Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

Solutions for 21st-century challenges involve complex systems that no single discipline can fully address. Mathematical Biology, a program in the field of Applied Mathematics, aims to represent biological processes using a variety of mathematical tools and techniques. Mathematical modelling has direct impact in areas such as disease prevention, the development of ecosystems and waste management. York offers Canada’s only degree in Mathematical Biology, and as a fourth-year student, you will have the opportunity to acquire real-life problem-solving skills in a required research project. Experience directly the intersection of math and the life sciences, as well as the role it plays in our everyday concerns. As a program graduate, you will leave with the tools and knowledge allowing you to help solve the problems of modern life. 

Designed to inspire, develop and enhance creative and critical thinking, the curriculum in AMPD's Department of Dance fosters deeply embodied and intellectual learning. Canada's largest and most comprehensive dance program educates innovative, thoughtful and articulate dance professionals, prepared to be engaged leaders in diverse environments.

Program Structure
Dance students take a common first year and then branch into one of two streams according to their interests and goals. Upper-year students may audition to join the department's resident company, the York Dance Ensemble. They also have the opportunity to gain hands-on training in lighting design for dance, to embrace emerging media and integrate technology into their dance practices, and to extend their professional experience through field placements, collaborative research and guest teaching.

Streams
Choreography/Performance
This stream centres on studio work in contemporary/modern dance, with options in urban, contemporary/ballet and world dance forms. Students acquire specialized knowledge and skills in movement observation, production and performance, informed by an understanding of choreographic elements and principles, somatics and embodied storytelling. they learn to create and present original works in a variety of performance spaces incorporating professional production values and contemporay media technologies.

Dance Education
Students in this stream explore practical and theoretical aspects of teaching dance in a variety of communities and settings, including innovative approaches and experience working with children, youth, adults in all stages of life, marginalized individuals and people with disabilities. Graduates are prepared to enter the field as educators in recreational, community-based and private settings.

Featured Facilities

• Five spacious rehearsal studios
• Two choreography studios
• Black box dance theatre-studio
• A 600-seat thrust stage
• Strate Dance Studio Theatre
• Pilates conditioning equipment
• Extensive costume collection
• Audio and video recording facilities
• Extensive library collection of dance books and periodicals
• Dance-specific computer software and peripherals

There are three streams within the Physics and Astronomy program:

• Physics
• Applied Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics

Physics is the most fundamental science discipline. It attempts to understand nature at its deepest level. It develops an understanding and description of all forms of energy and matter and can be said to occupy the middle ground between mathematics and engineering.

Astronomy is the science that deals with the origin, evolution, composition, distance and motion of all bodies and scattered matter in the universe. It includes astrophysics, which discusses the physical properties and structure of all cosmic matter. Participate in world-class research projects led by our professors in fields as diverse as atomic and molecular physics, laser physics, elementary particle and subatomic physics and engineering physics. Students from this program routinely win prestigious grants to support them in all areas of graduate research.

You will gain a strong grounding in physics, astronomy and computer-based physics with a strong experimental physics component. You will not only learn the subject matter, but also learn how to write scientific reports, and deliver oral presentations on a topic of your choice. The physical world is open to you!

• Work with professors in our research groups like those in experimental high-energy (particle) physics and astronomy and the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science.
• It's natural to combine Physics with other disciplines, such as Earth and Atmospheric Science, Chemistry, Computer Science or Biology. Given that physics teachers for high schools are difficult to find, why not combine Physics & Astronomy studies with a teaching degree?
• York's Astronomical Observatory is actively engaged in a long-term variable star monitoring program. Although clear and dark skies are not as frequent as one would like in Toronto, the results from this on going research have yielded relatively "clean" and valid scientific results. Results are presented at the annual Canadian Astronomical Society meetings each year. Come to a public viewing on Wednesday night or take a virtual tour.
• The Astronomy Club brings together all those who look to beauty, those who seek knowledge and those who are simply curious to meet, discuss and learn about the cosmos in which we live.

York offers one of the largest, most productive and innovative communities of scholars engaged in interdisciplinary research and undergraduate and graduate teaching in sociology.

Sociology looks at social relations, interactions and power dynamics to gain insight into how society works. Sociology is the study of societies and the way that they shape people's behaviour; beliefs, and identity. Probably the most important thing about sociology is that it enables us to make sense of the rapidly changing world that we live in. Perhaps most fundamentally of all, sociology enables us to understand ourselves. The way that we think, behave, and feel, indeed our very sense of identity, is socially produced.

In York's Sociology program, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures. Develop excellent reading, writing and key critical and analytical reasoning skills. Learn research techniques that can be applied to virtually any aspect of social life:

• Criminal justice system and social regulation
• Social class and inequality
• Organization, welfare or education reform
• Health care
• Race and racism
• Discrimination and law
• Gender relations
• Migration and how families differ and flourish

At either campus, you will study with great professors such as Stuart Schoenfeld, a specialist in the sociology of the environment; Françoise Boudreau, the recipient of several awards for outstanding teaching; Donald Carveth, a renowned psychoanalyst frequently featured on CBC and other media; and Brian Singer, a specialist in social and political thought.

Combine an interdisciplinary exploration of urban life, its qualities and its discontents with the study of social geography — the discipline that has most closely examined the nature of city lives and city places.

You can orient your studies in a number of ways to suit your interests:

• Explore the modern city
• Study urban development in a global context
• Research the history and comparative study of cities
• Learn about planning and environmental issues.

From Ancient Greece came many of the Western world's cultural values and social institutions, while contemporary Greece, situated at the intersection between Europe and the Middle East, is a vitally important modern nation. In our exciting Hellenic Studies program you'll have the opportunity to explore the ancient and modern periods in Greece through a curriculum that integrates language study with courses covering Greek literature, culture and history.

As well as providing a formal degree program for students interested in ancient and modern Greece, Hellenic Studies will help you develop critical reading, analysis and writing skills and will give you an excellent range of experience in art criticism, language work, historical analysis, literary and philosophical study.

• Participate in connections with universities in Greece and with Hellenic Studies programs around the globe.
• Toronto’s vibrant Greek community, through the creation of the Hellenic Heritage Chair, has made our program the leading centre of Hellenic Studies in Ontario and beyond. The Hellenic Heritage Foundation of Toronto endowed the Hellenic Heritage Chair in Modern Greece with $2 million in 2002. York also contributed $500,000 to the Chair.

Small classes (groups of only 25 Anglophone and Francophone students) provide an ideal setting for learning and mastering skills of translation.
Unique in Southern Ontario, our program addresses a significant shortage of English, French and Spanish translators in Canada. Our graduates work for the United Nations, the Government of Canada, law firms, publishing houses and more. They have also developed careers in editing, writing and teaching.
Stay ahead of the curve

Gain experience and earn course credits by participating in an internship with the provincial or federal government, the private sector, or with other organizations. As a Translation student, you’ll forge a strong professional network and will obtain a free membership to the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario with access to all its services, job postings, workshops and networking opportunities.

Develop awareness and a sense of social responsibility relating to Indigenous issues. Your access to traditional Elders and ceremonies, and your placements with Indigenous or supporting organizations will provide you with cultural and experiential knowledge about Indigenous lands, languages and cultures.

Indigenous Studies at York is a unique program that combines an experiential emphasis on local Indigenous traditions, treaties and languages with the theoretical insights of Indigenous scholars. We also feature courses that enable students to explore Indigenous literatures, cinema and music, or to develop an awareness of interconnections with Indigenous peoples internationally as well as with the racialized communities situated on Indigenous lands across the Americas due to histories of slavery and indentureship.

Specialize in one of these streams: Atmospheric Science, Geomatics Science or Space Science. Atmospheric Science explores meteorology from the turbulent micro-scale to the large synoptic-scale weather systems. Geomatics Science delivers the knowledge and skills to work with terrestrial, aerial and space-observing platforms. Space Science explores the near-Earth space environment, as well as other planets. 

What You’ll Learn
Atmospheric Science explores meteorology from the turbulent micro scale to the large synoptic scale weather systems. In our program, you will learn how we use computer models to forecast the weather and will develop a deeper understanding of the processes that drive severe weather, climate and climate change. You can top off your degree with a Certificate in Meteorology.

In Geomatics Science (formerly Earth Science), you will study about modern geophysics, Earth’s gravity field, satellite geodesy, reference systems, plus surveying and mapping with emphasis in the areas of geospatial science and applications. Our program provides you the knowledge and skills to work with terrestrial, aerial and space observing platforms. Add depth to your degree with a certificate in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing.

Space Science explores the near Earth space environment as well as other planets. You will learn how to investigate and establish new satellite programs for optical aeronomy, dynamics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and monitoring the recovering ozone layer.

This program is offered by the Faculty of Science on the Keele Campus.

The Mathematics program provides an excellent background for many occupations demanding skills in mathematical reasoning and techniques. The program emphasizes the understanding of concepts, abstraction and reasoning; these then become the tools for problem-solving, as well as the language and environment in which problems are solved.

Pure mathematics focuses attention on basic concepts and then takes those concepts and creates a practical application for them. Finance and cryptography are current examples of areas to which pure mathematics is applied in significant ways.
All Mathematics students (Mathematics, Applied Math, Statistics, Math for Commerce) take common first- and second-year courses. It is in the third and fourth years that the programs begin to differentiate.

• If you're interested in a Bachelor of Arts (BA) math degree, you will combine your math courses with other Arts courses such as psychology or economics.
• For a Bachelor of Science (BSc) math degree, you will combine your math courses with other science courses such as physics, earth and atmospheric science, biology or computer science.