Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology

at Carleton University Canada

The Environmental Science program brings together the study of biology, chemistry, earth sciences and geography to enable its graduates to address complex and multidisciplinary environmental and conservation problems. Through lecture and seminar courses, hands-on laboratory work and field camps, students become proficient in topics such as water resource management, fish and wildlife ecology, ecological restoration, sustainable resource extraction, environmental monitoring, and environmental policy. In the upper years, students take courses in chosen areas of study and hone their skills in preparing research and thesis projects, working in teams and individually on current problems facing environmental science.

Psychologists study the mechanisms that underlie our thoughts, emotions and behaviours. They examine a diverse range of topics, such as how we think and learn, how we interact with others and how we can promote healthy development and wellness. This is accomplished by conducting research so that the knowledge gained can help us to better understand the human mind, enhance well-being and performance, and generate additional research questions.

All of our undergraduate Psychology programs provide opportunities to explore psychology’s major areas within the context of an active and diverse research environment. Our honours programs offer six concentrations for students wishing to focus on one of these major areas.

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Forensic Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Social and Personality Psychology

The Earth Sciences program at Carleton offers you the opportunity to study the Earth’s systems, incorporating knowledge from other sciences including physics, biology and chemistry. You will learn about processes (such as evolution, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics and mountain building, formation of hydrocarbon reservoirs and mineral deposits) influential in the Earth’s geologic past that establish our present and future global development. The program offers the opportunity to participate in hands-on field courses that can take you to sites throughout Ontario, across Canada and around the world.

In addition to core courses in computer science, this stream includes foundational courses on algorithms. These courses will teach you to design, analyze, experiment with and reason about algorithms that arise in modern applications such as search engines, games, social networks, markets, economics and computer networks. The stream is especially suited for students with strong mathematical ability who wish to pursue an advanced degree or a career in cutting-edge research.

Civil engineers provide and maintain all of the infrastructure that we depend on daily. They plan, design, construct, operate, manage and maintain airports, bridges, buildings, dams, highways, railways, pipeline systems, tunnels, water distribution systems and treatment facilities. Carleton’s Civil Engineering program starts by giving students a thorough background in mathematics, chemistry, physics, thermodynamics, geology and numerical methods. In the final two years, students focus on engineering design in the areas of structural, geotechnical, transportation and municipal engineering. Elective courses allow students to further specialize in the area of their choice. The program culminates in a practical fourth-year design project where the students apply their knowledge to a real-world design problem.

Anthropologists study human beings, globally and cross-culturally, and recognise that each way of life is but one possibility among many. In a pluralistic world, where people from different places and backgrounds frequently interact, anthropology is an important tool for helping us understand each other and the rapid changes going on around us. Anthropology offers the potential to broaden our understanding of what it means to be a person, to question what passes as “normal” or “natural”, and to examine the world we inhabit as interconnected by environmental, political, economic, cultural and social forces.

While anthropologists have traditionally studied in small scale, non-Western societies, today we apply our participatory research methods and a combination of humanistic and social scientific perspectives to all kinds of situations: if people do it, you can study it as an anthropologist.

Carleton’s anthropology program specializes in socio-cultural anthropology, which is the study of contemporary societies and cultures through direct engagement, participant-observation and other qualitative methods. Our faculty work in various contexts and communities in Alaska, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Thailand, the Andes, and Sub-Saharan Africa, among others. Our faculty specialize in a range of topics including:

• The study of Indigenous people’s lives in context (e.g. indigenous-state relations; governance & colonialism; language; urban indigenous communities).
• Environmental issues (e.g. human-environmental relations; subsistence politics; the Anthropocene; climate change; natural resources)
• Transnational & global issues (e.g. transnational adoption; development; migration; diaspora; sex tourism)
• Race, ethnicity, and nationalism (e.g. ethno-history; ethno-politics)
• Selfhood, personhood, subjectivity, identity, psychiatric anthropology, and phenomenology;
• Genders and sexualities (e.g. motherhood; reproductive health; gendered childhood; feminist theories/methodologies).
• Political economy (e.g. global capitalisms; processes of commodification; capitalist and non-capitalist societies)

Co-op
A co-operative education option is available to students registered in the B.A. Honours Anthropology program. Students in the B.A. Honours Anthropology program must successfully complete three work terms to obtain the co-op designation.

Europe and Russia have played and continue to play an important role in shaping the world. Taught by top experts in their fields, students in this interdisciplinary specialization will study the region’s history, society, politics, economics, language, and culture, placing them in a broader global context. The program’s geographic scope is unique in treating Europe, Russia, and Eurasia together, highlighting the considerable social, cultural, economic, and political ties that span the region. You may focus your studies on particular countries, a set of countries, or regional institutions such as the European Union. You may also study thematic issues that affect the region such as migration, transnational civil society, trade, EU enlargement, foreign policy, and the impact of globalization on identity politics. The specialization is championed by the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, one of Canada’s oldest area studies programs that works closely with Carleton’s Centre for European Studies, a European Union Centre of Excellence.

African peoples, cultures, societies, places and histories have been deeply affected by the global world, while also actively contributing to it. In this multidisciplinary specialization, you will study a wide range of issues as they apply to Africa, including democratization, human rights, international development, cultural change, migration and refugees, colonialism and post-colonialism, and social justice. You will also acquire an understanding of the larger issues of the politics of development and the relationship between the global north and south. This specialization is administered by the Institute of African Studies, which is the only stand-alone, degree-granting, institute devoted to the study of Africa in Canada.

Our students acquire a comprehensive, multidisciplinary understanding of the causes and definitions of crime and criminal behaviour, criminal law and its administration, and social and institutional responses to crime. You will personalize your program by choosing one of three concentrations: Law, Psychology or Sociology. In addition, possible field placements in organizations such as the Crown Attorney’s Office, criminal law offices or the Royal Ottawa Hospital (Forensic Program) give you hands-on experience in real-life situations, including front-line work with offenders, police, victims, and lawyers, to name a few. Other placements can match you with researchers and policy analysts involved in criminal justice and crime prevention. Carleton’s location in Ottawa gives you research and employment opportunities that align with your degree.

Engineering Physics is a challenging and elite program for those students who want to combine the strengths of physics and engineering. You will obtain an unusually broad and strong foundation in material science, applied physics, electronics and nanotechnology, and learn to apply it in the development of new technologies which include, but are not limited to, nanotechnology, semiconductor devices, optical systems, telecommunications and related computer hardware. In your senior year, you may specialize in many other areas of interest.