Bachelor of Arts in Human Rights Studies

at Kings University College at Western University Canada

Social Justice and Peace Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program committed to experiential education and inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching tradition. It encourages critical reflection on oppression and injustice, locally and globally, and it examines theoretical and practical approaches to justice and peace.  It calls students to social action that transforms the world in the interests of human dignity, equality, sustainability, and peace.

This innovative cross-disciplinary program offers one of  four core courses in social justice and peace in each of the four years leading to a degree. These core courses are combined with existing courses drawn from a variety of disciplines such as sociology, politics, economics, history, social work, religious studies, and others. There is a mandatory service component in second year that engages students in local issues of Social Justice and Peace and an optional (experiential learning) component offering a variety of opportunities that may be undertaken at any time after first year. Course credit can be arranged for these experiences.

While this degree can be pursued independently, students are strongly encouraged to combine their degree in Social Justice and Peace with a Major or Minor in social science, arts, or science. The program is designed to make it easy to do this.

Although the program reflects King's mission as a Catholic College, the program addresses students of all religious and political persuasion in a spirit of open and free dialogue.

This program focuses on the functioning of organizations and their most important resources: their employees. Courses will examine how companies operate as well as the importance of human resource management and how it relates to the effectiveness within an organization

Students have the opportunity to complete a BA in Catholic Studies for teachers, and, if desired, another major of their choice with guaranteed admission to Western’s Faculty of Education to complete the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree. This program is intended for preparation for teaching in the Catholic school system.  Students can choose either the Junior Intermediate or the Intermediate Senior streams in the BEd program.

In Years 2, 3, and 4 of the BA (Honors) or four-year BA program, students complete Religious Studies courses in Catholic studies in areas as diverse as Scriptures, Catholic symbols, tradition and morality, issues in religion, as well as courses in Judaism, Islam, and Eastern Traditions.  Students will also register in service learning courses in which they will be placed in Catholic schools to assist teachers in the classroom as well as work in other parts of the school (such as the library, special education) to get an overall view of the educational institution as a whole and its culture. Students will receive extensive orientation before their placements and will also have regular meetings with the program coordinator throughout their time in the schools.

The Thanatology program offers a wide variety of courses including an overview of bereavement and grief, ethical issues, palliative care, suicide, children and death, spiritual and philosophical issues, change and transition, popular culture, grief and trauma, and diversity and social justice. In addition, the undergraduate program offers a practicum course which includes a 45-hour field placement, and a grief counselling course which involves experiential learning of basic counselling skills.

King’s University College is currently the only university in North America to offer the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Thanatology. This unique program gives students several degree options in Thanatology with the option of combining a major or minor in a complementary subject (i.e., Childhood and Social Institutions, Social Justice and Peace Studies or Psychology). Many of our courses are available on-line, and our program incorporates various teaching modalities including in-class instruction, blended learning and experiential learning.

The Thanatology program at King’s offers 3 degree options:

• Undergraduate Degree in Thanatology at King’s
• Certificate in Loss, Grief and Bereavement
• Post-Degree Module

For thousands of years, the great religions of the world, both East and West, have served as treasure chests brimming with the collected brilliance of some of the wisest and most influential people ever to have walked the earth. In addition to theology, philosophy, ethics, art, music, ritual, and guidelines for personal conduct and communal living, these religious traditions contain profound insights into human nature, the meaning of life, ways to overcome suffering, ways to achieve mystical union with the divine, the need for compassion and understanding, and many other various and sundry pearls of wisdom. Thus, World Religions & Cultures is a fascinating study all on its own, for its own sake.

But the study of World Religions & Cultures is also highly practical. In an ever-shrinking world, we constantly find ourselves surrounded by peoples of different religions and cultures, many of whom we simply do not understand. And a lack of understanding often leads to tragic consequences, as is made evident every night on the evening news. Before you can change the world for the better, however, you first need to understand it. On its own, or combined with other fields such as Psychology, Sociology, or Social Work, a study of the religions and cultures of the globe is an essential ingredient in bringing positive change to the world.

A degree in Religious Studies provides an opportunity to study such topics as the existence of God, the meaning of human freedom, sacred rituals and literature as well as the rich tradition of the Christian religious heritage and other religious traditions and their relationships with contemporary culture.

A deeper understanding of the Christian vision or of other religious traditions can help you to form your own outlook on social, legal and ethical problems and help you to better understand those with whom you live and work.

This program focuses on the subject of childhood from an interdisciplinary perspective.  Thus, we look at childhood in sociological, anthropological, historical and geographical perspectives.  We discuss issues such as: what is the meaning of ‘childhood’? What competencies do children have? How is childhood framed in policy discourse, both local and global?  What are children’s views of the world that they live in?  

Topics covered in the program include:-

• The social study of childhood
• Histories of childhood
• Children’s rights
• Advocacy with children
• Children and the legal system
• Social policy
• Working children
• Children’s everyday lives and social worlds
• Child poverty

Our Criminology program promotes multi-disciplinary research and instruction aimed at understanding the complex nature of crime, the criminal justice system, and issues related to social control and criminalization. Students will study a variety of issues within the criminal justice system, including law, law enforcement, penal policy, courts, corrections, violence, terrorism, and media representations of crime and justice. Within the Department of Sociology, King’s offers a Minor and Major in Criminology. 

The discipline of Psychology spans perhaps the broadest range of any academic discipline.  Psychologists can be involved in examining brain processes, animal behaviour, human sexuality, language acquisition, cognitive processes and learning, creativity, consciousness, interpersonal relationships and psychological problems.

The Department of Psychology strives to educate students in the theories, methods, evidence base, and practical applications of Psychological Science. We aim to help students grow in their verbal and written communication skills, critical thinking ability, ability to understand, produce, and use research, and awareness of human strengths and challenges. Our faculty members maintain vigorous programs of research that contribute to scientific knowledge and guide practical applications of psychology. This scholarship provides a context for mentoring students in research and it enriches our teaching by adding breadth and depth to the courses we offer. We are committed to the principles of holistic education, open inquiry, scientific rigour, and social justice.

Economics students may pursue a range of degree options. At King’s, the study of economics achieves a balance between application and theory. Through their program, students will develop a better understanding of the many human and moral issues confronting our society and the material constraints involved in dealing with those issues.

The School of Management, Economics, and Math (School of MEM) Economics department at King’s has had an exceptionally high success rate in placing students into top graduate programs around the world. Over 80% of our Honors Economics graduates have gone on to graduate studies. Many of our students have received generous financial support to do graduate work in Economics at London School of Economics, New York University, Cornell, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia and McGill University with a large number proceeding onto PhD studies and a career in Academia. We also have an extraordinary record of sending many others to top graduate business schools and top law schools in Canada and around the world.