Bachelor of Arts in Sexuality Studies

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

Learn what it takes to lead HR teams and projects as you investigate everything from compensation practices to labour relations.

What you will learn
This full-time post-degree certificate program was developed by an advisory committee of senior human resources executives to prepare you for excellence. Consisting of ten courses covering the core human resources topics as determined by the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA), this program will help you better understand:

• Human resources management
• Organizational behaviour
• Finance and accounting
• Human resources planning
• Occupational health and safety
• Training and development
• Labour relations
• Recruitment and selection
• Compensation
• Business Communications for Human Resources Professionals

Program Benefits

• Benefit from a curriculum that integrates critical soft skills that employers want in new hires
• Become a member of the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) at the student rate
• Fulfill coursework required for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation
• Program recognized by the HRPA
• Develop skills through experiential assignments and projects
• Learn from practicing HR instructors
• Build your professional network as you advance through the program with the same cohort of peers
• Complete the program in nine months of accelerated study

York developed the full-time second-entry BScN program in response to an increasing demand for nursing programs which build on prior university learning. It is available to students who have completed a minimum of 60 credits towards any university degree and who meet the program prerequisites. By studying in the concentrated and continuous six semester program, students can complete their BScN in two calendar years. 

As with other programs in the School of Nursing, the second-entry program reflects a unique teaching approach that focuses on cultivating human relationships. This patient-centred approach answers a growing demand for health care services and practitioners that respect patients' values and choices about health and quality of life. It recognizes that every patient has a personal story. We encourage you to question and critical think about conventional assumptions and practices and help you gain the insights and skills that will prepare you to contribute to the evolution of health care in Canada.

Students complete the full time program in two calendar years and will graduate in the fall after the second summer semester. This is a full time program and there is no part time option available.

First year
Students begin with studies in the areas of wellness and health challenges, assessment skills, professional development and issues, knowledge of nursing, thinking, communicating and relating in the context of nursing, applied pathophysiology, and ethical ways of knowing. In addition, students will also complete courses in biochemistry and pharmacology.

Clinical practice in the first year will help students develop their practical skills throughout the continuum of health experiences that persons may face. They then continue on to examining and enacting client-centred care within the context of caring for individuals and families in their homes and rehabilitative settings Last, students will engage in praxis in complex care settings as persons and families deal with acute and chronic health challenges.

Second year
Students will begin to explore additional layers of complexity in nursing practice with courses focusing on nursing research and inquiry, advanced professional issues, nursing in a global context and nurses as leaders of change.

Clinical praxis will focus on partnering with and integrating client-centredness in community settings. Student will continue with the exploration of nursing in the context of human vulnerability and diversity. In preparation for independent practice after graduating, students will undertake 12 continuous weeks of clinical practice that offers them the opportunity to integrate learning from all nursing courses and engage in deliberate praxis.

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.

Urban Studies at York stresses the importance of fieldwork when studying the social and spatial fabric of cities.

The city is among the most fundamental human institutions. Across history, cities have been sites of basic innovation in economic, political and cultural life — centres of trade, seats of empire and the locale of scientific, social and artistic creativity. Cities retain these roles today and are the home of a growing majority of the world’s population who increasingly live in large metropolitan regions of several million people. Often, as in many Canadian cities, these urban regions are marked by complex social diversity, striking contrasts of wealth and poverty and a challenging array of planning and environmental dilemmas.

Urban Studies is the attempt to understand cities and city life — how they function, the current and future concerns of their residents. This encompasses the political institutions, economic and social relations, physical landscapes and cultural frameworks that constitute the city.

As a student in Urban Studies, you will focus on cities as distinctive entities and explore the meaning and function of cities in the larger society. You'll be taking courses from a broad range of fields including:

• History
• Environmental studies
• Geography
• Anthropology
• Political science
• Sociology
• Psychology.

You will also examine the processes that produce certain patterns of human settlement and chart the changing relationships among areas shaped by urbanization, such as metropolis and countryside, city and suburb, municipality and region.

Did you know that humans have been biotechnologists for nearly 6,000 years? Making wine, beer, cheese and yogurt involve the use of bacteria or yeast to convert a natural product, like milk or grape juice, into a more desirable fermentation product.

Biothechnology is the direct or indirect use of living organisms in an innovative manner in the production of goods and services, or to improve existing processes. Applications of this science include the diagnosis and treatment of disease, genetically modifying agricultural crops and production of vitamins, pharmaceuticals and other economically important products.

York’s Biotechnology program prepares you for a career in this exciting, steadily growing field. This program teaches not only the underlying science but also exposes you to relevant social, legal, ethical and business issues.

Many students ask, how does "biotechnology" differ from "genetic engineering"? Biotechnology is a broad term that applies to all practical uses of living organisms—anything from microorganisms used in the fermentation of beer to the most sophisticated application of gene therapy. Genetic engineering refers to a set of technologies that are being used to change the genetic makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries to produce novel organisms.

This program has been designed to provide a well-coordinated synthesis of carefully selected courses in molecular and cell biology, genetics and biochemistry with others in computer science, economics, business and ethics. It combines the required technical and conceptual scientific rigor necessary for mastery of the discipline with a fundamental education relevant to socio-economic aspects of biotechnology.

York's program is designed to offer you the opportunity to prepare for a career in biotechnology and, at the same time, to provide a sound foundation for postgraduate studies in molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry.
Students frequently compete in the Sanofi-Pasteur Healthcare & Biotechnology Venture Challenge. This is a unique opportunity for Biotechnology and Schulich MBA students to create business plans to get products out of the lab and on to the market. In 2010, teams comprised of York Biotechnology and Schulich MBA students were awarded with over $10,000 in prizes.

Biotechnology is the application of science and engineering in the innovative use of living organisms to create new products that improve the quality of our food, our health and our environment. Applications of this science include the diagnosis and treatment of disease, genetically modifying agricultural crops and production of vitamins, pharmaceuticals and other economically important products. York’s Biotechnology program prepares you for a career in this exciting, steadily growing field. This program teaches not only the underlying science but also exposes you to relevant social, legal, ethical and business issues.

Study the health of the world’s population that is intertwined with broader issues, including wealth disparity, environmental degradation, government policy and human rights. Students in York’s Global Health degree examine these and other issues in small classroom settings benefitting from direct interaction with their professors and fellow students. Combine your classroom learning with a fourth-year field placement offered with organizations locally or internationally.

Global Health Courses
All students, whether in the BA or BSc options, are exposed to the major issues that are at the forefront of global health through core courses, including:

• Global Health Governance and Leadership
• Global Health Policy, Power and Politics
• Health and Human Rights
• Determinants of Health: Local to Global
• Chronic Diseases and Care
• Communicable Diseases and Care
• Healthcare Planning for Communities
• Healthcare Ethics
• Agents of Change in a Global World (strongly recommended as an elective course)

Pathways to Medical, Professional Schools & Post-Graduate Training
Taught by professors in all areas of the Faculty of Health – Health Policy & Management, Kinesiology & Health Science, Nursing and Psychology – the Global Health degree provides an excellent foundation for medical school, professional schools (e.g. law, teaching), graduate school and post-graduate training (e.g. nursing).

Global Health as a 2nd Degree
Students who hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution and are admissible according to Faculty of Health and York University policies may pursue a second degree in Global Health at York University. With full-time study (i.e., 15 credits per term), students may be able to complete an Honours BA/BSc degree in Global Health in as little as four terms (two calendar years). Students pursuing a Specialized Honours BA/BSc degree in Global Health may complete the program in six terms (3 calendar years).

Students will be assessed as eligible for an Honours or Specialized Honours degree in Global Health if they have graduated with an Honours or 90-credit bachelor’s degree. Students will be granted transfer credit in accordance with the University’s residency requirement. Depending on the program of study from an applicant’s first degree, it is likely that all general education and many elective course requirements will be waived. This will allow students to focus exclusively on their Global Health major course requirements as they fast-track their studies.

York's Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies program covers not only the Portuguese language but also the culture, history and literature of the entire Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) world across all continents. Learn about and engage with a diversity of cultures – their art, literature, music, history and social and political landscapes through courses such as:

• Luso-Brazilian Cultures and Cinemas
• Cannibal Brazil: Cultural Encounters in Literature and Film
• Language in Context: Portuguese in the Greater Toronto Area
• Mapping Brazilian Identity Through Fiction: History, Race and Gender

The Portuguese language is the fourth most widely used language in the world, spoken daily by over 250 million people.

Its study will prepare you for work both nationally and internationally, offering you instant entry to Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, East Timor as well as numerous Lusophone communities around the world - Canada, USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Venezuela, Luxemburg  - and the territories of Macau and Goa.

We are the only university in Canada that offers a course solely dedicated to the region of the Azores. The Culture and Literature of the Azores delves into the uniqueness of this North Atlantic archipelago, whose natives make up the majority of the Portuguese immigrants in Canada.
Our program offers many opportunities for you to move beyond academics, exploring experiential education opportunities, and engaging in cultural events that will enliven your learning.

Culture & Expression explores the catalytic relationship between the creative human imagination and the cultural settings that ignite it.
Literature, architecture, popular culture, the arts, media and technology provide areas of study for Culture & Expression courses. This program investigates how meaning, embedded in form, offers ways of understanding culture as a complex expression that animates human imagination and life. It encourages speculation on how this expression operates in social, political and cultural settings.

Through the lens of humanities studies, you examine historical and contemporary themes. Explore how themes are expressed, refracted, and reflected through a range of cultural forms such as cinema, music, literature and various forms of popular and material culture. Theoretical courses delve into the core of ideological "meaning" in culture, analyzing the social, economic and political contexts in which culture manifests itself.

Highlights of studying Culture & Expression at York:

• Explore exciting expressions of human creativity in popular culture, architecture, media and technology.
• Learn how a broad range of cultural and artistic forms convey social, political and philosophical concerns.
• Courses are drawn from areas including the humanities, communication studies, sociology, gender and women's studies, popular and material culture studies - providing you with personal choice and flexibility.
• Our professors are leading researchers in their fields: modernism, material culture, digital humanities, documentary film and critical studies in Black Canadian Culture.
• Courses are drawn from areas including the humanities, communication studies, sociology and women's studies - providing you with personal choice and flexibility.

Our professors are leading researchers in their fields. They include:

• Elicia Clements, author, Virginia Woolf: Music, Sound, Language
• Leslie Sanders, author, Black Canadian Studies Certificate
• David Cecchetto, author, Ludic Dreaming: How to Listen Away from Contemporary Technoculture
• Gail Vanstone, recipient of the 2010 Dean’s Award in Teaching Excellence.

York's School of Kinesiology & Health Science has been consistently ranked among the top three programs in Ontario and among the top 25 in the world according to the ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments.

Kinesiology & Health Science is the study of human movement and the relationship between physical activity and health. Most students enter the Kinesiology and Health Science Program because they have a keen interest in physical activity and health and plan to work in an applied health or education field.
York has one of the largest course offerings in Kinesiology in Canada, including more than 50 professionally focused practicum courses that let you apply your studies to everything from game strategy and injury assessment to event management.

The program provides both an arts and a science perspective to the study of human movement and students can apply to either the Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) program.
York's Kinesiology & Health Science program includes:

• Academic theory
• Laboratory
• Tutorial
• Physical activity practica experiences

The program is constantly evolving in response to societal changes and shifts in faculty and student interests. You will take a common core of required academic courses which encompass the major areas of emphasis in the discipline:

• Ergonomics
• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Teaching and coaching
• Sport administration
• Athletic therapy
• Aging
• Epidemiology
• Health promotion
• Gender and sport

Humanities is the study of culture. It involves history, art, literature, music, architecture, politics, food - all aspects that help to define and express a specific group of people. The study of the Humanities serves to challenge our common understanding of issues and events, and helps students to develop valuable critical, analytical and communications skills.

The Humanities program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies will introduce you to the major questions of life as you study issues of social, moral and aesthetic value. Drawing from literature, History, Philosophy, Religion, Fine Arts and popular culture courses, the Humanities program enables you to gain a greater self-understanding and appreciation of the diversity of human cultures and experiences. The program pays special attention to what is unique, particular and unpredictable in human experience.

You can combine studies in the Humanities with a related discipline such as History, Philosophy or Women's Studies, exploring complimentary historical, cultural and gender perspectives.

As a Humanities graduate, you will be well-prepared to face your future lives and careers through well-reasoned decisions and responsible actions. You will be valued by leaders of the high-tech industry and government for your:

• Creativity and broad-based skills;
• Ability to communicate, to sell, to relate and work as part of a team;
• Intellectual curiosity;
• Critical values.