Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

Learn what it takes to lead HR teams and projects as you investigate everything from compensation practices to labour relations.

What you will learn
This full-time post-degree certificate program was developed by an advisory committee of senior human resources executives to prepare you for excellence. Consisting of ten courses covering the core human resources topics as determined by the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA), this program will help you better understand:

• Human resources management
• Organizational behaviour
• Finance and accounting
• Human resources planning
• Occupational health and safety
• Training and development
• Labour relations
• Recruitment and selection
• Compensation
• Business Communications for Human Resources Professionals

Program Benefits

• Benefit from a curriculum that integrates critical soft skills that employers want in new hires
• Become a member of the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) at the student rate
• Fulfill coursework required for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation
• Program recognized by the HRPA
• Develop skills through experiential assignments and projects
• Learn from practicing HR instructors
• Build your professional network as you advance through the program with the same cohort of peers
• Complete the program in nine months of accelerated study

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.

Did you know that studying philosophy is great preparation for law school, an MBA or other graduate studies? Philosophy majors regularly perform much better than average on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

This program is offered by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies on the Keele Campus.

The word 'philosophy' is derived from the Greek for "love of wisdom" and is one of the world's oldest subjects of study. Philosophy pursues questions in every dimension of human life, and its techniques apply to problems in any field of study or endeavor. It is a reasoned pursuit of fundamental truths, a quest for understanding and a study of principles of conduct.

Explore life’s deepest questions concerning the nature of happiness, the requirements of justice, the limits of knowledge, and the meaning of freedom. You’ll discover how to develop answers to these questions and how to engage in fruitful argument with alternative points of view. These skills are applicable to all areas of modern life: intellectual, professional and personal.

Efforts are made to blend contemporary and historical issues and many of our professors draw their inspiration from widely separated philosophical approaches. In keeping with this, there is a great deal of cross-disciplinary work. The department offers a wide range of courses which examine contemporary problems and issues such as:

• Applied ethics
• Philosophy of mind
• Social and political philosophy
• Argumentation theory
• Feminism

The Commerce program - offered as a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) and a BCom Specialized Honours in Information Technology (BCom ITEC) – at York is one of the largest business programs in Canada.

All of our Commerce programs focus on how to apply theory to real-world situations, using a variety of methods including multimedia presentations, seminars, case studies and visits from prestigious guest speakers. With the help of our expert faculty, you will sharpen your critical-thinking, analytic, communication and leadership skills.

Our BCom offers students the opportunity to study streams such as accounting (CPA accredited), business research, finance, human resource management, information technology, management, management science or marketing. All of our Commerce programs focus on how to apply theory to real-world situations, using a variety of methods including multimedia presentations, seminars, case studies and visits from prestigious guest speakers. With the help of our expert faculty, you will sharpen your critical-thinking, analytic, communication and leadership skills.

Our BCom Specialized Honours program provides you with the rare opportunity to specialize at the undergraduate level, focusing on one of the following areas:

• Accounting (CPA accredited)
• Business Research
• Finance
• Human Resources Management
• Management
• Management Science
• Marketing

The History program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies explores historical events, people and places to help you gain a fuller understanding of, and appreciation for, the role and importance of history and how it impacts current events. Our professors have won university-wide, provincial and national teaching awards. Because of our size, our roster includes many and varied courses taught by experts in their fields.

Choose from courses covering Canadian, African and European history and explore themes such as the immigrant experience in Canada, the Holocaust and global migration.
In addition to courses in social, economic and political history, we offer subjects like:

• Native History
• Black History
• Histories of gender and sexualities
• History and film

Some of our best students go on to MA and PhD programs in Canada or abroad. In conjunction with York's programs in education, many of our graduates become teachers. The study of history teaches many skills necessary to succeed in today's world: critical thinking; research; assembling and analyzing information; and effective oral and written communication. Knowledge of history deepens your understanding of both the past and the present.

• We offer courses covering an almost global geography and ranging in time from antiquity to the fall of Communism.
• Our professors have published books on topics as varied as Halloween, love and death in Renaissance Italy, the world of voyageurs, Canadian marijuana policy and modern Iraq.
• We have 37 full-time professors providing creative, dynamic and innovative teaching. They include one Canada Research Chair, two Distinguished Research Professors, three Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) and one member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the RSC.

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.

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.

York developed the full-time second-entry BScN program in response to an increasing demand for nursing programs which build on prior university learning. It is available to students who have completed a minimum of 60 credits towards any university degree and who meet the program prerequisites. By studying in the concentrated and continuous six semester program, students can complete their BScN in two calendar years. 

As with other programs in the School of Nursing, the second-entry program reflects a unique teaching approach that focuses on cultivating human relationships. This patient-centred approach answers a growing demand for health care services and practitioners that respect patients' values and choices about health and quality of life. It recognizes that every patient has a personal story. We encourage you to question and critical think about conventional assumptions and practices and help you gain the insights and skills that will prepare you to contribute to the evolution of health care in Canada.

Students complete the full time program in two calendar years and will graduate in the fall after the second summer semester. This is a full time program and there is no part time option available.

First year
Students begin with studies in the areas of wellness and health challenges, assessment skills, professional development and issues, knowledge of nursing, thinking, communicating and relating in the context of nursing, applied pathophysiology, and ethical ways of knowing. In addition, students will also complete courses in biochemistry and pharmacology.

Clinical practice in the first year will help students develop their practical skills throughout the continuum of health experiences that persons may face. They then continue on to examining and enacting client-centred care within the context of caring for individuals and families in their homes and rehabilitative settings Last, students will engage in praxis in complex care settings as persons and families deal with acute and chronic health challenges.

Second year
Students will begin to explore additional layers of complexity in nursing practice with courses focusing on nursing research and inquiry, advanced professional issues, nursing in a global context and nurses as leaders of change.

Clinical praxis will focus on partnering with and integrating client-centredness in community settings. Student will continue with the exploration of nursing in the context of human vulnerability and diversity. In preparation for independent practice after graduating, students will undertake 12 continuous weeks of clinical practice that offers them the opportunity to integrate learning from all nursing courses and engage in deliberate praxis.

Put most simply, religious studies is the academic study of religion, exploring the range of phenomena that fall within the categories "religion" or "religious" from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. It brings together perspectives and approaches from history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and literature to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the individuals and traditions that constitute religions and cultures.

Because religions and the religious deal with questions of meaning and orientation, religious studies provides a place for you to explore in a disciplined fashion how and why humans have appealed to spirituality and the divine as they’ve struggled to make sense of themselves and their world. To study religion is to study responses, both behavioural and intellectual, to some of the great riddles and questions that face human beings, including: death, suffering, tragedy, and the nature of the self and the universe. Religious Studies is also a "teachable" subject for students who wish to combine their BA with a teaching qualification from York's Faculty of Education.

You can focus on the major religious traditions of the West and Near East such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam - or those of the Far East such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism or pursue a more comparative approach. You will also have the opportunity to learn about a variety of religious cultures including Chinese, Korean, Caribbean and Native North American.

In the core course, you will learn how to use various analytical methods to explore the rich variety of the world's religious traditions.

Our program gives you a thorough grounding in sophisticated text analysis and improves your writing skills - excellent preparation for any number of careers, including the clergy and law. Our classes are small and emphasize personal contact between students and professors.

• Study religious expression in a variety of cultures including those of India, China, Korea and Native communities of North America, and visit the historical places discussed in class through a York International study abroad program.
• Leonard Wolinsky Scholarship is awarded annually to two York undergraduates for one year's full-time study in an Israeli university.
• In the area of research, Professor Amila Buturovic is in great demand by the media to comment on Islam in the modern world. Professor Buturovic also does research on Muslim poets from the former Yugoslavia.
• The Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Rt. Rev. Marion Pardy, is a graduate of our Religious Studies program.

The Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree qualifies successful graduates to teach in K-12 schools and to be recommended for certification with the Ontario College of Teachers. Our program provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the teaching profession as confident and effective teachers.

Passionate about the environment? Gain the scientific acumen required to have an impact on environmental issues. Environmental Science is the application of a combination of scientific disciplines to issues and questions regarding environmental problems.

Gain extensive hands-on experience
Environmental Science at York includes a compulsory Research Design & Field Study course that gets you out using the equipment of the profession. This involves a long weekend at Algonquin Park at The Frost Centre working on a project. You'll learn to use water, soil and climate monitoring equipment and geographic information systems that can be put to use immediately and directly on the job with organizations like the Meteorological Service of Canada and Environment Canada.

Our professors are conducting research on such areas as the survival of plant life in the High Arctic, the Oak Ridges Moraine and the contribution of peat lands to the Greenhouse Effect. York is home to one of Canada's most sophisticated indoor flumes to predict water flows and the structure of rivers.

What's the difference between Environmental Science and Environmental Studies?

• Environmental Science is the scientific study of the environment and the effects of humans on environmental systems. You will acquire knowledge from many academic disciplines including biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, economics, political science and physics. You will also undertake specialized courses in the study of the environment. The program emphasizes field experiences, undergraduate research, and environmental problem-solving.
• Environmental Studies focuses on the complex issues regarding the sustainability of the global environment in the face of human development. The program integrates humanities, natural and social science, environmental policy and planning perspectives. You will gain a broad educational background needed to assist in developing sustainable development policies to create positive social change within the environmental context. Real world links to practical environmental issues are developed through internships, study abroad programs, environmental problem-solving at the local and regional levels and participation in campus environmental planning.

An optimal learning environment. Quality professors, small program size, group tutorials, help sessions, peer mentoring, laboratory experience and regular feedback helps you to get the most out of the program.