Bachelor of Arts in History

at St. Thomas University Canada

The Law, Politics, and Society (LAPS) Program is a systematic but flexible interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between law, political life, and Canadian society. It examines the nature of law and its influence on Canadians and their polity and explores how law is made and changed, and what forces shape it.

Students learn about the institutional character of law making and enforcement and also the social factors that shape and are shaped by law.

Given the growing centrality of law in Canadian society, attention is increasingly being paid to the nature and composition of the bar and bench, and the politics of judicial appointment increasingly make the front page.

Law, Politics, and Society is an interdisciplinary program, but is also a fine complement to studies in Human Rights, Political Science, Criminology, or Sociology.

You might be interested in studying law, politics, and society if...

• You want to learn about the way law works in advanced democracies
• You want to explore the influence of law on Canadian society
• You want to learn more about the types of law in Canada, the judicial system, or the legal profession

Critical and transferable skills
It is important not simply to know that Canada is a law-based polity; it is important also to know who makes and interprets that law and to know how the law affects citizens. In this program, you will learn about how law is made and changed, how it interacts with social forces like ethnicity, gender, and economic inequality, and how social and political change leaves its marks on laws and legal processes.

You will learn about the philosophical and institutional foundation of law and courts and become familiar with the factors that influence judicial outcomes—why judges decide cases the way they do. You will also develop a familiarity with how personal conditions and characteristics may bring someone into contact with the law.

Studying English Language and Literature will expose you to a broad collection of classical and contemporary literature. Our courses introduce the vital practices of critical reading, writing about ideas and texts, and collaborative learning through discussion and debate. Whatever your taste in literature, you will encounter professors, peers, and courses to inspire and engage your love of literature.

You might be interested in studying english if...

• You care about the issues affecting society today and want to intervene in a meaningful way.

Concentration in creative writing
We believe that creative writing, as well as analytic writing, lies at the heart of a liberal arts program. Along with the academic practice of analyzing texts, you should have the opportunity to engage with texts creatively: to produce them and to hear readings by established authors and writers among your peers. The program sharpens skills in style and strategy and offers several prizes and publication opportunities. You have the option to do a Major with a Concentration in Creative Writing, or even to apply for Honours in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing.

Critical and transferable skills
English graduates move into careers in academia, teaching, social work, law, technical and creative writing, public relations, library science, publishing, communications, human resources, marketing, theatre, fi lm making, journalism, fashion, event management, and other fields that make use of advanced skills in research, critical analysis, and communications and writing.

St. Thomas values student-centred learning and has been at the forefront in the development of interdisciplinary majors and electives that allow students to pursue a topic or theme of particular interest.

The Interdisciplinary major/honours option allows students to tailor a programme to their interests and goals. These programmes focus attention on emerging issues and explore such common themes as Canadian Studies, American Studies, International Relations, Social Justice. They draw upon courses offered by a number of different university departments.

Gerontology is the study of the changes that take place in the process of aging, how society defines aging, and how individuals understand their own later years.

At one time, talks of aging prompted images of failing health, isolation, and lack of purpose. Today, people are living longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Studying Gerontology at St. Thomas, you will explore the impact of the way society defines aging and how individuals actually experience and understand their own later years.

St. Thomas is also home to The Third Age Centre, an autonomous, community-based, non-profit organization to empower older adults to maintain healthy, independent, active lifestyles. The centre conducts research and public education on issues of particular concern to older adults. We are also affiliated with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative. Students are often invited to be involved in projects undertaken by these centres.

You might be interested in studying gerontology if...

• You want to understand the process of aging from sociological, psychological, physical, and spiritual perspectives
• You want to learn more about the issues that concern older people

Critical and transferable skills
The study of Gerontology will give you academic skills, as well as self-care and self-exploration strategies. You will learn how to conduct interviews with older adults. You will learn how to design recreation and educational programs for older adults. You will learn critical thinking as you explore controversial and ethical issues in long-term care, end of life, work life, as well as images in the media and popular culture.

The Catholic Studies Program is an academically rigorous and interdisciplinary exploration of Catholicism. Courses engage with the Catholic intellectual tradition—the 2000 year-long dialogue between and within faith and culture. We approach the texts of the Catholic intellectual tradition with a view toward understanding the role that Catholicism has played in the human search for meaning and in the conviction that thinking is a critical part of belief. 

Discovering catholic studies
Catholic Studies enthusiastically welcomes students from any or no faith tradition. The program is dedicated to a critical and scholarly engagement with Catholicism, and is dispositionally nondogmatic. Courses are especially attentive to the ways in which the Catholic intellectual tradition can help students understand issues of social and economic justice and peace.

You are therefore given the freedom to explore perennial human questions and pressing contemporary concerns in a way that is open to the potential contributions of faith. You are also given the chance to study the Catholic Church itself, as a cultural and political, as well as a religious institution. You will also benefit from co- and extra-curricular events, service opportunities, scholarly activities, and community outreach sponsored by the St. John XXIII Centre for Catholic Studies.

You might be interested in catholic studies if you ...

• You are interested in a challenging, interdisciplinary major which explores the meaning of Christian faith
• You are interested in exploring human questions and contemporary concerns as potential contributions to faith

Critical and transferable skills
Students in Catholic Studies benefit from an interdisciplinary course of study which draws from many different academic disciplines. The interdisciplinary character of the program helps students become well-rounded thinkers, able to analyze problems and phenomena from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and using diverse analytical tools. The program’s emphasis on the Catholic intellectual tradition will help students develop the skills of thoughtful reading, clear writing, and verbal eloquence.

Courses offered in the Japanese language focus on learning fundamental language structure and practicing communication skills. In the courses, reading and writing Hiragana and Katakana are essential, and some Kanji are introduced and practiced. Japan and Japanese culture are introduced and discussed.

Advanced courses develop the communicative skills necessary for everyday situations - focusing on conversation and writing systems, expanding vocabulary and sentence structures and teaching students to express themselves on a wide range of topics from daily life.

As students complete the beginner’s level of Japanese, they are prepared for the Level IV Japanese Proficiency Test offered by the Government of Japan.

The Bachelor of Social Work program emphasizes the importance of understanding the structural roots of social problems in Canadian society.  Therefore, social work is a political activity aimed at initiating social change at all levels of society to promote equality and inclusion. Social problems such as poverty and homelessness, gendered violence, racial discrimination, and climate change are viewed as being rooted in structural inequalities. These inequalities lead to economic, political, social and cultural disparities for whole populations of people.

Through the four-year degree program—the only accredited English language program in New Brunswick—students will develop the ability to challenge structural injustices, learn critical theories to frame best practices, and understand how different forms of power, oppression and privilege operate in the world. The program is structured to deliver both the theoretical and practical aspects of social work. Through two years of liberal arts courses, followed by two years of social work courses and field placements, students gain both classroom and direct experience in transformative social work practice.

In Great Books students encounter different subjects, genres, and modes of inquiry. Each course is organized around a theme, like Freedom or Human Nature & Technology. Students read novels alongside philosophical treatises; they study law, politics, poems, works of history and autobiographies all in the same course. In addition, every course is team-taught by two professors to promote conversation and a diversity of views. Professors choose texts that will challenge and provoke you — books that might inspire or trouble you. Through these texts our students come to understand a good deal about themselves and the world they inhabit.

Students who are interested in Great Books often take the first-year Aquinas: Great Books Program, as it operates on similar principles. Our classes are team-taught by at least two different professors and sufficiently small (36 students maximum) to allow for discussion.

You might be interested in studying great books if...

• You are interested in understanding yourself and your place in the world
• You love to read and think about life's big questions
• You're interested in the history of ideas

Critical and transferable skills
Great Books classes require a great deal of reading, writing, and critical thinking. With two professors dedicated to each class, you receive a lot of one-on-one attention to help sharpen your reading and writing skills. Our classes are discussion based, not lectures. We want you to think about the questions posed by the texts and determine for yourself what an appropriate answer might be. Your capacities to think through arguments and to speak cogently and persuasively are developed by means of the discussion-based format.

The Human Rights Program at St. Thomas is one of the few such programs in all of Canada, and the only one in Atlantic Canada, that allows undergraduate students to obtain a Major in the academic study of Human Rights. In this program, you study Human Rights in a national and international context and do individualized research projects on specific topics in your upper years of study.

The program provides knowledge of the philosophy, legal instruments, and political institutions that are the foundation for an education in Human Rights.

You might be interested in studying human rights if...

• You want to go to law school, pursue a career in social work or law enforcement
• You are interested in being an activist in your community pursuing social justice at the grass roots level

Critical and transferable skills
As a student of Human Rights, you will develop advanced skills in critical analysis. You will be able to identify issues and have the capacity to work toward meaningful, reasonable solutions. Human Rights students are driven by a passion to understand and fight for necessary changes that make significant differences to individuals and whole societies.

They are able to see how decisions, events, and other actions affect people. They acquire the ability to navigate through legal and political realities to create a better world.

Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. It is a discipline that examines how we feel, perceive, think, learn, and remember; what motivates us, and how we act in groups and societies. The Psychology Department at St. Thomas covers all of the traditional areas of Psychology, and alternative areas as well, giving students a thorough foundation in our dynamic and broad discipline.

Each year, some of our students present their original research at the Science Atlantic Conference (which is held at a different university in Atlantic Canada annually).

You might be interested in studying psychology if...

• You have an interest in the study of human functioning
• You want to explore how we communicate, analyze and solve problems, and interact in the world

Critical and transferable skills
Studying Psychology provides students with excellent skills in analytical thinking, research processes, and problem solving. In addition, studying Psychology enhances skills regarding interactions and relations with people with different backgrounds and experiences. Psychology students develop the abilities to work well as part of a team and as independent thinkers. The study of Psychology heightens our understanding of ourselves as well as the social world around us.