The newly established Civil Engineering Department within the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University proposes to launch a bachelor of engineering degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on developing Renaissance Engineers™. Civil Engineering at York begins from the position that acquiring a breadth of knowledge across the discipline is critical to a fundamental knowledge base that will propel life-long learning, a necessary attitude our graduates will attain in order to navigate the complexities of a changing sector such as that defined by Civil Engineers.  By focusing on exciting applications such as residential and commercial buildings; dams and power stations for electricity generation; transportation infrastructure (roads, railroads, bridges, tunnels, seaports and airports); water and wastewater treatment infrastructure; infrastructure for conveyance of gas, electricity, water and sewage; waste management and environmental protection infrastructure; infrastructure needed for energy and mineral resources exploitation;  asset management, life cycle assessment, smart structural systems, and space structures, our students will not only aspire to their full potential but possess the attributes necessary to realize that potential.

Graduates from our Civil Engineering program can expect to receive training in, not only the traditional areas of Civil Engineering, but rather in new and emerging areas such as sustainability, infrastructure rehabilitation, climate-change-driven engineering and others, with the capacity to provide leadership in each area. Further, students will explore to a wider knowledge space that includes basics of project management and business processes, project financial literacy, technical and non-technical communications, entrepreneurship, ethics, and the basics of legal matters encountered by engineers. We aspire to educate students with a more holistic view beyond the core of their respective discipline, one that nurtures a sensitivity to the needs of society, recognizes the importance of the communication skills, fostering lifelong learning, and experiential education – bridging between theoretical and applied scholarship with an eye to increase opportunities for students to have international experiences.

Students will experience the above educational components from the outset.  These experiences will occur through engineering courses and projects, some in collaboration with other professional schools such as the Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School, and other Faculties at York in the later stages of the program. In addition, through experiential education (including opportunities of internships and co-op) and dynamic extracurricular activities, students will develop hands-on knowledge of business, leadership and technology. Civil Engineering will embrace other notions of active learning, by an increased level of project courses, linked courses (through projects and/or teams), and the “flipped” classroom.