Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

In today’s media-centric and technologically saturated environment, knowledge of communication is essential for both professional and everyday life. We teach students to question, analyze and creatively reflect on the wide range of media systems and communication technologies that permeate our lives.

This includes:

• How communication processes and information technologies can be used to profoundly shape and transform societies, from strengthening local communities to establishing global networks.
• How culture and media are intrinsically intertwined, from the expression of identities and social relations to the circulation of ideas and the shaping of social and political values.
• How struggles to create, define and regulate public, not-for-profit and for-profit communication systems are implicated in broader issues around citizenship, corporate power, and public accountability.

We offer an interdisciplinary and innovative approach to teaching and learning, and we provide a comprehensive curriculum that encompasses theoretical, applied and experiential learning. Our students become critical, independent, and creative thinkers able to engage with the various dimensions and complexities of communication, whether this involves creating or evaluating media content and information technologies, or addressing significant issues arising out of their production and use. Our graduates work in the communication and cultural industries sector, in the not-for-profit and advocacy sector, and in the public sector. 

Civil engineering is a driving engine of economic growth. From soaring skyscrapers and breathtaking bridges to innovative transportation systems and next-generation clean water technologies – the scope and impact of Civil Engineering is unparalleled. Whether it is designing roads, bridges & tunnels or making people safer by creating earthquake proof buildings, civil engineers have a wide variety of skills that make the world safer and more efficient.

What You’ll Learn
Civil Engineering students at Lassonde learn about structural and foundation design, transportation systems planning and design, water resources management, wastewater treatment, and environmental impact assessment. In addition, our graduates receive training in new emerging areas, such as innovative materials and construction technologies, infrastructure rehabilitation, computer-aided simulations, sustainability, natural hazards, and climate-change-driven engineering. 

Students have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of technical electives in Civil Engineering: 

• Structural 
• Geotechnical 
• Hydrotechnical 
• Transportation 
• Environmental 

Professional experience through co-op option after second year can give you an early start towards becoming a licensed Professional Engineer.

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.

German Studies encompasses subjects ranging from language, literature and film studies to intellectual and cultural history, urban studies, political science, museum studies, art history and women's studies.

German is a major language of business, diplomacy and tourism in the European Union and Eastern Europe. It is also the language of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the largest portion of Switzerland, as well as Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, areas of Northern Italy, Eastern Belgium and Eastern France. Knowledge of German is vital for Canadians who want to compete in the emerging Eastern European market.

This program is divided into two streams:

• German Language, Literature and Culture — all courses but one are offered in German.
• German Culture and Society — you'll select courses that deal with the German-speaking world (e.g. history, political science, humanities). Language requirement applies.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GERMAN STUDIES PROGRAM AT YORK:

• Students majoring in German are encouraged to study in Germany for one year. York has Canada's best array of exchange programs with partner institutions in German-speaking Europe in conjunction with the Ontario/Baden-Württemberg program.
• Take advantage of the Multimedia Language Centre (MLC) of York University, located in S117 Ross, is a resource centre dedicated to supporting students who are enrolled in programs of study of language, literature and linguistics.

Informed global citizens understand the history behind current policies or media headlines. How do you support fair trade? How to overcome the North-South divide? This program will challenge you to analyze colonialism and the developing world, the gap between rich and poor nations and the social, cultural, economic and political elements of international development case studies.

York's International Development Studies program will help you develop a deep and sophisticated understanding of the dimensions of world poverty, its causes and the processes of development aimed at eliminating poverty by promoting human fulfillment and achievement.

You will emerge from the program with a thorough grounding in the history, debates, dimensions, institutional approaches and critiques of the field, but also able to read World Bank documents, talk the institutional language of development professionals and know how to put together and implement a development research or delivery proposal.

• Participate in the events and workshops offered by York's International Secretariat for Human Development and Democratic Governance.
• Complement your study with overseas internships, volunteer positions or study abroad programs to develop awareness and respect for diverse cultures and to become familiar with the dynamics of poverty and development.
• Join the International Development Studies Student Association to develop and support the advancement of international development.

Study in one of the largest Geography programs in any university in Canada. Whether you're pursuing your Bachelor of Science and focusing on physical geography or gaining expertise about human geography through a Bachelor of Arts, York's program offers you the world at your doorstep.

Geography is the science of place and space. Geographers ask where things are located on the surface of the earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another, and how people interact with the environment. There are two main branches of geography: human geography and physical geography.

Geographers also study the linkages between human activity and natural systems. Geographers were, in fact, among the first scientists to sound the alarm that human-induced changes to the environment were beginning to threaten the balance of life itself. They are active in the study of global warming, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution, and flooding.

In the Faculty of Science, the Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree emphasizes physical geography, which examines the physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in the immediate vicinity of the Earth's surface. Physical geographers study patterns of climates, land forms, vegetation, soils, and water. They forecast the weather, manage land and water resources, and analyze and plan for forests, rangelands, and wetlands. Many human and physical geographers have skills in cartography and geographic information systems. Field work is also emphasized, including outdoor laboratory sessions, field trips and periodic field courses in Southern Ontario as well as to remote and exotic regions.

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.

Linguistics constitutes the systematic study of natural language, its formal structures, and social function.
Linguistics & Language Studies examines the building blocks of languages, how they develop over time, how people learn languages, how regional accents differ and more. Why Linguistics at Glendon? Our professors offer an expanse of expertise in the study of sound properties, word patterns, meaning, language evolution, and the relationship between language and social factors.

Violations of human rights occur across a broad range of social, economic and cultural areas as well as within the civil and political order. Today we are faced with local and global issues that, in one way or another, impact all of us: denial of education or basic health rights; surveillance and suppression of speech; polarization of incomes or denial of economic security; atrocities of military occupation and war.

Students in York's innovative Human Rights & Equity Studies program explore the roots of human rights violations as they occur across a broad range of social, economic and cultural areas. You'll tackle local and global issues, that, in one way or another, impact us all:

• Denial of education or basic health rights;
• Surveillance and suppression of speech;
• Polarization of incomes or denial of economic security;
• Atrocities of military occupation and war.

York's program investigates rights and equity concerns through a range of disciplinary lenses. Courses drawn from units across York confront problems of basic rights involving physical, emotional and economic security, cultural autonomy and freedom of political expression, viewing rights in relation to the whole person.

• Gain multidisciplinary knowledge by exploring human rights and equity in a diverse array of fields, including sociology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, social work, economics, health, education and the arts.
• Core professors are experts in social and cultural rights and equity concerns related to health and healthcare, economic inequality and poverty, work and unemployment, and social and labour policy.

Statistics is a field that provides the foundations and techniques to collect, analyze, and present information in an effective and efficient manner. Recent trends involve a resurgence of interest in methods for informal exploratory analysis of data. This relies increasingly on friendly computing environments supported by efficient algorithms. York's Statistics program is an exploration of the nature of measurement, chance variation, probability, uncertainty, inductive logic and inference, and combines naturally with studies in the life and social sciences.

An increasingly important aspect of modern statistics is the design of experiments and surveys — as well as analyzing the resulting data — in areas of application ranging scientific studies to the insurance industry. Statisticians use surveys to predict the patterns of behaviour of large groups based on relatively small samples.

Through its applications in almost every branch of modern professional life and research, statistics is a fast-growing discipline that provides a statistician with a variety of career opportunities. Statistics is offered as both a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science options. Why take one instead of the other? 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.

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.