Explore unique course offerings within Arts and Science

Did you know that the Faculty of Arts and Science offers over 7,500 courses? Explore the breadth of courses offered in FAS and challenge yourself to step-out of your comfort zone during open enrolment. Branching out my lead you to meeting your next best-friend or discovering a passion for a topic such as paleontology, film, or astrology.  

While 7,500 courses may seem daunting to browse, the new digital Academic Calendar has largely improved the student experience in searching for courses. Kevin O’Brien, Associate Director (Registration, Admissions, and Service) explains how the calendar allows you to easily search course offerings.

“The new digital Academic Calendar enables students to have an engaging and informative experience during the course registration period,” says O’Brien. “Rather than having to search through individual PDF’s, students can use the calendar’s search function to easily find a particular course, or they can browse courses by searching focus areas, such as ‘justice’ or ‘environment’.”

To make taking one of these unique courses even more appealing, students can take an elective course stress-free by making it a Personal Interest Credit (PIC). A PIC is a course that an upper-year student can make Pass/Fail, giving you the opportunity to explore and try new things without having to worry about your GPA.

“Arts and Science students are encouraged to explore our Faculty’s diverse range of topics,” says Jill Atkinson, Acting Associate Dean (Academic). “We work hard to ensure that students are able to find and follow their passions by offering a breadth of courses across various fields - truly making every student’s journey in Arts and Science unique.”

While there are hundreds of interesting courses to highlight, FAS is excited to introduce Indigenous-focused courses which go toward the new Bachelor of Art (Honours) Indigenous Major and Joint Honours. One such course includes Indigenous Ways of Knowing (INDG 301) which looks at the different knowledge centers of Indigenous peoples and examines their various pedagogies.

Here are a few other unique courses offered in FAS:

Introduction to Hip Hop (MUSC 271/3.0) - This course draws attention to the richness of hip hop as a knowledge system and its connections to the particular and convergent trajectories of black histories, black intellectual thought, and black creative texts.

Poison and Prejudice: Toxins in Global History (HIST 223) - This course examines how toxins have played an important role in health, forensic research, standards of beauty and intercultural associations. Through an examination of several global instances ranging from the role of poison in slave resistance to colonial laws governing exotic poisons in India and the diaspora, the course will explore the larger socio-cultural contexts in which poisons hold meaning.

The Science of Mental Health, Well-being and Resiliency (IDIS 199) - This course will impart relevant evidence across disciplines including psychology, sociology, medicine, kinesiology, and applied neuroscience to understand the science behind mental health, well-being, and resiliency in emergent adults.

French Language for Indigenous Contexts (FREN 239) – This course explores the world of Canadian Indigenous Art, in French. This course is perfect for students who understand the French language and wish to continue learning it, while also learning about Indigenous arts and contexts.

There are hundreds of more cool courses to choose from. Which ones will you explore?