The Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University is offering a new PhD program in Child and Youth Studies. Our proposed program fits closely with the university’s Strategic Mandate of research in transdisciplinarity and competes globally as one of the primary destinations for study in the growing field of Child and Youth Studies. The focus of our Doctoral program is to provide advanced multi- and transdisciplinary training and research related to the study of children and youth in local, regional, and global contexts.

The program consists of either a traditional four-year PhD program that requires a MA/MSc degree in a related field or else an accelerated program whereby a student enters our MA program, completes a year of study, and then directly enters the Doctoral program without completing their MA thesis. This latter path is intended for either for individuals who lack an appropriate MA degree to apply directly for the PhD program and/or for exceptional applied students who are not likely to need the length of time that is usually required to develop a traditional academic publication portfolio. The course structure of the program includes advanced quantitative or qualitative methods courses, advanced topics courses from several disciplines, a transdisciplinary proseminar, and a flexible comprehensive structure that includes two of: traditional testing; teaching; research project; community/work placement.

Our flexible program content is designed to reflect our department’s multidisciplinary roots while meeting the needs of students from different disciplines and career trajectories. The program is specifically aimed at successfully developing the marketability of our graduates in both academic and non-academic job markets including: education, clinical counselling, NGO consultation, and legal advocacy.

The Graduate Diploma in Business Administration is designed to provide individuals with breadth of knowledge across many key functional areas of business. This program is comprised of the first five required credits in the existing Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Brock University and, therefore, includes at least one course from all main areas of business, such as accounting, finance, and marketing.

The academic emphasis of the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration is on assisting students to develop and integrate the broad-based, functional knowledge needed for career advancement. As a result, this program will be of particular interest to graduates from non-business disciplines and working professionals who are seeking the required business skills to aid them in a managerial position, the commercialization of innovation, or the expansion of an entrepreneurial endeavor.

The Graduate Diploma in Business Administration program can be taken on a full-time or part-time basis. Full-time students will normally complete the diploma over two terms or one academic year. Students achieving an overall 75% average in their Graduate Diploma in Business Administration program will be offered the opportunity to transfer directly to the MBA program at Brock University without fulfilling any further MBA admission requirements.

The MSc in Materials Physics is program is course-based and designed to provide intensive, “hands-on” graduate training in advanced experimental and theoretical techniques of modern materials physics. You will master the fundamental physics of materials as well as their real-life applications, which will position you for successful careers in industry, academia, government or private research institutions.

Core courses of the program include Advanced Condensed Matter Physics, Advanced Computational Methods for Materials Science, Sample Preparation and Characterization Techniques for Materials Science.

Earning an MSc in Materials Physics prepares you for a wide variety of careers. Career fields to explore include: nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy sector, electronics industry, metallurgy, medical technology, coatings industry, biomaterials.

The Ph.D. program in Computer Science prepares students for careers in academia and industry. Graduates of the program will have a deep understanding of Computer Science in general, and be experts in at least one advanced topic within another academic discipline of their and their supervisor’s interest. Graduate research topics may be conducted in the broad areas of computational logic and algebra, data mining, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence, algorithms, parallelism, and combinatorics. Each student will also be a recognized member of their respective academic community, familiar with discipline specific practices such as the publication and review process, grant application procedures and working in collaborative research environments.

Human activities are shaping the Earth. Addressing the interactions between social and ecological systems requires new perspectives and academic approaches. The Sustainability Science and Society graduate program aims to facilitate society’s transition towards sustainability. The transdisciplinary focus of the program breaks down traditional barriers between disciplines, encouraging the cross pollination of ideas that will generate novel solutions and new opportunities in a dynamic and complex world.

 This graduate program consists of two learning paths. The Master of Sustainability, Co-op (Scheme A) for those students wishing to enrich classroom learning with practical experience. Alternatively students desiring an intensive research experience will pursue a Master of Sustainability (Scheme B). Both paths include common foundational courses that are offered in the first two terms of study.

 Our Faculty comes from diverse disciplines and units at Brock University who share a common interest in environmental sustainability. Brock University is located in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – a site seeking to reconcile social, economic and biophysical challenges confronting societies around the globe.

A consumer-based choice.

The concurrent Bachelor of Nursing (BN) and Master of Nursing (MN) at Brock University enables four-year baccalaureate graduates from other disciplines to receive both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree within 20 months with five, year-round, continuous terms. This program recognizes roles of Registered Nurses as rapidly evolving and a need for graduates who will have the ability to engage in front line entry to practice with well integrated relational, research, leadership, and practice skills and knowledge. The program is unique in terms of Canadian baccalaureate and accelerated nursing degree education because students will be prepared both to meet the entry level nursing competencies, as defined in Ontario by the College of Nurses of Ontario and to write the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) as well as with research and leadership skills and knowledge associated with graduate level education. It is also unique because the program offers students with prior bachelor’s degree preparation and appropriate pre-admission courses an opportunity to build capacity in experiential development of research, practice, and theoretical learning that will have benefits to patients, families, and the community at large.

The proposed Bachelor of Therapeutic Recreation (BTR) is a 4-year undergraduate degree
that will prepare students to work with individuals with disabilities, illnesses and other limiting
conditions to support them to achieve independence and full engagement in life activities
through meaningful leisure involvement. These aims will be achieved through client-centred
individual and/or group interventions designed to teach skills, improve functional capacities,
support psychosocial adaptation and address underlying issues that impact or limit
participation in life activities, particularly leisure. Specific objectives of the program include to:

1) prepare graduates to influence Therapeutic Recreation practice through immersion in
specialized depth and breadth of knowledge;
2) enhance application of knowledge by emphasizing high-impact teaching practices such as
experiential education opportunities and community partnerships that advocate
interdisciplinarity within Niagara Region and beyond;
3) prepare graduates to be leaders in advocating for evidence-informed best practices;
4) advance the mission and strategic priorities of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and
Brock University.

Brock University’s Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree is in the field of Integrated Engineering, which is not defined by the traditional engineering disciplines and programs. Integrated engineering combines the fundamental and core engineering principles (electrical, mechanical, software, etc.) through project-based delivery methods. The program will cover engineering science and engineering design and will also draw on courses from mathematics and natural sciences, and from across other Faculties at Brock. The program’s learning outcomes will align both with the University’s degree level expectations for undergraduate programs, and with the graduate attributes and indicators to meet accreditation requirements by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board of Engineers Canada. The goal of the program is to produce graduates who are skilled in communication, instinctively collaborative and inherently trans-disciplinary in their approach to problems. Through the experiential component of their programs, students will be engaged in their local communities while developing an awareness of the global reach of the challenges the world is facing. A Brock engineering graduate will be imbued with an appreciation of both the context and the implications of their work and engaged in their local and global communities.

The 3-year Bachelor of Science-Medical Sciences (Pass) degree is based on the initial 3 years of the 4-year BSc Medical Sciences Honours degree. It offers students the opportunity to pursue an abbreviated, multidisciplinary curricular program in Health Sciences with a strong foundation in medical and basic sciences. The program has the required number of science courses to satisfy requirements for a BSc degree, meeting student demand for a 3-
year Science degree option. It will be available to: 1) students who want to complete a BSc degree in the Health Sciences but have been removed from other programs due to academic challenges with one or more mandated components of that degree; 2) students whose academic plans change during their undergraduate and wish to pursue a healthrelated degree in an abbreviated amount of time; 3) outstanding students who wish to ‘fast
track’ from a 4-year BSc Med Sci degree into a 3-year BSc degree to pursue a professional post-graduate program that does not require a 4-year degree, such as medicine; and 4) students who are interested in transferring from other Brock University programs into a Health Sciences BSc (as opposed to BA). This 3-year degree will contribute to student retention at Brock University by providing more students a way to gain a BSc degree related
to Health Science. It mirrors the 4-year BSc Med Sci degree and thus will allow students the flexibility to finish in either 3 or 4 years depending on their average and their personal choice.

Brock’s new Bachelor of Arts and Science (BASc) program in Earth and Planetary Science Communication (EPSC) will provide students with a solid understanding of the geologic processes operating on the Earth and other planets, as well as of developments in planetary exploration. In addition, students will be provided with a strong background in Communication.

This program will differ from existing Earth Science programs in that its aim is not to prepare students for careers as practicing Professional Geoscientists. Instead, the aim is to provide graduates with the knowledge about Earth and Planetary Science concepts, coupled with strong communication skills which will enable them to pursue careers in Communication for government agencies, NGOs, private companies, and journalism. The proposal sees graduates receiving a BASc degree rather than a BSc degree because it will not prepare graduates for a “career in science,” rather it prepares them for a “career about science.”

The proposed Bachelor of Arts in Adult Education (Honours) transforms Brock University’s current Adult Education certificate and BEd in Adult Education into a 20-credit Bachelor of Arts honours program with the existing pathways of a certificate and 15-credit degree. The culminating program will address an emerging need in Canada – _undergraduate programming for educators in Adult and Postsecondary Education. An honours degree would also develop research capacity for those intending to continue studies at the graduate level. An increased number of pathways provide avenues for student mobility as they engage in learning through their lifespans, according to professional- and personal-goal variations. The flexibility of part-time, online studies can create multiple points for entry and engagement for students moving through certificates, into degree programs, and then on to other certificates as they wish.

Psychology has a long history in both the natural and social sciences. The Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology will allow students with an interest in a career in natural sciences to distinguish themselves from BA Psychology majors, who generally focus on social sciences. This program will further increase the degree options for Brock’s current Psychology students, allowing them to decide between a BA. and a BSc.  Importantly, a BSc degree in Psychology will be of interest to new students with a stronger background in math and science. It will also promote retention of current students, providing an alternate degree path for those in the Neuroscience program at Brock who wish to pursue a degree with more of a focus on psychological science.

Brock’s BSc in Data Sciences and Analytics (Honours) program is the result of concerted efforts between the Faculty of Mathematics and Science (FMS) and the Goodman School of Business (GSB). The program aims at forming well-rounded data scientists with a firm grounding in the principles and the technical proficiencies in the core areas of computational sciences (computer science/mathematics/statistics) and business (business intelligence and analytics) in addition to advanced knowledge in specialization domains such as financial analytics (currently one of the primary business domain of application for the science of big data), or artificial intelligence, machine learning, or statistical learning and computational methods. The proposed bachelor program offers a ‘regular’ Honours option (4 Years) as well as a “co-op” Honours option (4.5 years).

The BAH degree is a three-year program that is broadly based and offers a unique opportunity for students to pursue either a focused or broad 3 multidisciplinary curricular program of health. It is not intended to serve as a direct-entry program, but rather provides a viable opportunity for students who have been removed from an existing FAHS four-year degree program as a result of challenges with one or more mandated components of that degree. This may include, for example, failure to successfully complete one or more required courses, failure to maintain the academic average required to remain in the program, or failure to successfully complete clinical requirements of the program. The BAH degree is designed to provide such students with the opportunity to successfully gain a degree in health sciences in spite of lack of progress or adjudication from an academic program. Thus it contributes to student retention at Brock University and within the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.

The BA in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice (FPAC) approaches the study of criminal behavior and criminal justice from multiple theoretical lenses. This transdisciplinary program will include factors relating to the individual (psychological factors), social and cultural factors, and factors relating to the criminal justice system and other relevant institutions, and will provide learners with academic and applied experiences that will give them skills relevant to their chosen careers. Courses will come from Brock’s Psychology, Child and Youth Studies, and Political Science departments. The program seeks to combine these approaches to the study of criminal and aggressive behaviour. Rather than assuming that a behaviour, or a system’s response to behaviour stems from any one factor or perspective, FPAC is premised on the idea that factors across disciplines are required in order to provide more nuanced, critical, and complex understandings of behaviour and responses.

Students in the Honours BA in Critical Criminology will acquire deep expertise in sociological criminology that is enmeshed in broader theories of justice and equity and linked to the unique socio-demographic profile of the Niagara Region. With this rigorous preparation, graduates can move on to be critically informed participants/employees in advisory, law, policy, qualitative and quantitative research and data gathering, teaching, policing and public accountability arenas respecting surveillance, criminalization, and interpersonal and structural violence. Students will graduate equipped with extensive training in intersectional criminological social theory, sociological research methods (including advanced social statistics), training in law and social policy, as well as practicum and capstone experiences. The BA Honours in Critical Criminology responds to considerable student demand for a stand-alone degree option, building on Brock’s existing criminology concentration.

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Game Design is a cross-disciplinary undergraduate program that integrates study in the Centre for Digital Humanities (Interactive Arts and Science Program) and the Department of Computer Science at Brock University with study in the Game Development Program at Niagara College. Concurrent sequential curriculum in which students may choose to pursue either a BA or BSc through study both institutions effectively joins the insights of scholarship in game studies, communications, art and applied computing with practical concepts and skills to support critically-engaged and methodologically sustainable production of games. Students will develop specialized knowledge and practical capacities related to chosen aspects of this diverse domain such as game art; character- level- interface- and game-design, as well as narrative for interactive experience which they will demonstrate in a portfolio of work produced in the program. Students will experience and reflect upon diverse discourses, creation and production processes for games through rigorous research and prototyping in collaborative environments. Students in this program enjoy opportunities to study and intern with industry professionals and to pursue supervised independent research and practice options.

Students in the GAME program will graduate with two credentials:

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Game Design – Brock University
• Advanced Diploma in Game Development – Niagara College

The GAME program will develop well rounded leaders in the diverse conceptual, creative and practical frameworks within which computer games reside and are produced. Graduates will be capable  of designing, producing and evaluating games for entertainment, art and advancement of the public interest.

Bachelor of Science (Honours) Game Programming is a cross-disciplinary undergraduate program that integrates study in the Department of Computer Science and the Centre for Digital Humanities, Interactive Arts and Science Program at Brock University with study in the Game Development Program at Niagara College. Concurrent sequential curriculum in which students may choose to pursue a BSc through study at both institutions effectively joins the insights of game studies, communication studies, and the theories and methodologies of computer science, with practical concepts and skills related to game creation to support critically-engaged and computationally sustainable production of games. Students will develop specialized knowledge and practical capacities related to chosen aspects of this diverse domain such as programming for games and game engines, systems design, artificial intelligence and software engineering which they will demonstrate in a portfolio of work produced in the program. Students will experience and reflect upon diverse creation and production processes for games through rigorous research and prototyping in collaborative environments. Students in this program enjoy opportunities to study and intern with industry professionals and to pursue supervised independent research and practice options.

Students in the GAME program will graduate with two credentials:

• Bachelor of Science (Honours) Game Programming – Brock University
• Advanced Diploma in Game Development – Niagara College

The GAME program will develop well rounded leaders in the diverse conceptual, creative and practical frameworks within which computer games reside and are produced. Graduates will be capable  of conceiving, producing and evaluating games for entertainment, art and advancement of the public interest.