{"id":75380,"date":"2021-11-24T12:04:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T17:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=75380"},"modified":"2021-11-26T16:30:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T21:30:13","slug":"new-program-to-bring-together-humanities-sciences-at-brock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/11\/new-program-to-bring-together-humanities-sciences-at-brock\/","title":{"rendered":"New program to bring together humanities, sciences at Brock"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTE: This is one in a series of stories highlighting projects supported by Brock\u2019s Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF), which was established by the University in spring 2021. AIF projects will address key priorities outlined in Brock\u2019s\u00a0Institutional Strategic Plan<\/a>\u00a0and position the University to face the challenges of recovery from the pandemic. To read other stories in the AIF series,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brock University is working to create a new undergraduate program in Arts and Science.<\/p>\n

A collaboration between the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, the program will provide students with the flexibility to pursue individual interests across the two Faculties.<\/p>\n

Its creation comes in response to increasing widespread calls for integrating the arts into traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs. STEAM programs, with the addition of the arts, equip students with technical and scientific knowledge as well as intangible skills like communications, critical thought and collaboration.<\/p>\n

The Arts and Science program\u2019s development is being funded through Brock\u2019s Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF), which was introduced this past spring. The AIF has provided one-year seed funding to 18 projects that aim to address key priorities outlined in the University\u2019s Institutional Strategic Plan<\/a>\u00a0and aid with Brock\u2019s pandemic recovery.<\/p>\n

The committee overseeing the program\u2019s creation, which includes nine members from each Faculty, hopes to launch the new offering in September 2024 with an intake of 40 students per year.<\/p>\n

While the Arts and Science program will prepare students for a wide variety of careers, including government, policy and law, its value is far more than that, says Carol Merriam, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what career or path someone follows, they will do better at it, and at the rest of life, if they can comprehend where scientific facts come from and how they are derived and examined, and can approach the human side \u2014 stories, emotions and art \u2014 with similar confidence,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn ability to think and communicate clearly, to appreciate both historical and scientific fact, will serve anyone well in their future endeavours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current plan would have students complete a minor in each of the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Mathematics and Science, including courses in biology, language, literature or art, and math, statistics, computer science or applied computing.<\/p>\n

A required first-year cohort course and fourth-year capstone course will bring Arts and Science students together for collaborative learning.<\/p>\n

Unlike other Arts and Science programs currently offered in Ontario, students will have the flexibility to follow their own interests within the program framework. Students can take advantage of Brock\u2019s strengths in both the arts and sciences in a truly transdisciplinary program.<\/p>\n

Faculty of Mathematics and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed believes students in the program will hold special talent.<\/p>\n

“The challenging combination of science intertwined with art will be showcased in our students\u2019 work,” he said. “We will be proud of their creative works backed by scientific discipline.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brock University is working to create a new undergraduate program in Arts and Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":75381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,37,41,1,4],"tags":[10534,10722,10992,159,348,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75382,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75380\/revisions\/75382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}