Bachelor of Arts in Women and Gender Studies

at Carleton University Canada

Historians of art and architecture study visual communication. In Carleton’s Art History program, we study the great monuments of Western culture—painting, sculpture and buildings—but we also study Asian and other non-Western art, North American Indigenous art, photography, printmaking and popular culture as well as the institutions of art itself: museums, galleries and exhibitions.

Our material ranges from the prehistoric to the present day. Our students come away from the program with direct experience of collections of art here in the National Capital Region and a historical framework for understanding imagery, as well as an awareness of the multiple possibilities for interpreting art, architecture and other visual phenomena.

Specifically, we examine how representations work. We analyze the products of the human imagination and the visual expressions of different societies. Such analyses produce a historical awareness as well as an understanding of modes of expression in different cultures. This knowledge provides students with the intellectual tools that allow them to function as informed and thoughtful individuals in and increasingly visual and globalized society.

Carleton’s English program ranges from some of the most famous names in English writing to lesser-known authors, taking into account regional, national and global perspectives. You will have a chance to discuss the pressing issues and enduring ideas behind literature, as well as examine the ways in which books spring from cultural contexts and fit into the arc of literary history. You will explore how British and Canadian literary traditions have evolved and how alternative, underground and non-Western voices trouble and enrich those traditions. You may take workshops in creative writing and drama, either as electives or in the context of the department’s concentrations in Creative Writing and Drama Studies. We also offer a minor in Professional Writing, as well a minor in Drama Studies.

Neuroscience is a new, exciting, and rapidly expanding scientific discipline that aims to understand how physical processes in our brains underlie complex functions such as movement, sensation, memory, emotion, consciousness and thought. Faculty and students in Neuroscience are particularly interested in how diseases that affect the brain lead to mental health problems, with the focus of our research including depression, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease and concussion. Our research, like our academic programs, integrates information from many disciplines including medicine, molecular biology, psychology, immunology, genetics, chemistry and epidemiology.

In the Bachelor of Humanities, students read the world’s most influential books and explore the world’s most exciting ideas in art, philosophy, history, literature, classics, music, religion and science.

In this interdisciplinary Liberal Arts program, students study the world’s greatest ideas, books, and art works produced by thinkers from the span of recorded world history— from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America. The emphasis of the program is on ideas, explored through small discussion groups and writing assignments. The typical Humanities student loves to read, and is excited about sharing ideas with students and professors.

Neuroscience is a new, exciting, and rapidly expanding scientific discipline that aims to understand how physical processes in our brains underlie complex functions such as movement, sensation, memory, emotion, consciousness and thought. Faculty and students in Neuroscience are particularly interested in how diseases that affect the brain lead to mental health problems, with the focus of our research including depression, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease and concussion. Our research, like our academic programs, integrates information from many disciplines including medicine, molecular biology, psychology, immunology, genetics, chemistry and epidemiology.

Neuroscience and Mental Health is Canada’s first undergraduate degree program to be run by a Neuroscience Department. The program offers flexibility of course selection for students, including opportunities for students to pursue a wide range of minors.

Computational Biochemistry allows you to complement your studies in biochemistry with a rigorous program in computer science, mathematics, computational methods and data analysis. It will give you a strong background in core areas of biology and chemistry such as genetics, cell biology, organic chemistry and analytical chemistry. You will take a variety of lecture and laboratory biochemistry courses, including bioinformatics. Optional courses allow you to focus on areas such as molecular genetics, pharmaceutic drug design, functional genomics and protein structure and function.

Linguistics is the scientific study of one of the most fundamental aspects of being human: using language to communicate. Linguists explore a range of fascinating ideas, including what it means to know a language, how we process and produce language, language structure, how children acquire language, variation and diversity in languages across the globe, language disorders and delays, and how languages change over time.

At Carleton, students learn to study linguistics from a dedicated faculty with a diverse set of research interests, including theoretical and experimental approaches and methods.

Students in the BA Honours can choose from two concentrations to tailor their Linguistics degree to their interests: Linguistic Theory or Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders. Qualified students in the Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders concentration have the opportunity to take a practicum course that provides clinical experience in speech-language pathology.

In this program, students will analyze responses to questions about identity, history, and the basis of political and ethical commitments that have been posed by the world’s major religions. The study of religion nurtures in students a respect for the complex identities of others, their histories, and their cultures. You can study the history and literature of Christianity, Islam and Judaism; examine Asian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism; follow the rise and fall of religious leaders and movements; or explore common themes in a variety of religious traditions, such as the environment, the role of women, or death and the afterlife. A degree in Religion will equip you for many career opportunities in our increasingly multicultural world, where religious beliefs play a significant role in human affairs and continue to affect local and global events.

Carleton is home to the oldest and largest BA program in law in Canada. In the program, you will acquire a strong understanding of the dynamics of law, including its rules, agents, institutions and power structures. You will study legal theory and its application in everyday life and you will be taught by award-winning researchers and extensively published professors. Carleton’s proximity to Canada’s important public institutions, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, Parliament and the Department of Justice can lead to unique work and volunteer opportunities for our students. As an Honours student, you will have the choice of a concentration in Law, Policy and Government; Business Law; or Transnational Law and Human Rights.

The influence of public policy is pervasive in our society. It affects the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. It affects prosperity and the extent of poverty, as well as our access to education and medical care. It shapes the impact and pace of technological change. It determines the duties and powers of our officials at home and overseas. It influences the pace of technological change, the reach and practical meaning of our rights, and the extent of poverty. As a student in the Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management program (BPAPM), you will examine a wide variety of issues facing society today, as well as institutional challenges, and develop the necessary skills and knowledge to address them.

The BPAPM does this through a curriculum that combines interdisciplinary study of civic institutions and processes with rigorous study of public policy. A selection of courses in political science, economics, law, communications, and history is combined with exclusive courses in public policy. Together, these courses will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of what government, civil and business organizations do, why they do it, and how they might do it better.

The BPAPM program is located in the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs, which provides an academic home for our students who come from across Canada and abroad. The university college is ancient in conception, characteristic of universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, and following this model our students belong to a select scholarly community. They have exclusive and direct access to academic advising, dedicated student meeting space and an electronic resource centre.