Bachelor of Arts (General) Community Economic and Social Development

at Algoma University - Sault Ste. Marie Campus Canada

Our psychology program continues to be one of the University’s most popular programs. Our small classes ultimately provide students with individual attention and a more personal student-professor relationship

Our psychology program offers two different degrees, tailored to the students’ strengths and interests. The Bachelor of Science (BSc four-year) degree requires students to complete a greater number of biological-based courses compared to the Bachelor of Arts (BA four-year) degree.

In addition to the standard courses on methodology that are required for a psychology degree, we offer courses on a wide range of topics in psychology. The majority of courses that we offer fall under one of two broadly-based categories: those that focus on the social bases of behaviour, and those that focus on the biological bases of behaviour. While it is widely known that psychology can involve the identification of, and counselling for, abnormal thoughts and behaviours, there are many other areas of psychology that you can explore with us.

A psychology degree is really a stepping stone to the next phase of a student’s life. We teach you how to be dedicated, motivated, and to think critically about scientific data, human and non-human behaviour, and science in general. These are skills that are in demand by many prospective employers. Many of our former students have continued with higher education at the graduate level, earning Master’s and PhD degrees. We also have former students with law and education degrees, and others who are now speech and language pathologists, audiologists, forensic psychologists, and neuroscientists.

This program is ideal for students interested in geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, climate change, environmental sustainability, research, and urban and regional development.

Our program is divided into four major thematic areas: physical geography, human geography, human-environmental geography, and geomatics. Students can study up to two of these areas to further enhance the quality of their degree:

• Physical geography explores the ever-changing surface of the earth and the physical processes that cause these changes. Students will develop the ability to identify critical processes in landscape form and structure, earth-building and the formation of rocks, weathering and mass movement, coastal/shoreline environments, and much more.
• Human geography examines the relationship people have with the earth and how people are distributed on the earth. It examines how we interact with each other, why we interact this way, and how we can improve our lives with this understanding knowledge. Students will explore how and why the first known cities formed; how culture is spread and stagnated by barriers; and how different regions in the world function culturally, socially, environmentally, and economically.
• Human-environmental geography focus on the impact humans have on our environment through activities like urban sprawl and globalization, and how we can work to develop more sustainable practices. Students will develop an understanding of global and environmental change, impact assessments, and natural resource management. Students will study the Great Lakes and their cultural, environmental, and economic importance to humans.
• Geomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information. In our program, students will be introduced to the world of cartography, GIS, remote sensing of the environment, and air photo interpretation.

The Graduate Certificate in Business is a one-year program designed for students whose main interest is in acquiring basic knowledge and skills in business to enter or reenter the workforce quickly. It is suitable for students who already hold another degree but desire some business skills to complement their work experience
and previous education.

We approach the study of law, legal decision-making, and justice from a variety of viewpoints. Our program incorporates diverse legal traditions into the curriculum and investigates law from historical, social and philosophical perspectives.

Our law and justice program is one of few such programs in Canada. Those that do exist often focus on criminology, rather than on legal traditions, institutions, and practices in their various current and historical forms and concepts. Criminology is the study of the anatomy of crime, specifically its causes, consequences, and costs. Law and justice, however, goes far beyond criminology, and provides students with a more well-rounded and holistic degree.

In our four-year program, students will acquire knowledge of the pattern of legal institutions required to regulate our political, social, and economic relations. Students will examine topics such as civil, criminal, family, corporate, constitutional, and contract law. They will study conventional, traditional, and alternative forms of justice and dispute resolution, as well as comparative, theoretical, and historical perspectives. The program helps students to understand law as a multidimensional and complex social phenomenon.

Within the program, students will develop a wide range of skills that apply beyond the study of law and justice. After completing a degree in law and justice, many of our students gain admission to law school and graduate programs, and also diploma programs at the college level. Students are also opened up to an array of career paths and opportunities, such as lawyer, paralegal, law enforcement, criminal investigator, forensic scientist technician, clerk, legal secretary, education (primary and secondary, colleges and universities), researcher, Indigenous researcher, immigration and border patrol services, civil servant, politics and policy, entrepreneur, and many more.

The Graduate Certificate in Health Science is a multidisciplinary program, that provides students with a wide variety of course options related to the field of Health Sciences. The certificate approaches the topic of Health Sciences from the viewpoint of multiple disciplines (Biology, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology) and allows students to customize the certificate to their particular career goals and interests.

Our Bachelor of Arts in English program offers courses in all genres – drama, fiction, poetry, and prose – including writers and thinkers from around the world and from the medieval period to the present. Our faculty have expertise across a range of Canadian, British, American, and postcolonial literatures, and a long-standing commitment to the study of the writers who reflect and shape the cultural histories of the people of the English-speaking world.

Our program is highly personalized, since students are given the opportunity to pursue topics of interest on assignments, presentations, and various writings. We invite and expect students to participate in seminar discussions and lectures by asking questions and sharing ideas. Students discover modes of thought and methods of investigation that not only enrich the reading and understanding of language and literature, but are applicable to various disciplines. They become critical in their reading and thinking and clear in their writing and speaking. They develop a passion for reading, writing, and reflecting on the use of language wherever it is written or spoken.

An undergraduate degree in English will provide you with a solid basis for a wide range of careers. While many majors in English become teachers after they graduate, many others become artists, actors, songwriters, broadcasters, journalists, technical writers, essayists, novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, directors, editors, publishers, librarians, archivists, entertainers, public relations specialists, advertising copywriters, marketing experts, researchers, lawyers, doctors, social workers, politicians, and top and mid-level managers, executives, and administrators.

Algoma University’s four-year Bachelor of Business Administration degree is a unique program, different from other university programs found across the province.

There are countless reasons to study business administration in university. Having a fundamental understanding of business will provide you with the necessary skills needed to succeed in life and is a great investment in your future career.

Networking is one of the most crucial aspects of the job search. For this reason, our business administration students are constantly interacting with business professionals and institutions in Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding Algoma region. Students work with and alongside businesses, developing business plans and strategies to improve on production, effectiveness, and efficiency. By studying Business Administration at Algoma U, students will be given plenty of opportunities to network and build upon their connections in the business world. Many Algoma U grads have cited these networking opportunities as the keystone to their success, providing them with the opportunity to secure a meaningful career in their field.

In addition, Algoma U’s business administration faculty are experts in the field. Rather than just being educated in business, our professors have experienced risk and success in the work world. From chartered accountants, to certified management accountants, to presidents of influential organizations, and everything in between, our faculty are experts in the business world, and have practical, working hands-on knowledge which they bring to the classroom on a daily basis.

Upon graduation, students in Algoma U’s business administration program will have a strong, well-rounded foundation of business skills and concepts, partnered with the ability to apply these intellectual tools in the challenging and dynamic world of global business. This focus allows our graduates to make a smooth transition from the academic environment to the business world.

Sociologists are interested in how humans form groups, whether for peace or war, cooperation or conflict, persuasion or domination, development or destruction. They investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts.

Algoma University’s four-year sociology program provides critical skills for understanding and interpreting the social world. The program offers courses which address a wide variety of areas, such as contemporary media depictions of gender and the body, debates in the environmental movement, health policy analysis, critical assessments of law and social justice, and Canadian policy in relation to multiculturalism and Indigenous rights. Students will use a variety of research methods to gain a vital understanding of social movements, race and diversity, and gender and sexuality, including surveys, interviews, observational studies, polls, personal letters, and focus groups.

Upon graduation, students in Algoma U’s sociology program will have strong written, oral presentation, and research skills – invaluable skills highly sought after in today’s competitive work world and in institutions of higher learning. These refined skills set Algoma U grads apart from the rest. For those who choose to enter the workforce upon graduation, career paths options include: education (primary and secondary, colleges and universities), researcher, affirmative action counsellor, health and safety educator, health promotion, human rights worker, journalist, non-profit housing worker, policy planner or policy analyst, parks and recreation planner, urban planner, and many more.

Political science is the study and analysis of possibilities for states and their citizens; the possibility of peace in a war ravaged country; the possibility of democracy in an authoritarian state; the possibility of economic equity in a capitalist system; and the possibility of harmony in a system of sovereign states.

The study of politics has always been at the centre of an education geared toward sustaining and improving community life. The ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans regarded politics as one of the highest forms of human expression. Indigenous peoples all over the world have practiced unique and effective forms of politics for millennia. Whether you know it or not, we all participate in politics.

Algoma U’s four-year Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree focuses on three areas of study: Canadian politics, public policy and government; comparative politics and international relations; and political theory, philosophy, and economy.

Our program works to incorporate Indigenous content, ideas, and methodology in its approach. It will help students to understand and identify important institutions, forces, and ideas that shape society, and permit change to occur or not occur. It will teach students how to systematically, rigorously, and analytically evaluate competing explanations of the same event or phenomenon, and gain an understanding of who or what exerts power.

Within the program, students will develop a wide range of skills that are in high demand in the public and private workforce. Some of the career paths our graduates have chosen include education, research, financial/economic analyst, foreign services, legislative analyst, diplomat, immigration and border services, museum and/or curatorial work, Indigenous research, civil service, lawyer, politics and policy, public relations, entrepreneur, journalist and many more.

Our faculty and students live and work in an animated, spirited, and humorous culture in which art making is acknowledged as a process of constant and perpetual transformation and aspiration toward higher degrees of insight.

Passion, enthusiasm, a questioning mind, and an ability to do things differently are part and parcel of a creative life and are some of the characteristics it takes to be a visual art student. Pursuing a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts allows students the opportunity to channel and express their creativity and imagination, but also to hone and perfect their skills by learning about past and present techniques.

The program strikes a fine balance between traditional and experimental practices and between refined object making and personal development. Ultimately, regardless of the value of the art objects, the final product of creative endeavour is the artist/creator and her/his role within the larger community.

After completing a degree in fine arts, students are opened up to an array of career paths and opportunities. Achievements made by our graduates includes the founding of several creative businesses, set design with the Ontario film industry, graduation from a leading Master of Fine Arts program, subsequent university teaching work, inclusion in significant exhibitions, art director for an international cruise ship company, employment in the field of computer gaming and design, founder of a regional Aboriginal art gallery, crossover work in graphic design, and many more.