The Dalhousie Senate has approved a host of new minor degrees.
The programs will be made available to students starting July 2013. The senate has approved 50 new minors, some of which include degrees not previously offered at Dal.
In 2014, students may be able to graduate with minors in statistics, German philosophy, popular culture studies, and history of science & technology. A full list of new minors is at the bottom of this article.
Tom Vinci is the undergraduate and honours advisor in the philosophy department.
“There are five [new minors] we are offering, three of which have official approval, and two of which are in the pipeline,” says Vinci.
The department will be offering minors in philosophy, bioethics, and applied ethics next July.
“In addition to that, there are some interdisciplinary minors which we are offering in conjunction with the classics department, ‘ancient philosophy,’ and the German department, ‘German philosophy,’” says Vinci. “So there’s at least two more minors, or maybe even more than that; there might be one in medieval philosophy.”
The department also hopes to offer minors in cognitive science and philosophy of science soon.
For those not keeping count, that’s eight new philosophical options for you to agonize over while choosing your program. Vinci says the department is already advising students what courses to take so they can graduate with the new minors when they are made available.
On Nov. 26, the senate also approved the creation of two entirely new programs: a two-year master’s of fine arts in creative non-fiction, offered jointly with the University of King’s College, and a bachelor’s of ocean science, to be offered once a new research lab is constructed for the program.
King’s
The history of science & technology (HOST), early modern studies (EMSP), and contemporary studies (CSP) programs at King’s will all be offering minors in 2013. Students are currently only able to pursue these degrees as part of a combined honours program.
Stephen Boos is the director of CSP.
“We have been thinking about minors for the last two or three years. We did put in a request for minors in the spring,” says Boos. He says that the sudden explosion of minors was part of a broader push at Dal to provide students with more options.
“There was really a collective effort to launch the minors programs together.
“The King’s programs were definitely part of that desire to offer a greater range of degree options to King’s students.”
“Students that might not want to make the commitment to a combined honours program, that want to take some contemporary studies classes—or HOST, or EMSP—get recognition: they’ll have the minor option.”
Boos expects the response from students to be enthusiastic.
“This gives our students other options. Not everyone wants to complete a combined honours degree,” he says.
“I think it really offers students a wider range of choices.”
Faculty of Arts & Social Science
- Chinese studies
- Contemporary studies
- Classics
- Abrahamic religions
- Classical literature
- Arabic studies
- Ancient history
- Early modern studies
- English
- American studies
- French
- Italian studies
- Gender and women’s studies
- German philosophy
- German
- German studies
- Middle East studies
- History of science and technology
- International development studies
- Popular culture studies
- Applied ethics
- Bioethics
- Philosophy
- Political science
- Russian studies
- Sociology and social anthropology
- Social justice and inequality
- Economy, work and development
- Critical health studies
- Spanish language
- Hispanic literature
- Latin American studies
- Hispanic cultures
- Theatre
Faculty of Science
- Biochemistry and molecular biology
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Earth science
- Economics
- Environmental science
- Marine biology
- Mathematics
- Microbiology and immunology
- Neuroscience
- Oceanography
- Physics and atmospheric sciences
- Psychology
- Statistics
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