Programs & Degrees | Faculty of Arts and Science

Music

Queen’s Music has earned a reputation across Canada for producing some of the best-prepared graduates: musicians who excel as scholars, composers, teachers and performers. Students in the DAN School of Drama and Music obtain a solid education in music, while pursuing a wide variety of courses in applied study (performance), ethnomusicology, theory and composition, and music education. Music students have many opportunities to become engaged in Drama studies especially in the areas of Music Theatre and Opera. Music students practice and perform in the fantastic Rehearsal Hall and Concert Hall of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.

Department

Drama & Music

Undergraduate

Philosophy

Grappling with life’s big topics, Philosophy provides students with critical thinking skills that enable you to uncover hidden assumptions, identify core premises, and evaluate arguments. The Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University has faculty working in a wide variety of fields, including political philosophy, ethics, bioethics, feminism, contemporary metaphysics and epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, continental philosophy and the history of philosophy.

Department

Physics & Astronomy

Physics at Queen’s combines high-calibre research with an intermediate-scale learning setting, enabling attention and care towards undergraduate teaching as well as exposure to a broad range of topics and expertise. Our students will learn in an engaging environment with the opportunity to conduct interdisciplinary research in state-of-the-art laboratories, and work on projects involving international collaborators such as the experiments in dark matter and neutrinos happening below the surface of the Earth at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

Department

Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy

Undergraduate

Political Studies

Politics is about power – who has it and how it is exercised by nation-states, individuals, groups, classes, or political parties, and how different interests are reconciled in and between communities. Political Studies is also concerned with the institutions created to govern communities, as well as with political practices such as voting habits or protests, and how rules, behaviours, and cultures are created in societies. Since power in society is often dependent upon material resources, political scientists also study the distribution of wealth, both within and between nations. Our department is particularly well known for its strength in the study of ethnically divided and diverse societies.

Department

Politics, Philosophy and Economics

Study social issues and how our society responds to these issues while asking questions drawn from economic, political, and philosophical perspectives. Society faces challenges that are complex and multi-dimensional, and our efforts to tackle these challenges require us to bring complementary intellectual skills together using multidisciplinary analytical and critical approaches. This program combines Economics, Philosophy and Politics to prepare students to enter graduate studies in areas of law, public service, international development, policy design and analysis, or any other career that calls for strong analytical and communication skills.

Department

Economics

Political Studies

Undergraduate

Psychology

Psychology is the study of mental processes and behaviour. Psychologists study relationships between brain function, behaviour, and environment. As a discipline, psychology explores a wide range of topics, including cognition, neuroscience, social influence, mental health, development, relationships, sensation, and perception, as well as the influence of factors such as gender and culture on these areas. Home to 35 labs, psychology students have the opportunity to work alongside faculty researchers to gain valuable research training.

Department

Religious Studies

Religion plays a major role in shaping and influencing various cultures and historical and political movements around the world. Understanding religious traditions and their impact on diverse modern issues is vital preparation for building a career in the global marketplace. At Queen’s, our approach to the study of religion is multicultural, diverse, and interdisciplinary. Religious Studies involves, among other things, examining the history of religious traditions, comparing ideas and values, and understanding the place and function of religion in society, including varieties of secularism. Students of religion investigate why people are religious, where religion comes from, and how it can be analyzed.

Department

Religion

Undergraduate

Master's

Sociology

Sociologists investigate how societies work. We critically examine the social world at every level, from personal relationships to the functioning of institutions and nations, right up to global interconnections. Our department is particularly well known for its strengths in criminology and the law; media, information, and surveillance; power, inequalities, and social justice.

Department

Software Design

This program is for those determined to push the boundaries of computer systems beyond their current limits. Mentored in the art and science of computer software architecture, analysis, and evolution by experts, our graduates become the software architects, graphics and game developers, designers, and entrepreneurs who drive the software revolution.

Department

Computing

Undergraduate

Spanish and Latin American Studies

If your focus lies in Latin America, the Spanish and Latin American Studies Minor would complement your Major plan. The SLAS Minor Plan provides students an interdisciplinary element which is not strictly limited to literature, film and culture. This Plan involves two years of language study in addition to option courses from within the Department and/or other academic units across campus. Option courses include advanced language, literature, culture, art, economics, film, gender studies, geography, global development, history, political studies and sociology. Students have a variety of ways in which to complete their Plan which could complement their Major and improve future employment opportunities by choosing additional language acquisition courses, literature and culture courses within the language, courses from a particular discipline, or a combination that will give the student a varied perspective on Latin America.

Department

Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Undergraduate

Statistics

Statistics is the science of designing informative experiments, of displaying and analyzing data, and of drawing valid conclusions from data. There is great demand for those who understand and can apply statistics effectively. Knowledge of statistical methods is useful to scientists and engineers, and to others working in government, research, industry, and medicine. Statistics can also be studied as a subject in its own right.

Department

Mathematics and Statistics

Undergraduate

World Language Studies

The planet is becoming ever smaller and globalization is affecting how people live and work. As such, knowledge of multiple languages is a tremendous asset, paving the way for an international career, providing valuable insight into cultural difference, and preparing students for a global future.

Department

Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Undergraduate