecosystems is increasing.

This program focuses on the biology of environmental issues, integrating ecological theory and practice to predict, quantify, and address the impact of stressors such as habitat loss, pollutants, climate change, resource harvesting and invasive species on living systems. A capstone course in fourth year prepares you to be a practicing environmental biologist, exposing you to cutting-edge experimental design and methodology. A key objective of this program is the development of communication skills, to give our graduates a competitive edge.

What makes Environmental Biology at York unique?
Learn from preeminent environmental biologists such as Bridget Stutchbury and Lawrence Packer
Combine a major in Environmental Biology with second major or a minor in a complementary discipline such as International Development, Geography, Earth and Space Sciences, Chemistry, Sociology, Health Policy or Environmental Studies.

There are three streams within the Physics and Astronomy program:

• Physics
• Applied Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics

Physics is the most fundamental science discipline. It attempts to understand nature at its deepest level. It develops an understanding and description of all forms of energy and matter and can be said to occupy the middle ground between mathematics and engineering.

Astronomy is the science that deals with the origin, evolution, composition, distance and motion of all bodies and scattered matter in the universe. It includes astrophysics, which discusses the physical properties and structure of all cosmic matter. Participate in world-class research projects led by our professors in fields as diverse as atomic and molecular physics, laser physics, elementary particle and subatomic physics and engineering physics. Students from this program routinely win prestigious grants to support them in all areas of graduate research.

You will gain a strong grounding in physics, astronomy and computer-based physics with a strong experimental physics component. You will not only learn the subject matter, but also learn how to write scientific reports, and deliver oral presentations on a topic of your choice. The physical world is open to you!

• Work with professors in our research groups like those in experimental high-energy (particle) physics and astronomy and the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science.
• It's natural to combine Physics with other disciplines, such as Earth and Atmospheric Science, Chemistry, Computer Science or Biology. Given that physics teachers for high schools are difficult to find, why not combine Physics & Astronomy studies with a teaching degree?
• York's Astronomical Observatory is actively engaged in a long-term variable star monitoring program. Although clear and dark skies are not as frequent as one would like in Toronto, the results from this on going research have yielded relatively "clean" and valid scientific results. Results are presented at the annual Canadian Astronomical Society meetings each year. Come to a public viewing on Wednesday night or take a virtual tour.
• The Astronomy Club brings together all those who look to beauty, those who seek knowledge and those who are simply curious to meet, discuss and learn about the cosmos in which we live.

The School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) is pleased to announce a new Specialized Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia, offered collaboratively by the Departments of Computational Arts and Visual Art and Art History.

Why take our Public Relations program?
Managing a brand’s reputation in the public eye is no simple task. Whether you’re responding to a last-minute media inquiry, dealing with negative publicity, or monitoring the web for newsworthy content, the message is clear: to succeed in public relations, you need to be strategic and quick to adapt to new trends and technology. Top public relations executives agree that career success means being an incredible storyteller and trusted strategic business advisor—Someone who can leverage emerging technologies and critical thinking to build lasting relationships with stakeholders. This shift in skill demands is why top companies are struggling to hire and keep the right public relations professionals.

Program Benefits
Created in collaboration with industry leaders, the 8 course full-time Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Relations gives you the expertise to broadcast your brand message to the right audience, at the right time, using both traditional and digital media. Real-world project work will give you the chance to learn and practice effective public relations strategies, business principles and stakeholder relationship management, as well as how to respond to crises and manage brand reputation. All this, while building the core job skills that top employers are looking for when hiring for public relations jobs.

What you will learn
Use the technology you need to get the public opinion you want
Using the right tools at the right time can mean the difference between a media firestorm or the recruitment of countless new brand influencers to support your cause.

You will gain in-depth public relations knowledge, including:

• Public relations fundamentals & strategy
• Digital storytelling
• Marketing principles
• Internal communications
• Data analytics
• Effective writing
• Presentation skills
• Reputation & crisis management
• Media relations
• Stakeholder engagement

In public relations, it’s all about the story. Make sure the story of your career is a success.

Study in one of the largest Geography programs in any university in Canada. Whether you're pursuing your Bachelor of Science and focusing on physical geography or gaining expertise about human geography through a Bachelor of Arts, York's program offers you the world at your doorstep.

Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment. There are two main branches of geography: human geography and physical geography.

Geographers also study the linkages between human activity and natural systems. Geographers were, in fact, among the first scientists to sound the alarm that human-induced changes to the environment were beginning to threaten the balance of life itself. They are active in the study of global warming, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution, and flooding.

In the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Bachelor of Arts (BA) Geography program focuses on human geography - how people and their activities are distributed across the globe and how people create and sustain the places that make up the earth's surface. You'll learn how to use geographical theory and methodology to solve real-world problems that have a geographical dimension — urban and regional planning, transportation, tourism and international relations and more. Human geographers work in the fields of urban and regional planning, transportation, marketing, real estate, tourism, and international business.

• We are addressing some of the most pressing issues facing human kind today.
• We are committed to hands-on learning, using modern technologies and doing field work to get the facts on the ground, whether they are on the streets of Toronto or in the streams of the Arctic.
• You will be able to use our range of impressive facilities for computing and research. For example, the Geoinformatics Research Lab, the climate laboratory and a web development facility.
• You'll also have the opportunity to immerse yourself in our extensive map library.
• Why not check out the Undergraduate Geography Students Club and take advantage of Alumni Career events during the school year.

Biology was the pioneer science at York, offering the first undergraduate and graduate programs in the 1960s.
Biology studies living things and the discipline defines a living creature, technically called a living "organism", as one that has a metabolism and reproduces. Biologists study living organisms from many different angles, including behaviour, evolution and ecology as well as cell and molecular biology and genetics. They study all different kinds of species from plants to insects, viruses to humans. Biology can also be combined with other fields. For example, biochemistry, biophysics, biotechnology and biopsychology are all important fields related to biology.

Biologists can be found working everywhere — on and off the planet:

• In a variety of environments to investigate ecosystems;
• In the laboratory to examine how organisms work;
• In the microscopic world to explore cells and the submicroscopic to explore molecules in cells;
• In space to study the effect of space travel on organisms;
• Back in time to investigate the history of life.

The Biology program, York’s longest-established scientific program, is home to internationally recognized teaching and research faculty. It offers you a diversity of courses from across the discipline, providing you with the flexibility to choose courses from many different areas or to specialize in a particular field of life science. In your upper years, you can choose to specialize in such areas as:

• Biotechnology
• Biochemistry
• Biomedical Science
• Biophysics
• Environmental Biology

Our extensive facilities and our Biochemistry Lab – outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment – provides  you with hands-on training in the laboratory right from the very first year.

The Biochemistry program at York is your gateway to an exciting and rapidly evolving field. Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of life, and as all fields of biology are increasingly seeking understanding at the molecular and submolecular levels, Biochemistry continues to be vitally important to advancing many areas of biology and biomedical science.

Biochemistry looks at topics such as molecular genetics, physiology and the treatment of disease. As a Biochemistry student you will explore the structure and properties of biological molecules and the relationship between their chemical structure and their function in living systems.

Many areas of everyday life owe their development or even existence to biochemists: medical products and diagnostics, new food and its safety, crop improvement, cosmetics and forensic science.

• York's Biochemistry professors include Sergey Krylov, Canada Research Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry and David Hood, Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology.
• York houses the Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions which houses more than 70 professors, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students. The Centre uses cutting-edge approaches to gain full understanding of key molecular players and events that can lead to disease, and by doing so, hopes to address prevention and future treatment of many diseases.

The Biochemistry program at York is your gateway to an exciting and rapidly evolving field. Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of life, and as all fields of biology are increasingly seeking understanding at the molecular and submolecular levels, Biochemistry continues to be vitally important to advancing many areas of biology and biomedical science, including molecular genetics, physiology and the treatment of disease. As a Biochemistry student you will explore the structure and properties of biological molecules and the relationship between their chemical structure and their function in living systems.

This four-year program provides you with hands-on training in the laboratory right from the very first year. A fourth-year research project serves as the capstone course of your degree, preparing you for many challenging careers. York Biochemistry students get meaningful and well paid jobs in research, in industry and in teaching. Others go on to pursue graduate studies, here and at other prestigious universities in Canada and abroad. Many enter professional schools in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law and business.