Bachelor of Arts in French Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

The Law and Society program was established in the early 1970s and is one of the oldest undergraduate programs of its kind in North America. York graduates about 100 students each year, making it one of the largest programs of its type in Canada.

Law is one of the most significant expressions of a modern society's social and political development. In recent years, social scientists from many disciplines have analyzed the interplay between law and society. We live in a period of widespread public interest in law that arises from a concern with problems of social justice, social control and deviance.

The academic disciplines - anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology - have increasingly focused on such issues as the nature and origin of law; law-making and law breaking; rights and obligations; freedom and responsibility. These are matters of increasing concern to teachers, social workers, businesspersons, doctors and public servants whose professional responsibilities demand a knowledge of the relationship of law to their own fields.

The goals of the Law and Society program are:

• to affirm the intellectual importance of the study of law and society and law in society;
• to provide a framework within which you and the faculty may explore, within disciplines and between them, descriptive and analytic approaches to the subject;
• and to sharpen the appreciation of law as part of the active daily life of the student.

Please note: Law and Society is not a pre-law preparatory program.

Passionate about the environment? Gain the scientific acumen required to have an impact on environmental issues. Environmental Science is the application of a combination of scientific disciplines to issues and questions regarding environmental problems.

Gain extensive hands-on experience
Environmental Science at York includes a compulsory Research Design & Field Study course that gets you out using the equipment of the profession. This involves a long weekend at Algonquin Park at The Frost Centre working on a project. You'll learn to use water, soil and climate monitoring equipment and geographic information systems that can be put to use immediately and directly on the job with organizations like the Meteorological Service of Canada and Environment Canada.

Our professors are conducting research on such areas as the survival of plant life in the High Arctic, the Oak Ridges Moraine and the contribution of peat lands to the Greenhouse Effect. York is home to one of Canada's most sophisticated indoor flumes to predict water flows and the structure of rivers.

What's the difference between Environmental Science and Environmental Studies?

• Environmental Science is the scientific study of the environment and the effects of humans on environmental systems. You will acquire knowledge from many academic disciplines including biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, economics, political science and physics. You will also undertake specialized courses in the study of the environment. The program emphasizes field experiences, undergraduate research, and environmental problem-solving.
• Environmental Studies focuses on the complex issues regarding the sustainability of the global environment in the face of human development. The program integrates humanities, natural and social science, environmental policy and planning perspectives. You will gain a broad educational background needed to assist in developing sustainable development policies to create positive social change within the environmental context. Real world links to practical environmental issues are developed through internships, study abroad programs, environmental problem-solving at the local and regional levels and participation in campus environmental planning.

An optimal learning environment. Quality professors, small program size, group tutorials, help sessions, peer mentoring, laboratory experience and regular feedback helps you to get the most out of the program.

Think about downloading music or popping a disc into your MP3 player. Imagine how tedious it would be if the data-download took 10 minutes! The specialized hardware and software must produce instantaneous results and for that you need lightening-fast algorithms — designed by computational mathematicians — to perform the task.

Computational Math uses computers to solve mathematical and scientific problems — deciphering the fundamental problems in science and engineering with potentially broad social, political and scientific impact. For example, computers can perform only the simple arithmetic processes: add/subtract, multiply/divide.

To solve complex, real-world problems, computational mathematicians focus on developing algorithms to perform more complicated math — differentiation, integration etc. Computational mathematicians are also concerned with simulating a physical process — such as genome sequencing — to validate theories beyond the laboratory.

York's program in Computational Math combines the study of math, computer science and specialized computer applications. It's a more specialized program in computation than Applied Math.

You will choose from three areas of concentration:

Applied & Industrial Math involves traditional applications of math to science and engineering.
Financial Math is geared to the need of the financial and banking sectors.

York's Theatre programs immerse students in all aspects of theatre, fostering the ability to specialize or to assume a wide range of roles and apply various approaches to performance.  Through their creative and scholarly practice, students learn to constantly reassess the meaning of their work in the context of our ever-changing society, and to develop the critical thinking to understand and make a contribution to the world around them.

Program Structure
All Theatre students share a common first foundation year, in which they take courses across the various fields of theatre and performance. At the end of forst year students branch into one of four streams based on their interests and goals.*
Throughout the programs, students work together as actors and as members of creative and production teams in the department's many productions.

Streams
Acting Conservatory
With intensive studies in acting, movement and voice, the Acting Conservatory takes students deep into scene study, script analysis and character development. Upper year Conservatory members are cast in Theatre @ York's mainstage shows, featuring classic and contemporary masterpieces from Canada and around the world, chosen to address some of the big cultural and politacal debates facing society.

Performance Creation
This BFA degree stream places emphasis on studio coursework, such as Stagecraft, Devised Theatre, Scene Study and Directing. In keeping with the broader scope of Performance Creation work, this degree prepares students to move fluidly across artistic disciplines and to assume a range of roles in collaborative performance settings. This degree is ideal for students who want to produce sophisticated, meaningful performance work that engages with larger issues of social justice and sustainability.

Production and Design
Combining hands-on technical skills with creative aspects of theatre as storytelling, this program engages students in all elements of theatrical design and stage production. Courses in sound, lighting, scenery and costume design and construction are complimented by studies in technical direction and management.

Theatre Studies
This BA program focuses on studies in dramatic and performance theory, cristicism and history, and in theatre education. Students may choose to specialize in Playwriting and New Play Dramaturgy learning to write for the stage, or Devised Theatre focusing on collaborative creation of original works, incorporating all elements of playmaking, design and management to performance.

Political Science encompasses not only the actions of governments, political parties and the courts, but also political movements in society and in the power relations of everyday life.

Choose from a rich and diverse range of courses that allow you to focus on a number of topics such as:

• Global politics
• Political economy and political power
• Development and inequality in the Third World
• Social justice
• Ethics
• Law and democracy
• Violence and security

This breadth of choice will help you to gain a comprehensive understanding of critical issues facing our world and the political context in which they exist while acquiring in-demand analytical and communications skills.

• You will learn to conceptualize and to think critically about crucial dimensions of political life, both values and processes, especially those linked to such issues as the uses and abuses of power; the articulation of rights and responsibilities; and the intersections of community and nation-state with more globally-defined realities.
• Our first-year classes are taught by our most distinguished scholars who not only cover the essentials, but also design the courses with flair and expertise.
• Our Political Science professors are internationally known. Professor Leo Pantich is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Professor Leah Voskos is the Canada Research Chair in Feminist Political Economy.
• We are well known in many areas including Canadian Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory and Women and Politics

Study this multidimensional discipline that includes design engineering, renewable energy, developing medical diagnostic devices, advanced manufacturing and materials, robotics and automation. Students will develop a broad range of technical skills and the knowledge to complete diverse engineering tasks for a cleaner and healthier environment. Career paths include: engineer and/or specialist in clean energy, aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing sectors.

Our Mechanical Engineering program is accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB).

What You'll Learn
You will start with learning the fundamental knowledge that serves as the foundation for mechanical engineering.
After first year, you will have the chance to focus in and explore what you are most passionate about – Mechanism Design, Manufacturing Engineering, Instrumentation, Electrical Systems, Fluid Dynamics, Solid Mechanics and CAD (computer-aided design).

Some Courses You'll Take  

• Engineering Graphics and CAD Modelling
• Machine Elements Design
• Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques
• Fluid Mechanics
• Application of Simulation Tools for Design and Analysis
• Solid Mechanics and Materials Lab
• Macro and Micro Manufacturing Methods
• Electrical Systems for Mechanical Engineers

Crime, criminality, and criminal justice are central concerns in contemporary Canadian society. In politics, law, policy and popular culture, the problem of crime and what to do about it command increasing attention and interest. The Criminology program will provide you with an exceptional opportunity to pursue study in this evolving and expanding field. You will explore the ways in which concepts of crime, criminality and criminal justice have developed over time. You will also investigate how crime is understood legally, politically, economically and culturally.

The program’s interdisciplinary approach is reflected in complementary relationships with a number of other academic disciplines including anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, socio-legal studies, and sociology. Students are able to choose courses from these disciplines as well as from the core program courses, each of which draws from a range of disciplines and is devoted to making connections between different areas of study.

Note: Criminology is not a pre-law preparatory program.

The Criminology program will focus on the analysis of:

• Crime
• Criminality
• Processes of criminalization and social control
• Organized crime
• Systems of justice
• Criminal justice systems

Gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of business on society and the relations between business, social structures and government - crucial factors in understanding the social environment of business.

Choose from an array of courses within 10 streams of study.
Choose from a dynamic array of courses that explore the political, social and cultural context of business, both in Canada and around the world, including:

• Economics
• Political science
• Law and governance
• Communications
• Business ethics

If you'd like to further specialize your studies, you may wish to pursue a certificate while working on your degree. Certificate programs offer additional background in areas such as management, finance, marketing and organizational behaviour.
Thanks to the flexibility of the program, you'll be prepared to work in public service, corporate business, community and international development, teaching, marketing, human resources, public relations, finance and labour relations.
Gain the knowledge to help you account for, evaluate and transform the various ways that business influences society and society influences business.

The study of English literature explores literary history for its relation to current culture, re-thinks the dynamics of the book as a visual medium and examines the fundamental changes to knowledge and language created within our gendered, post-colonial world.

We offer a full range of English literature courses from the medieval period to the present, with particular strengths in contemporary poetry, popular literature, Canadian, American, African, South Asia and Caribbean literatures. The program invites you to explore some of the world's greatest literary works while developing critical thinking, reading and writing skills. You can choose from courses in:

• Poetry
• Drama
• Fiction
• Satire
• Folklore
• Literary criticism
• Critical theory
• Gender studies
• Stylistics and poetics
• Comics and cartoons
• Science fiction
• Children's literature
• Travel writing

The English Department is the first and best place for considered and disciplined responses to the discourse and images that are shaped by the constantly changing technologies of a word-based world, and it is through the study of English literature that the critical skills necessary for understanding the past and the present are acquired.

Our goal is to provide you with a useful knowledge of literary works, both as art forms and as documents of human behaviour. By studying English literature, you will gain a vision of humanity as expressed in verbal art that crosses boundaries of time and place. Thanks to our location in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area, you can take advantage of the city's wide range of literary events including the Harbourfront Reading Series and Word on the Street.

York has Canada’s largest and most renowned team of scholars in labour relations, work and global political economy.

Work and Labour Studies explores the complex nature of work and employment, the impact of globalization and the role of trade unions. Work occupies much of our lives and it informs how we live and how we think about the world. Work & Labour Studies explores what work is, who decides who does what, how workers respond to the conditions of the workplace, and the relationship of capital, the state and labour.

Key factors include:

• The economy
• Globalization
• The changing nature of work and the workplace
• Industrial relations
• Gender
• Class
• Inequality
• How labour is portrayed by the media
• How politics is shaped by mass media and how workers' culture both informs and diverts class struggle

Our program's strengths include labour law and labour policy, the future of work and employment, women and work, globalization and its impact on work and workers, and our unique fourth year placement course. Labour Studies also offers courses in collective bargaining that will prepare you for contemporary and relevant workplace situations.

You will be well prepared for employment in the labour movement, private industry, government service, journalism, public or private administration, social work, law or teaching. Many students go on to graduate work in political science, industrial relations and labour law.