Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Social Science

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

New frontiers offer new challenges. Combine unique technical skills to design solutions to Earth’s problems using space-based assets while utilizing the principles of systems engineering. Look at the interface of engineering and science through payload and instrument design. Learn from real space missions, starting with initial concept design to hardware and software design, manufacturing, testing and in-orbit operations.  

Our Space Engineering program is accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB).

What You’ll Learn
Lassonde’s Space Engineering program will equip you with the technical skills required to design solutions to Earth’s problems using space-based assets while utilizing the principles of systems engineering.
Delve into systems ranging from orbit control and space-based optics, to ground station communications and robotics. As a student, you will learn and practice the design and management of complex multidisciplinary projects that enable missions to the far reaches of the solar system.
The co-op program after second year, allows you to gain professional experience within space agencies and related fields that require the design of complex systems.

Some Courses You'll Take  

• Introduction to Space Communications
• Physics of the Space Applications
• Materials for Space Applications
• Payload Design
• Space Mission Design
• Finite Element Methods in Engineering Design
• Control Systems
• Dynamics of Space Vehicles

Whether you are treating a patient, formulating a new drug, unravelling a sub-atomic mystery or modelling climate change, the ability to think and reason at the nexus of disciplines is essential to success. Develop your interdisciplinary mind-set in Integrated Science.  

Integrated Science is an enriched first-year program offering a cohesive set of courses in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics that can be taken as the first year of any York Science program. Integrated Science is designed around the connections between disciplines, allowing you to experience both the depth and breadth of scientific theory and practice. Some of these connections are inherent to the specific disciplines — like enzymes in biology and reaction rates in chemistry, or Newtonian mechanics in physics and derivatives in mathematics. Other connections are driven by larger questions that you will explore through integrated projects. In Integrated Science, you will learn to approach problems and develop solutions from an interdisciplinary perspective, applying the knowledge and skills that you gain within and across disciplines.

Integrated Science offers a number of benefits for first-year science students:

• Small class size: With limited enrolment, class sizes are about a tenth of that of some of the larger first-year science courses. You will quickly feel part of a cohesive and caring community.
• Strong faculty connections: You will get to know your professors very well, so you can begin building your professional network from day one.
• Block scheduling: Integrated Science classes and labs are scheduled in blocks during the week. You will be in the Integrated Science classroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9am to 1pm, leaving your afternoons free for studying or other commitments. In any given week, you will normally have two three-hour labs on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. This type of schedule is especially well suited for students who commute to York or have additional commitments outside of school.
• Innovative teaching and learning methods: As an Integrated Science student, you will progress through four carefully designed stages of learning — Prepare, Apply, Solidify and Integrate — to deepen your understanding of scientific concepts. Professors use innovative teaching practices such as peer instruction in the classroom to further enhance your learning process.
• Depth and breadth in the sciences: If you enjoy all the sciences and aren’t yet sure exactly what you want to focus on, Integrated Science offers you the opportunity to explore across biology, chemistry, physics, and math before entering the second year of any of our York Science programs.
• Preparation for health-professional exams: If you are considering writing your MCAT, PCAT or DAT in the future, then Integrated Science can help you acquire a strong and necessary background in introductory biology, chemistry and physics, as well as teaching you critical-thinking and reasoning skills.

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.

This program is offered by the Faculty of Science on the Keele Campus.

The Mathematics program provides an excellent background for many occupations demanding skills in mathematical reasoning and techniques. The program emphasizes the understanding of concepts, abstraction and reasoning; these then become the tools for problem-solving, as well as the language and environment in which problems are solved.

Pure mathematics focuses attention on basic concepts and then takes those concepts and creates a practical application for them. Finance and cryptography are current examples of areas to which pure mathematics is applied in significant ways.
All Mathematics students (Mathematics, Applied Math, Statistics, Math for Commerce) take common first- and second-year courses. It is in the third and fourth years that the programs begin to differentiate.

• If you're interested in a Bachelor of Arts (BA) math degree, you will combine your math courses with other Arts courses such as psychology or economics.
• For a Bachelor of Science (BSc) math degree, you will combine your math courses with other science courses such as physics, earth and atmospheric science, biology or computer science.

Statistics is a field that provides the foundations and techniques to collect, analyze, and present information in an effective and efficient manner. Recent trends involve a resurgence of interest in methods for informal exploratory analysis of data. This relies increasingly on friendly computing environments supported by efficient algorithms. York's Statistics program is an exploration of the nature of measurement, chance variation, probability, uncertainty, inductive logic and inference, and combines naturally with studies in the life and social sciences.

An increasingly important aspect of modern statistics is the design of experiments and surveys — as well as analyzing the resulting data — in areas of application ranging scientific studies to the insurance industry. Statisticians use surveys to predict the patterns of behaviour of large groups based on relatively small samples.

Through its applications in almost every branch of modern professional life and research, statistics is a fast-growing discipline that provides a statistician with a variety of career opportunities. Statistics is offered as both a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science options. Why take one instead of the other? All Mathematics students (Mathematics, Applied Math, Statistics, Math for Commerce) take common first- and second-year courses. It is in the third and fourth years that the programs begin to differentiate.

For a Bachelor of Science (BSc) math degree, you will combine your math courses with other science courses such as physics, earth and atmospheric science, biology or computer science.

Crime, criminality, and criminal justice are central concerns in contemporary Canadian society. In politics, law, policy and popular culture, the problem of crime and what to do about it command increasing attention and interest. The Criminology program will provide you with an exceptional opportunity to pursue study in this evolving and expanding field. You will explore the ways in which concepts of crime, criminality and criminal justice have developed over time. You will also investigate how crime is understood legally, politically, economically and culturally.

The program’s interdisciplinary approach is reflected in complementary relationships with a number of other academic disciplines including anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, socio-legal studies, and sociology. Students are able to choose courses from these disciplines as well as from the core program courses, each of which draws from a range of disciplines and is devoted to making connections between different areas of study.

Note: Criminology is not a pre-law preparatory program.

The Criminology program will focus on the analysis of:

• Crime
• Criminality
• Processes of criminalization and social control
• Organized crime
• Systems of justice
• Criminal justice systems

From Ancient Greece came many of the Western world's cultural values and social institutions, while contemporary Greece, situated at the intersection between Europe and the Middle East, is a vitally important modern nation. In our exciting Hellenic Studies program you'll have the opportunity to explore the ancient and modern periods in Greece through a curriculum that integrates language study with courses covering Greek literature, culture and history.

As well as providing a formal degree program for students interested in ancient and modern Greece, Hellenic Studies will help you develop critical reading, analysis and writing skills and will give you an excellent range of experience in art criticism, language work, historical analysis, literary and philosophical study.

• Participate in connections with universities in Greece and with Hellenic Studies programs around the globe.
• Toronto’s vibrant Greek community, through the creation of the Hellenic Heritage Chair, has made our program the leading centre of Hellenic Studies in Ontario and beyond. The Hellenic Heritage Foundation of Toronto endowed the Hellenic Heritage Chair in Modern Greece with $2 million in 2002. York also contributed $500,000 to the Chair.

Build on your accounting skillset with a leadership focus so you can pursue career advancement opportunities and prepare to earn a CPA designation.

What You Will Learn
In this full-time Post-Graduate Certificate in Advanced Professional Accounting, you’ll explore advanced accounting topics in areas such as auditing, taxation principles and accounting information systems. This program will also help you:

• Develop an advanced accounting skill set through experiential assignments and projects
• Hone cross-functional skills such as critical thinking, business acumen, problem solving and communication
• Practice key management and leadership techniques
• Prepare for CPA Professional Education Program (PEP) courses to become a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA)

Program Benefits

• Gain relevant and in-demand accounting knowledge with a curriculum co-designed and taught by senior industry executives
• Advance through the program with the same peer group and build a professional network that extends beyond the program
• Engage in experiential assignments and apply your knowledge towards real-world business challenges
• Complete the program in 9 months of study

Software is used to control many aspects of the modern world, ranging from medical devices, nuclear power plants and airlines to Google and Amazon. It is valuable in developing software for prosthetic limbs to improve mobility or write the code for the next breakthrough in mobile communications. Software engineering makes the complex systems possible, safe and reliable. 

Our Software Engineering program is accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB). 

What You'll Learn
Lassonde’s Software Engineering program prepares students for a career using state-of-the-art computing labs, a full suite of software development tools, and hands-on experience in the design and development of software products.

In a capstone project, you work with a team to design, test and deploy a significant and exciting product using all the knowledge and skills you have gained.

After second year, you can take part in the co-op program, giving you an early start to becoming a licensed Professional Engineer.

Some Courses You'll Take:

• Advanced Object-Oriented Programming
• Software Development Project
• Design and Analysis of Algorithms
• Operating System Fundamentals
• Software Design
• Software Engineering Testing
• Mission Critical Systems
• Building E-Commerce Systems

Computer Security is a multi-faceted and challenging field. Ensuring the privacy of personal data, preventing unauthorized access to computer systems, ensuring back-up contingency plans in the event of data loss and protecting systems from malicious activity such as viruses and worms are just a few areas you can get involved in.

What You'll Learn 
In our Computer Security program you will build a solid background in computer science and math. You will study a variety of courses, including cryptography and operating systems. Computer security is the specialized part of computer science that studies threats to computer systems and networks. It is the science and practise of how to mitigate them. You will become an expert on all those topics. 

We offer both BA and BSc degrees, which share the same computer science and math requirements. In the BA program, you will complement your studies with courses from the Liberal Arts (e.g., humanities, social sciences). In BSc, the complimentary courses will be in the sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics).

After third year, you can put your knowledge to the test by taking part in our paid internship program. We have teamed up with a variety of major companies to ensure you gain valuable professional experience. 

Some Courses You'll Take  

• Object Oriented Programming 
• Mobile App Development 
• Design and Analysis of Algorithms 
• Computer Security Management 
• Applied Cryptography 
• Computer Security Management and Forensics