Courses

Learning and Working in Digital World (ASCX 150)

A university degree needs to prepare learners to pursue careers that do not yet exist - to solve problems that we cannot yet comprehend. This course will help to you to develop transferable skills that will reach into that unknown future, setting you up for success in university and beyond.

Modules will include the psychology of how we learn and process information, assessing and evaluating the accuracy and trustworthiness of both qualitative and quantitative statements, productivity, and academic integrity. The course will also support your development of interpersonal, teamwork, intercultural competency and conflict resolution skills.

Space is limited so be sure to load this into your shopping cart and enrol when registration begins on July 18.

How to Enrol

You can enrol in Learning & Working in A Digital World (ASCX 150) through the regular course enrolment process. Please note the below prerequisites and exclusions.

Prerequisite: Registration in an Arts and Science Degree Plan. Equivalency ASCX 101.

Dean's Changemaker Challenge (ASCX 200 & 300)

The Dean’s Changemaker Challenge is back for students across the Faculty of Arts and Science.

Do you have an innovative idea but aren’t sure where to start logistically or financially? Take the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge courses (ASCX 200 and 300) to learn how to launch an entrepreneurial venture and turn your ideas into reality.

At the end of the term, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in a Final Pitch competition, where a panel of alumni judges, including Dean Barbara Crow, awards seed funding to the best venture(s).

Congratulations to OSH Rentals, Sea to Soil, and Wholistic Wealth Education, who were each awarded $2,500 in seed funding at the first pitch competition of the 2022-2023 academic year. The Challenge is not over yet! Learn how the teams progress to the prototype in the final Dean’s Changemaker Challenge Pitch Competition. 

Interested in making changes? Enrol in ASCX 200 and ASCX 300 next year. These two courses are now part of the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN) Certificate and are a new pathway to the QUIP Entrepreneurial Stream. Learn more in our story New Experiential Learning Opportunities for Arts & Science Students. 

Past Winners

2022 - 2023

The first pitch competition of the 2022-2023 academic year took place in November where OSH Rentals, Sea to Soil, and Wholistic Wealth Education were each awarded $2,500 in seed funding. Read more about the Pitch Competition in our story: Challenging Themselves. 

Learn more about the 2022-2023 ventures.

2021 - 2022

The final pitch competition of the 2021-2022 academic year took place in April, and FinFem and UnLoved Foods were declared the big winners, each being awarded $7,500 in seed funding. Read more about the Final Pitch Competition in our story: Pitch Perfect - Two Teams Earn Funding in Dean's Changemaker Challenge.

FinFem is a fintech company that aims to uplift women in the financial sphere by increasing financial literacy, amplifying women’s voices in finance, and connecting investors to personal wealth management companies to kickstart their investment journeys. Long-term, we aim to equip our customers with the tools they need to have a sustainable financial future and contribute to resolving the gendered investment gap.

The mission of UnLoved Foods is to rescue “ugly” fruits and vegetables from local farms, grocery stores, and restaurants to create delicious and nutritious food and beverage products, while ensuring that they are supporting local economies by paying above-market rates for rescued products and donating to local food insecurity organizations.

2020 - 2021

LetsBloom is a children's book series that aims to tackle the Canadian youth mental health crisis. LetsBloom's mission is to equip children with the proper tools and resources necessary to navigate their mental health in a post-COVID world. 

Learn more about LetsBloom and the first-ever Dean's Changemaker Challenge in our story: Dean Crow Challenges Students to Make Changes.

Interested in previous ventures and pitch competition winners? Learn more about our 2021 ventures and 2022 ventures.

Dean's Changemaker Challenge

Dean Barbara Crow challenges you to make changes. The Dean’s Changemaker Challenge is a hands-on learning opportunity for you to collaborate with other undergraduate students from across the Faculty and make meaningful changes in ways that matter to you.

These two on-campus courses – offered for the first time in 2020/2021 – are designed to help you innovate by understanding the process of launching entrepreneurial ventures. You will learn to identify real-world challenges and opportunities, work collaboratively to develop solutions, and use startup business strategies to establish ventures. To support your success in the Challenge, as well as your career development, we have arranged for you to be mentored by Arts and Science alumni who are currently successful entrepreneurs . These experts will support your group as you prepare to showcase your venture and compete for investment at the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge pitch competition and, together, they comprise an invaluable network for your future career.   

The skills you’ll learn through the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge will serve you beyond your experience here at Queen’s. You’ll gain in-demand skills including leadership, project management, teamwork and entrepreneurship.

FAS is fostering change. We launched our first ever Strategic Plan in Fall 2019 and the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge is one of the initiatives outlined in our plan. Now it’s your turn to help us implement it, along with other initiatives, to support our strategic priorities of enriching the student experience, transforming our spaces, and supporting our people.

ASCX 200 - Collaborative Problem Solving

In this on-campus course, you will learn to apply startup business principles, concepts, and frameworks to real-world situations. In addition, you will evaluate how disruptive and incremental innovations bring about changes in the market through new business models, technologies, and paradigms. Concepts will be taught through identification and discussions of real-world opportunities and problems.   

At the beginning of the course, you will collaborate, learn and adapt to different working styles, and develop the interpersonal communication skills necessary for a successful business partnership. By the 3rd week, students will be sorted into teams based on your interests and aspirations.

As a final stage in the course, teams will pitch their ventures at the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge, a competitive event where a panel of alumni judges will award seed funding to the best venture(s).

Successful completion of this course will provide subsequent admission to ASCX 300. Space is limited to 50 students, so be sure to load this into your shopping cart and enrol as soon as possible!

This course is only available for FAS students.  It is also an alternative core course for the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity Certificate (replaces ENIN 200 which is an online course).

ASCX 300 - Implementation Strategies

Also run on campus, the course is dedicated to the implementation of a solution to a pre-identified problem. The topics will be immediately relevant to launching a venture, such as entrepreneurial project management, capitalizing a venture, and organizational governance. Working in the same ASCX 200 team, where students developed their first Minimum Viable Product (MVP), teams will then craft the proposed solution into a prototype and final pitch. 

By the end of the course, students can expect to have begun the implementation of a solution to a real-world problem. The course will culminate with the teams pitching their prototypes at the final Dean’s Changemaker Challenge, a competitive event where a panel of alumni judges will award seed funding to the best venture(s).

This course is only available for FAS students.  It is also an alternative core course for the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity Certificate (replaces CHEE 302 which is an online course).

How to Enrol

You can enrol in the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge courses (ASCX 200 & 300) through the regular course enrolment process. Please note the below prerequisites and exclusions.

ASCX 200:

PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above and in an Arts and Science Program 

EXCLUSION: ENIN 200 (Foundations of Entrepreneurship).

ASCX 300: 

PREREQUISITE: ASCX 200 and registration in an Arts and Science Degree Plan. 

EXCLUSION: CHEE302

Note: Space for these courses is limited to 50 students, so be sure to load this into your shopping cart and enrol as soon as possible.

Note: ASCX 200 and ASCX 300 are only offered on campus and now count as core options in the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN) Certificate.

Changemaker Challenge Mentors

Check back later for a list of 2021-2022 mentors. Previous mentors included:

Randy Ahuja 
ArtSci'90 
Global Senior Executive 
Bloom Energy

Randy Ahuja is a global C-level leader with 25+ years’ of experience with a passion for restructuring traditional global organizations eager to successfully compete in industries facing technology disruption.  He has conducted business worldwide leading to a unique global perspective and ability to successfully manage complex international operations and multi-cultural alliance relationships.

Currently, Randy is at Bloom Energy Corporation which is a Silicon Valley based clean energy company aimed at providing reliable, distributed energy through specialized fuel cell technology.  He serves as CEO of Bloom SK Fuel Cell based in Seoul and President of Bloom Energy Japan based in Tokyo. Prior to Bloom, Randy spent 20 years in the automotive industry with diverse roles at Nissan, General Motors and Ford.  He was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nissan’s Global Electric Vehicle Battery Business and General Manager for the Global Corporate Strategy Group serving the Nissan CEO and Executive Committee headquartered in Japan.   At General Motors, Randy held a variety of assignments in New York and Detroit including strategic alliances, overseas finance, distressed supplier management and product development.  He started his automotive career in Canada working in Labor Relations at a Ford Motor Company vehicle assembly plant.

Randy earned an MBA from Columbia University, a Master of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from Queen's University.

Bruce Keith 
ArtSci'91 
Senior Investment Adisor, Climate Finance, Latin America and the Caribbean 
International Finance Corporation

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ― Mahatma Gandhi 

My mission is in designing and executing comprehensive and proactive international business and economic development strategies designed to promote financial sustainability and independence. My talents lie in creating business investment and acquisition strategies that cascade for international implementation, in addition to aligning execution with commercial integration strategies for unique markets and regions. I possess multi-industry and multi-country leadership, operations and transaction execution experience in both start-up and established corporate environments.

Lauren Long 
ArtSci'13 
Senior Software Engineer & Technical Lead 
Google San Francisco

Lauren is a Senior Software Engineer and Technical Lead at Google San Francisco. Prior to joining Google, Lauren co-founded the storage-on-demand startup Boxit, and was the first Product Manager at wearable tech company Nymi. Lauren has spoken at conferences on 4 continents about entrepreneurship and technology. In her spare time, she enjoys salsa dancing, rock climbing, and writing.

Lauren graduated from Queen's University in 2013 with a degree in Biomedical Computing, and won the Medal in Computing for highest GPA. During her time at Queen's, she was Undergraduate Student Trustee and sat on the Campus Development and Planning Committee. After graduation, she was selected to participate in the third cohort of The Next 36 - Canada's premier entrepreneurship program. As a proud ArtSci grad who is passionate about education and entrepreneurship, Lauren is very excited to mentor the Dean's Changemaker Challenge.

Scott Reynolds 
ArtSci'92 
Co-Founder & CEO 
TangoTrade

Scott lives in Silicon Valley with his artist wife and teenage twins (twice the trouble!). He considers himself a bit of a weekend warrior, playing ice hockey, going mountain biking, and playing tennis whenever he can find the time. He grew up in Toronto (eh!) and received his BA (Honours) from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario and his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Interdisciplinary Client-Based Project (ASCX 400)

Looking for a hands-on learning experience in fourth year? Apply to take our Interdisciplinary Client-based Project course where you will take on a real-world problem or project for a community partner and work with students from other faculties and programs. Gain transferable skills that employers are searching for, such as project management, problem-solving, communication, and how to work with clients and stakeholders.

In ASCX 400, you could find yourself working for a company, non-profit organization, social enterprise, health and education providers, or local government. Review our Previous Projects section for some examples of the organizations that you could work with.

Your team will act as consultant and/or project manager, taking on the full scope of a project, from ideation to project design and implementation. You will be supported by experienced professionals who will act as your team mentors.

Projects will encompass topics based on societal and industry interests (such as social innovation, process improvement, business strategy, environment etc.). Potential projects range from creating apps and audio tours, fundraising campaigns and feasibility studies to creating business, marketing and communications plans as well as engineering, computing, and technology projects.

This interfaculty course runs during the winter term and provides an opportunity for you to work with students from other faculties, such as Engineering and Applied Science (FEAS), the School for Rehabilitation Therapy and the Smith School of Business. A full list of projects and descriptions for winter 2023 will be announced during the fall term.

Applications are not required for Fall 2022, but enrolment will be limited to 30-40 students. When the course is full, a waiting list may be available. If you are interested in enrolling in Fall 2022, please send your name and student number to asc.el@queensu.ca. 

Interested in applying for Winter 2023? Space in the course is limited, and students are required to submit an application to be considered. Interested students must send in a copy of their most recent resumé, as well as a cover letter indicating why they are interested in taking the course.

Applications for ASCX 400 (winter) should be sent to asc.el@queensu.ca and will be accepted until mid-November (with priority given to those received prior to mid-August). It is strongly recommended that you enroll in alternate courses while waiting for an application decision, should you not be admitted to the course.

NEW for Fall 2022

Queen’s University and the Faculty of Arts and Science has partnered with world-renowned Canadian photographer, and Queen’s Honorary Doctorate recipient (2007), Edward Burtynsky to help realize his new public art piece titled Standing Whale. 

Standing Whale will be a true-to-size, re-imagining of a blue whale skeleton, standing 5 stories high, and it aims to bring awareness to the impacts that humans, and progress is having on our planet. 

As with the winter version of ASCX 400, student teams will act as a consultant and/or project manager, taking on the full scope of a project, from ideation to project design and implementation. You will be supported by experienced, subject matter experts who will act as team mentors while you learn to apply a variety of disciplinary knowledge to your Standing Whale project. 

In teams of 3-5, students will work on projects that answer questions such as: 
How might Standing Whale:

• contribute to sustainable solutions for environmental change?
• effect narratives about environmental issues and the role that communities can play in averting climate catastrophe?
• engage diverse communities, encourage inter-cultural exchange of ideas and foster meaningful conversations?
• help us to better appreciate the relationship between humans and the natural world, and to reflect historically on how that relationship has changed over time?
• be used to inform the debates and discussions surrounding environmental change in the political arena?

The Fall 2022 offering of ASCX 400 will be open to all FAS students as an elective. However, it may also be used by students in English, History, Film, Biology, Environmental Sciences, or Policy Studies degree plans to fulfill an upper-year core course requirement. To find out more about whether you can use the course as a core course, please contact your department.

Course Description

You will be assigned to a project team, based on your interests, skills, and project requirements. Teams will include students from different areas of study, such as arts, science, engineering, and more, enabling them to develop innovative and unique solutions across many different sectors.

Before engaging with clients, you will have the opportunity to develop your project management, teamwork, stakeholder engagement and professional communication skills. Next, you’ll learn to identify issues, analyze problems, and develop the project scope, milestones and deliverables. With these skills, you will then execute your projects in your team with the guidance of an experienced mentor.  At the end of the project, teams will present their findings and recommendations to their client and stakeholders via a presentation and business report.

Previous Projects

Edward Burtynsky, Standing Whale Artist Group  
Research Study

Engaging with our community in a way that supports principles of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDII) is a key strategic priority for Queen’s. Standing Whale presented a unique opportunity for students to engage with diverse communities across Canada, have meaningful conversations, and identify the next Standing Whale opportunity in our society. To achieve Ed Burtynsky’s mission, the project team carried out a research study to enhance the user experience when interacting with the exhibit as well as a visualization/prototype of one final recommendation.

Cooking with Amica 
Marketing Strategy

Unlike businesses that closed because of COVID-19, Cooking with Amica came about during the pandemic as a way for people to connect and still ‘meet up’.  With the motto that ‘anyone can learn to cook’, running a successful business that embodies positivity and a sense of community is core to the company vision. The project team developed a marketing strategy to support the client with growing her customer base while staying ‘true’ to her overall vision.

The Food Sharing Project 
Implementation Plan of Best Practices in Waste Reduction

The Board of Directors of The Food Sharing Project identified a strategic goal of reducing the environmental impact of waste items and has considered compostable items as an alternative. The project team explored how to achieve a reduction to the environmental impact of waste items and compostable items as an alternative providing food to students across 88 schools across Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington in a sustainable way.

J.E Agnew Food Services Ltd. 
Cost Benefit Analysis

This family-run business is committed to continuously improving the efficiency of their operations and reducing their environmental footprint. The company expressed their desire to continue with these initiatives for sustainability, with a focus to find opportunities to do so for a specific restaurant site. The project team identified opportunities to make a local Tim Horton’s restaurant as “green” as possible, along with a cost-benefit analysis for each opportunity.   

Bowman Centre for Sustainable Energy 
Report covering Canada’s and selected provinces plans to develop a low carbon hydrogen industry

This project involved a meta study into organic and inorganic hydrogen carriers. The project scope included identifying candidate carriers, describing the chemistry and engineering principles for each candidate, assessing their Technology readiness levels, and offering thoughts on the commercial viability of the materials reviewed. The project culminated in a comprehensive report that covered Canada’s and selected provinces plans to develop a low carbon hydrogen industry as a strategy to decarbonize select difficult-to-decarbonize industries, the technical challenges associated with storing and transporting hydrogen, hydrogen carriers and their chemical, engineering, and economic principles, and the energy density requirements that meet the needs of long-distance trucking, freight rail, marine shipping, and air transportation.

Arctic Youth Network 
Organization Ecosystem Map

The Arctic Youth Network (AYN) aims to democratize access to opportunities, resources, and contacts that youth need to develop as leaders. To help them achieve this mission, the project team created a platform to amplify youth voices and empower a community of young change-makers in the North.

Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre (ASEC) 
Indigenous Educational Resource

The Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre (ASEC) sought for the development of an educational resource that tells the stories of Acadian culture, local Mi'kmaq communities on whose traditional lands the facility is located, as well as the rich freshwater and marine coastal resources of the area. The project team conducted research to inform the development of the ASEC educational resource, using existing case studies, an understanding of new technology and traditional customs, and an appreciation on how to blend science and traditional knowledge.

Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care 
Impact of Climate Change on Health Care

The project team carried out research and formulated an approach to address the problem of how to automate the collection of information about the impact that climate change is having on the health care system.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) 
Plant Health Awareness Campaign

The project team carried out research, analyzed results, and created a project plan for an awareness campaign for Canadians about plant health, the impacts our actions may have on the economy and environment and to adopt practices to reduce these risks.

Communication Plan: Plant Awareness and Risk Prevention

The project team developed an invasive plant awareness campaign for the CFIA Agency which included a communication strategy, information about health risks, dissemination of risk prevention practices and advice for future protection.

Stratos Inc. 
Social Media Strategy

Working with a sustainability management consultancy, this project required students to develop a social media strategy. This strategy should help to increase the ‘virtual visibility’ of the firm.

Student Testimonial

Henry Lee, ArtSci ’21