Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies

at St. Thomas University Canada

Founded by Irish Diocesan priests in the early part of the 20th century, in Chatham, New Brunswick, St. Thomas University has had a long standing spiritual, intellectual and emotional connection with a vital, unique and living Irish cultural tradition. Settled by pre- Famine Irish, the province of New Brunswick boasts one of the oldest indigenous Irish populations in North America. Furthermore, only the province of Quebec accepted more Irish Famine refugees during the Great Hunger of the 1840’s, when over 30 000 immigrants passed through the ports of Saint John, Saint Andrews and the Miramichi.

Today, St. Thomas University both acknowledges and honours the sacrifice and contribution of these early Irish migrants through many of its university programmes; not least among these are: Catholic Studies, Human Rights, Religious Studies, Social Work, Education, English, Criminology, History, Philosophy and Political Science. Most of these programmes highlight the social justice concerns of the Catholic Church and the legacy of Irish priests, nuns and laypeople who historically made up the faculty, administration, student body, and alumni of St. Thomas. The Irish Studies Programme seeks to complement the concerns of these programmes while, at the same time, it acknowledges the voices, past and present, of the Irish who first sought to bring this education to their own displaced people as well as to the citizens of the wider world.
The Irish Studies Programme is an interdisciplinary liberal arts programme. It is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore the heritage, culture, history, religion, politics, literature, fine art, and film of both the people of Ireland, and the communities of its Diaspora.

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.

In Economics, you will study how the economy works, where it came from, the challenges it creates for social equality, and how individuals engage to modify and change economic relations.

Discovering economics
The Department of Economics at St. Thomas brings the strengths of a critical liberal arts education to the study of the economy. We study different ways regions, large and small, manage their resources—whether those resources be financial, natural, goods, or services. The study of Economics takes a critical look at how regions trade, price, consume, and distribute. It is the job of an economist to be an expert in understanding the various economies in which she or he works and to prepare best practice advice for the benefit of his or her region. Our students investigate not only how the economy works, but where it came from, the challenges it creates for social equality and social justice, and how people engage to modify and change existing economic relations.

You might be interested in studying economics if...

• You are interested in the economy
• You want to become an informed citizen

Critical and transferable skills
As a student of Economics, you will learn to navigate through the ebb and flow nature of the economy in which you live and work. You will develop intelligence in making informed decisions and providing meaningful advice related to wealth and resources in your area. You will also sharpen your analytical skills and appreciate the value and limitations of evidence-based arguments and research. At the same time, you will gain advanced communication skills, especially in your capacity to read and analyze academic and technical writing.

Explore the culture of French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin. Study literature and media while developing skills in oral communication, grammar, and composition.

Discovering Romance Languages
The Romance Languages Department offers Minor, Major, Double Major and Honours Programs in French and Spanish, a Certificate in French Language Proficiency and the DELE in Spanish. Introductory and intermediate-level courses are taught in Italian and Latin. The department is comprised of dynamic and devoted faculty responsible for delivering ambitious programs both in second language acquisition and French and Spanish literary and cultural studies.

Due to its association with Francophone, Hispanic, and Italianate worlds, all having immeasurable intellectual and artistic impacts on the development of Western culture and humanism, the Romance Languages Department has a pivotal role to play in a liberal arts curriculum. The Department’s mission contributes directly to enhancing the goals of a liberal arts education that St. Thomas University seeks to promote.

You might be interested in studying romance languages if...

• You want to learn another language
• You want to learn about different cultures and their impact on today's society
• You want to become a global citizen

Critical and transferable skills
Our department seeks to foster global citizens by exposing students to the diversity of Francophone, Hispanic, and Italianate worlds via the study of literature, cultural media, cinema, and art. The strong focus that our programs place on the acquisition of advanced and superior levels of second-language literacy development (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) result in an increased awareness of the crucial role communication skills—oral and written—play in developing and expressing complex ideas and arguments. Courses in French, Spanish, and to a certain level Italian, offer rigorous programs in oral communication, grammar, composition, translation, literature, and cultural studies.

Students may choose to complement their language studies at St. Thomas with programs offered in Québec, Latin America, France, Spain, or Italy. Most importantly, students are made acutely aware of issues and questions that challenge humanity in different global cultures and regions. Students become less ethnocentric, more tolerant and gain an appreciation of alternate sociocultural practices, attitudes, and beliefs.

Environment and Society will help you understand the social processes that promote the degradation of the Earth and our persistence in such destructive behaviour.

The Environment and Society Program is an interdisciplinary program with courses from a number of departments which explore the root causes of environmental degradation and how society can address them. You will examine different ways of understanding the environment, the politics of environmental decision-making, and praxis - reflection and action for a sustainable world.

You might be interested in studying the environment and society if...

• You are concerned about what’s happening to our world
• You believe environmental change is possible

Critical and transferable skills
By studying in the Environment and Society Program, you will learn to look at issues critically to understand causes and discover realistic solutions. You will develop advanced skills in research, as well as in written and verbal communication as you learn about complex environmental issues and work to communicate those issues as you work with others to change unsustainable cultural, economic and political systems. Environment and Society students are able to connect what they learn in class to the real world, and use that knowledge to become effective ecological citizens in all aspects of their lives. Through experiential learning opportunities, you will have direct experience of working with local organizations and agencies that are addressing environmental problems locally, provincially and nationally.

Criminology is the study of crime, the consequences of crime, people who engage in crime and the reasons for that engagement, while Criminal Justice examines the Canadian criminal justice system including corrections, victimology, police, courts, youth-at-risk, and criminal procedure.

Criminology is a discipline that seeks to understand how people behave in difficult, confusing, stressful, tragic, and bizarre situations. As the study of Criminology often involves political, social, and personal consideration, students learn to analyze theories of criminal behaviour and fairly and accurately evaluate criminal justice systems and policies.

Our program at St. Thomas examines the people and institutions that affect, and are affected by, the justice system, exploring the impact on offenders, victims, and the public.

You might be interested in studying criminology if...

• You have ever questioned the workings of the criminal justice system
• You want a better understanding of the reasons individuals engage in crime
• You are interested in social justice and want to make a difference

Critical and transferable skills
By studying Criminology, students develop exceptional academic and research literacy. As presentation of this research is essential to the discipline, students also gain significant experience in skills such as communication and debate. Analytical and evaluative skills are central to the study of Criminology and Criminal Justice as students are required to question the policies and institutions in place for those who have been identified as criminal and those who have been victims of criminal behaviour.

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.

Science and Technology Studies examines the complex relations among science, technology, and society in the past and the present.

Science and Technology Studies (STS) looks at how science and technology are interwoven into societies and people’s daily lives. STS is an incredibly current field of study relevant to the 21st century and at St. Thomas, it draws upon the disciplinary traditions of History, Sociology, Philosophy, Communications, and cultural studies. While STS is a new field and is growing fast in popularity, there are only two universities in Canada offering STS and St. Thomas is the one where students will get a hands-on liberal arts approach.

Anthropology is unique in being a hands-on field of study. Anthropology can be done wherever people are, and wherever people were. As a student of Anthropology at St. Thomas, you can expect to get out there in the real world, interacting with people in a variety of social contexts, excavating artifacts, and analyzing bones in our anthropology laboratory.

Discovering Anthropology
Cultural anthropologists, social anthropologists, and linguists typically spend years living with particular groups of people, participating in their everyday lives. This process of long-term, small-scale, intensive and detailed study allows them to understand some of the most fundamental aspects of human existence which only reveal themselves in this way. Archaeologists also conduct long-term fieldwork examining human material culture, excavating, documenting, and analyzing artifacts as a means of answering the same questions about human existence. Physical anthropologists study human skeletal remains not only to understand our physical past and development, but also in modern-day criminal forensic investigations.

You might be interested in Studying Anthropology if...

• You’re a global thinker that’s interested in language, society, geography, and music 
• You’re interested in people and curious about different cultures 
• You want to understand yourself and your culture better

Critical and Transferable Skills
Living and working in today’s world increasingly means interacting with people from many different cultural backgrounds. The skills developed through completing a degree in Anthropology enables graduates to become critical thinkers and effective communicators who are able to generate relevant information and make informed decisions.

According to the American Anthropological Association, anthropological training concentrates on three transferable skill areas: “understanding human diversity, building research skills for collecting and making sense of information, and communicating effectively.”

Within the Bachelor of Arts, St. Thomas offers a unique English as a Second Language (ESL) program for students whose level of English proficiency is not high enough to pursue regular studies at an English-language university.

Students are provided the opportunity to begin university studies for credit while they continue to improve their language skills in a planned, individualized program of study.