Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jewish Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

Flooding, terrorism, global warming and hurricanes are all disasters and emergencies that can be effectively managed – and, in some cases even mitigated – through good planning and response. The recent earthquake in Haiti, the H1N1 pandemic and memories of 9/11 are reminders of the pressing need for qualified and trained professionals in the field.

Disaster & Emergency Management is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks. In this exciting and rapidly expanding field you’ll explore key concepts, methodologies and technologies used by emergency management professionals while honing your analytical and critical skills. You'll also gain a comprehensive understanding of how emergency management intersects with other disciplines such as psychology and sociology. Discover strategies to help save lives and property, reduce damage and speed a community’s recovery from natural and human-induced disasters and emergencies.

You'll examine a diverse range of topics including:

• Business continuity planning
• Emergency management communications
• Disaster risk management
• Ethics
• Terrorism

In addition to this, you will learn to apply key concepts, methodologies and technologies used by emergency management professionals to complex real-life challenges.

This program prepares you to synthesize large amounts of complex information and make sound decisions in challenging and often difficult circumstances. As a graduate you will be equipped with the skills for a career in emergency preparedness, public safety or consultancy work for a range of opportunities from positions in federal and provincial governments to large multinational companies and non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross/Red Crescent, World Bank, Oxfam or UNICEF.

• Upon graduating, you'll join one of the fastest growing industries in North America.
• You have the option of continuing your education within the disaster and emergency field with York's Master of Disaster & Emergency Management degree — the only graduate program of its kind in Ontario and one of only two in Canada.
• You'll have the opportunity to join The International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), a non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting the goals of saving lives and protecting property during emergencies and disasters.
• Take advantage of experiential learning opportunities and interact with leading professionals who will provide you with a deeper insight into the field. You'll have the option to complete a field experience that will help to foster a greater understanding of the complexities and realities emergency management professionals face.
• You are also encouraged to take advantage of the regular events held by the School of Disaster & Emergency Management. These include conferences and symposiums held throughout the school year to help you apply your education to real-life situations.

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.

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

This cross-disciplinary program offers you a challenging opportunity to study the mind and its processes.
Cognitive science majors will examine the nature of thought, memory, perception and language from a variety of different perspectives in order to acquire a rich knowledge of the mind. You will have the chance to study the different ways in which infants and non-human animals may be able to think and reason without language, how computers may be programmed to demonstrate intelligence and the nature of the relationship between social interaction and cognition.

Our professors are conducting research in such diverse areas as:

• Infant social cognition
• Human-computer interaction
• Cognitive ethology
• Moral psychology
• Artificial intelligence

To gain an expansive knowledge of the cognitive processes we might find in humans, animals and machines, you can combine courses from:

• Philosophy
• Psychology
• Linguistics
• Computer science
• Information technology

In order to integrate findings from different fields, you'll be trained in the methodologies of different disciplines, and you'll have the opportunity to apply these methods in order to examine the nature of thought, memory, perception, language, and other cognitive processes. You will have the opportunity to take courses in:

• Minds, Brains, and Machines
• Neural Basis of Behaviour
• Psycholinguistics
• Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
• Animal Behaviour

Your studies will be enriched by your contact with energetic professors and research groups involved in groundbreaking work in fields such as vision, social cognitive neuroscience, language evolution, autism research, robotics, ape cognition and consciousness.

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

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

How do culture, politics and the economy intermingle to inform current debates on social justice in Canada and around the globe? Choose a program that will let you contribute to meaningful change in the world by establishing a sound foundation in social theory and practice.

York’s Interdisciplinary Social Science program (ISS) provides students with a solid grounding in cross-disciplinary social science research methods and critical social theory.

Students have the opportunity to explore courses from a range of fields including Work & Labour Studies, Development Studies, Health & Society, Urban Studies and African Studies to critically examine historical and contemporary issues related to social and political thought, social justice and diversity, sustainability and the environment, social exclusion and identity, diaspora and global development.

In addition to fostering strong theoretical and methodological training, the ISS program grounds itself in the belief that social analysis cannot be separated from social practice. Professors and many students affiliated with the program are actively engaged in fostering social change.

Students are strongly encouraged to combine their ISS degree with another Major or Minor program, either within the Department of Social Science or outside it.

Students may choose among one of the four different degrees:

• BA: 90 Credits
• Honours BA: 120 Credits
• Honours Double Major BA: 120 Credits
• Honours Major/Minor BA: 120 Credits (where the Major is Interdisciplinary Social Science)

Students who choose the Honours degree will not have to select a stream, but they will have to choose from an approved list of Theory Courses as part of the degree requirements.

A degree in ISS will benefit students interested in studying the relationship between culture, politics and the economy in Canadian and global contexts. Our degree programs prepare students for a wide variety of careers in the public, private, volunteer and community sectors, as well as for further post-graduate studies.

4 years honours option also avilable for this program. For more information please visit program page.

German Studies encompasses subjects ranging from language, literature and film studies to intellectual and cultural history, urban studies, political science, museum studies, art history and women's studies.

German is a major language of business, diplomacy and tourism in the European Union and Eastern Europe. It is also the language of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the largest portion of Switzerland, as well as Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, areas of Northern Italy, Eastern Belgium and Eastern France. Knowledge of German is vital for Canadians who want to compete in the emerging Eastern European market.

This program is divided into two streams:

• German Language, Literature and Culture — all courses but one are offered in German.
• German Culture and Society — you'll select courses that deal with the German-speaking world (e.g. history, political science, humanities). Language requirement applies.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GERMAN STUDIES PROGRAM AT YORK:

• Students majoring in German are encouraged to study in Germany for one year. York has Canada's best array of exchange programs with partner institutions in German-speaking Europe in conjunction with the Ontario/Baden-Württemberg program.
• Take advantage of the Multimedia Language Centre (MLC) of York University, located in S117 Ross, is a resource centre dedicated to supporting students who are enrolled in programs of study of language, literature and linguistics.

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.

Geomatics Engineering blends the knowledge of science and engineering with information technologies to solve complex, real-world problems. The diverse issues tackled by the field range from tracking a vehicle’s location within a city to determining land use from a satellite image. Geomatics engineers focus on the science and technologies related to positioning and navigation, sensors, measurements and mapping, as well as on spatial awareness and intelligence. 

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

What You’ll Learn
We will get you started with the basics in geomatics, surveying and mapping, navigation, sensors, and measurements to assist in building a strong foundation in the discipline.

In third and fourth year, you will take Geodesy, Advanced Surveying, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Measurement Theory and Estimation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry, Survey Law and Land Registration Systems, Advanced 3D Techniques, Mobile GIS and Location-based Services, Sensor Integration and Advanced Field Surveys courses. You will learn and use advanced state-of-the-art instruments while putting your professional skills to the test.

To top it off, the co-op program after second year allows you to gain professional experience, giving you a head start towards becoming a licensed Professional Engineer.