Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry

at York University - School of Continuing Studies Canada

The French Studies program focuses on the study of language, linguistics and literature while exploring francophone culture around the world. We keep our classes small to give you plenty of opportunity to speak French and interact with professors and classmates. You will be taught oral and written production and comprehension, guided by teaching assistants from France.

The linguistics program exposes you to the many branches of linguistics (syntax, semantics, phonetics, sociolinguistics, etc.) through a variety of practical and theoretical approaches. You will have the opportunity to study linguistics as applied to translation and to second language teaching.

The literature program opens doors to the literatures and cultures of the francophone world with a particular focus on French and French Canadian literature. You will develop analytical skills through the analysis of texts using various theoretical and philosophical approaches.

The health of the environment has become an urgent global concern. As we better understand how human survival and well-being depend on a healthy environment, public interest and awareness of the impact of human activities on other organisms and ecosystems is increasing.

This program focuses on the biology of environmental issues, integrating ecological theory and practice to predict, quantify, and address the impact of stressors such as habitat loss, pollutants, climate change, resource harvesting and invasive species on living systems. A capstone course in fourth year prepares you to be a practicing environmental biologist, exposing you to cutting-edge experimental design and methodology. A key objective of this program is the development of communication skills, to give our graduates a competitive edge.

What makes Environmental Biology at York unique?
Learn from preeminent environmental biologists such as Bridget Stutchbury and Lawrence Packer
Combine a major in Environmental Biology with second major or a minor in a complementary discipline such as International Development, Geography, Earth and Space Sciences, Chemistry, Sociology, Health Policy or Environmental Studies.

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.

The History program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies explores historical events, people and places to help you gain a fuller understanding of, and appreciation for, the role and importance of history and how it impacts current events. Our professors have won university-wide, provincial and national teaching awards. Because of our size, our roster includes many and varied courses taught by experts in their fields.

Choose from courses covering Canadian, African and European history and explore themes such as the immigrant experience in Canada, the Holocaust and global migration.
In addition to courses in social, economic and political history, we offer subjects like:

• Native History
• Black History
• Histories of gender and sexualities
• History and film

Some of our best students go on to MA and PhD programs in Canada or abroad. In conjunction with York's programs in education, many of our graduates become teachers. The study of history teaches many skills necessary to succeed in today's world: critical thinking; research; assembling and analyzing information; and effective oral and written communication. Knowledge of history deepens your understanding of both the past and the present.

• We offer courses covering an almost global geography and ranging in time from antiquity to the fall of Communism.
• Our professors have published books on topics as varied as Halloween, love and death in Renaissance Italy, the world of voyageurs, Canadian marijuana policy and modern Iraq.
• We have 37 full-time professors providing creative, dynamic and innovative teaching. They include one Canada Research Chair, two Distinguished Research Professors, three Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) and one member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the RSC.

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.

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.

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.

York's Biophysics program draws on the long-established strengths of our Biology and Physics programs, with uniquely interdisciplinary courses highlighting their interfaces.

Biophysics is an exciting discipline at the intersection between physics and biology. It is an interdisciplinary field in which the laws, methods and techniques of physics are applied to biological processes and organisms. Biophysics applies the knowledge of physics to explain biological questions, such as the transmission of nervous impulses or muscle control.

For example, the DNA of salmon has been found to improve the performance of light emitting diodes, and areas of nanotechnology are founded upon the unique mechanical and electrical properties of DNA. Biophysicists study organisms at all levels of biological organization from the macroscopic (e.g. movement, muscle contractions, breathing) to the microscopic (e.g. cell division, molecular motors, energy generation and conversion, cellular reactions to physical stimuli).

Unique to the program is a scope sufficiently broad to expose you to knowledge and techniques applicable not only to humans but also to plants and animals, providing a solid background for positions in the environmental and agricultural sectors.

• York offers the opportunity to work side-by-side with professors through the more than 40 summer research and work-study programs offered each year.

Biophysics is an exciting interdisciplinary frontier of science in which the principles and techniques of physics are used to study living things and how they work. For instance, biophysicists have applied laser physics to map cells in three dimensions and reveal bacteria in drinking water, and have developed or improved techniques for analyzing organisms such as EM (Electron Microscopy), CT (Computer-aided Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), and X-ray crystallography. Studies of biological systems can also find applications to problems in physics. For example, the DNA of salmon has been found to improve the performance of light emitting diodes, and areas of nanotechnology are founded upon the unique mechanical and electrical properties of DNA. Biophysicists study organisms at all levels of biological organization from the macroscopic (e.g. movement, muscle contractions, breathing) to the microscopic (e.g. cell division, molecular motors, energy generation and conversion, cellular reactions to physical stimuli).

York’s Biophysics program is strong in both physics and biology, with uniquely interdisciplinary courses highlighting their interfaces. The program has a scope sufficiently broad to expose students to knowledge and techniques applicable not only to humans but to all of the kingdoms of life. Students acquire a theoretical and practical understanding of biology, physics, and supporting fields through both lecture- and lab-based courses.

Advance your career and prepare for management roles in the field of business through experiential, real-world learning activities taught by leading business experts.

What is the Post-Graduate Certificate Business Administration?
What do most successful managers, whether they work for start-ups, established corporations, or non-profit organizations have in common? A fundamental understanding of business principles. Whether you’re looking to build on existing experience or gain entirely new professional skills, our Post-Graduate Certificate in Business Administration is the perfect opportunity to prepare you for what comes next in your career.

Our accelerated delivery and comprehensive curriculum will allow you to strengthen and validate your business skill set and earn a valuable credential in just eight months. Better still, you will have the flexibility to balance your personal or career responsibilities while still achieving your professional and educational objectives.

What you will learn
This program is taught by an instructional team with years of professional experience in the business field. This experience gives them the ability to bring the curriculum to life and relate it to the current industry. Through practical, real-world, industry-minded assignments and projects you will learn to make strategic marketing decisions, effectively manage projects, and increase productivity and how to apply these learnings to real-world situations. You will also study current economic, social, and environmental business trends.

You will develop the core occupation-specific skills to effectively perform in the world of business, while also strengthening your cross-functional skills so you can excel in any role and industry. Our curriculum is critically reviewed regularly, ensuring you ear learning the most relevant and up to date lessons.

Program Benefits
Developed in consultation with industry experts, this program encompasses key business knowledge and skill areas though real-world projects, with minimal traditional testing. In the final capstone course you will apply all of your knowledge and business skills from previous courses in an exciting, hands-on format using online simulation software.

Our unique student-cohort model also allow you to progress with the same peer group from start to end. This mean a stable learning schedule, a logical smooth flow from one course to the next and the opportunity to build support networks, study groups and lasting connections with your classmates and instructors.

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.