Degree Students

PHYS-7008-80 The Martian Way

Degree Level: Intro

Exploration is the driving force behind scientific advancement but it constantly seeks new frontiers for inspiration. Mars is the ideal Terre Nouveau- a literal 'new Earth' where the spirit of exploration, coupled with enterprise, could fuel the next giant leap in the evolution of our scientific knowledge. This course will enable the student to form a vision of Mars based on up-to-date exploratory missions and appreciate the scale and variety of the challenges we could potentially face in taming the Martian wilderness, using existing and probable future technologies. The student will also have the opportunity to analyze the portraits of Mars that exist in literature, documentaries and films, and understand the difficulties in transforming scientific fantasy into reality. The Martian journey began distinctly with the search for extraterrestrial life; it is leading us to the brink of realizing the potential of transfusing our own species on a new world.

GBLC-7001-80  Global Pop Culture​​​

Degree Level: Upper

What discipline examines cars, khakis, non-fat lattes, viral videos and zombie-infested medieval fantasies as correlated events? Popular Culture Studies is the answer, and if the question seems more like a set-up for an old joke, that too falls under the scope of the discipline – jokes as survivors of folk culture. Our diverse nationalities and backgrounds notwithstanding, we are surrounded by the same products of popular culture, from video games and Reality TV to Twitter, fan-fiction-turned-bestsellers, superhero franchises, and the transient royalty of pop music. We depart from a Starbucks in Country A, and arrive in a far-and-away Starbucks in Country B. In any mall anywhere, we will eventually find the food-court since mall architecture is standard. In addition to the world’s six thousand languages, most people speak Smartphone and Facebook fluently. Our goal is to examine twelve such products or phenomena of popular culture as assemblages of distinct lifestyles and spaces, in their aesthetic, economic and ideological relations to commodification, visualisation, technology and entertainment. Ultimately, the study of Popular Culture illuminates the construction of everyday life – the medium we live in as global citizens.

GBLC-7003-80 Sociology of World Religions

Degree Level: Upper

What is religion? Who is God? In this upper-level hybrid religious studies course, students will learn about our global world religions. This course will allow students to study religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, Christianity and many more. Each student will learn about and present a religion through its history, literature, traditions, customs and rituals. The goal of this course is to introduce the academic study of world religions. Students will not engage in personal religious dialogue; instead they will study religion from a critical and academic perspective. In this course we will engage the study of religion with the goal of being open-minded and seeing the world from a more complex and humanitarian perspective.

SOSC-7006-80  Personality, Popularity & Persuasion

Degree Level: Intro

Do you prefer to go out with friends or stay home with a good book? Are you shy, stubborn, or easygoing? Have you been told that you have a 'great personality'? In this course we examine how personality develops, why each person's personality is unique, the common traits of 'winners', and what happens when our personality is damaged. We discuss the psychological theories that explain personality, the factors that mould our personality, and the dangers of personality disorders, such as anti-social, paranoid, and narcissistic behaviours. Finally we debate the power of personality in success, power, popularity, and persuasion.

SOSC-7012-80 America & the Bomb

Degree Level: Upper

The nuclear bomb cast a long shadow over American culture throughout much of the twentieth century. In this course, we will examine the historical aspects of this phenomenon and imaginative responses to it; these responses include science fiction, film, poetry, short stories, and Dr. Seuss. The students in this course will gain an appreciation for the degree of fear generated by the Cold War, and for how this fear shaped artists, including those who were racially marginalized.

HUMA-7026-90 The Role of Garbage in Society

Degree Level: Upper

Garbage is all around us. We create and dispose of it every day. Yet for the most part we do not pay much attention to the material and symbolic role it plays in human society. This course begins with the following question: can garbage tell us something about ourselves? Through academic essays, popular articles, documentaries, television shows and commercials, artwork, literature, and Hollywood film, we will study trash from numerous perspectives to account for its prominence in our daily lives and understand its relationship to our contemporary society.

HUMA-7029-90  Culture of Genius

Degree Level: Intro

This is a course on the persistent cult and culture of genius. We will examine questions surrounding the definition, function, purpose and politics of genius through a variety of media. Students will gain an appreciation for how and why the concept of the 'genius' is deployed, both in child and adult contexts. Materials on this course range from documentary, films and children's books/toys to television, philosophy and psychology.

SOSC-7011-90  Social Implications of Addiction

Degree Level: Intro

As an introductory and interdisciplinary survey of the role of addiction in human cultures, this course is designed to expose students to how narcotic as well as non-narcotic- related addictions manifest themselves within various individual and institutional practices. In particular, students will explore the major biological, psychological and social/cultural theories applied to addiction. Focus is given to the nature of drug use, conceptions of 'the addict,' how drugs impact the brain, the impact on family, and consequences for changing social drug behaviors. This course also explores current theoretical and practical treatment approaches and education and prevention strategies. Emphasis will be given to special issues and hot topics in drug addiction, including youth, women, media portrayal of drug use and current debates on the war on drugs. Finally, understanding common perspectives on treatment and prevention strategies related to drug dependence and education will be studied.

SOSC-7018-90 Psychology of Tabletop Games

Degree Level: Upper

There is something distinctly human about gathering together to play a game. Early evidence suggests that we have been doing this for millennia, as board games like Senet and Mehen appear in Predynastic Egypt (approx. 3000BCE). Games are more than entertainment as they help develop practical cognitive, social, and analytical skills. This course is a psychological analysis of modern and classic tabletop (board, card, dice, role-playing, tile-based and miniature) games, investigating them through the lens of recent cognitive, social, personality, developmental, and positive psychology research.

SOSC-7042-60  Introduction to Mind and Behaviour

Degree Level: Intro

Have you ever wondered why you think the way you do? Why you behave the way you do? And why others are so similar yet so different from you? In this introductory psychology course, we examine the biological, social, and cognitive factors that make us who we are. We discuss our development, the power of our brain, how we learn and remember, and how we interpret the world around us. We delve into our complex thought processes, the motivations behind our behaviours, and the influence of social relationships, emotions, and stress on our health and well-being. Finally, we examine the causes and treatments of psychological disorders, such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and antisocial personality disorder. Through this course, students will gain insight into the factors that influence the way they think and behave.

SOSC-7021-40 The History of Philosophy

Degree Level: Intro

Philosophy is the discipline in which humanity asks the deepest of questions about itself and its relationship to the surrounding world. What can I know and how do I know it? Can I trust that there is a world outside my mind? What is a good life? What is the nature of beauty? Of truth? Of existence? In this course we will look at the answers to these questions, and others, proposed by some of the titans of the history of human thought. If you want to understand the roots of our modern ideas, this is the course for you.