New Programs

Here’s what you can expect: 
✔ Study across sociology, psychology and health disciplines 
✔ Learn about wellness, sport and health from a societal perspective 
✔ Get involved with hands-on projects, research and community engagement 
✔ Explore career options in public health, wellness programming, sport development and more 

Minor in Archaeology and Material Culture 
Through the Minor in Archaeology and Material Culture, learn scientific methods, theories and techniques for studying past human cultures and societies through the material record. Students can also participate in ongoing archaeological field research or field schools conducted by Saint Mary’s professors working in the Maritimes or Europe.

Minor in Science, Technology and Society
Broaden your understanding of the interactions between science, technology and society through an interdisciplinary approach. This new Minor in Science, Technology and Society is suitable for students who are completing majors or honours degrees in Arts, Business or Science. 

Other recent program additions 

• Interdisciplinary Major in Public Humanities and Heritage 
• Major in Law and Ethics 
• Minor in Climate Change Studies

Winter 2026 Special Topics courses  

ANTH 2827 – What’s The Deal with Taylor Swift? (CRN 28596)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:30–3:45 p.m. | Open to the public via Arts for Everyone
Instructor: Dr. Rylan Higgins
The social, cultural and economic noteworthiness of Taylor Swift is hard to overstate. Her influence and wealth are staggering, her reach, spectacularly global. Her appeal to hundreds of millions of people is mindboggling. This course takes these aspects of Swift’s celebrity status as a starting point and endeavours to interrogate and understand the nature of her appeal, power and influence. The anthropology of the celebrity reminds us that it is a social construct, the product of the public’s interactions with the entertainment industry. Indeed, celebrity figures have been referred to as “America’s royalty.” But even among this noble class, Swift stands out. In this course, we will explore Swift as a global celebrity juggernaut.

ANTH 3833 – Are We Still Evolving? (CRN 28508)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:30–3:45 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Laura Eastham   

CRIM 4826 – Gender-based Violence Prevention (CRN 28502) 
Wednesday 6:30–9 p.m. 
Instructor: TBA 

CRIM 4829 – Queer Criminology (CRN 28254) 
Tuesday and Thursday 1–2:15 p.m. 
Instructor: Robert Wright

CRIM 4836 – Cybersecurity (CRN 28636) 
Tuesday 4–6:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Fyscillia Ream

ENGL 3832 – Atlantic Canada Film & TV (CRN 28498)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:30–4:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer VanderBurgh

ENGL 4833 / ACST 4826/6621 – Literary Cultures of Atlantic Canada (CRN 28500 /27542/27543)
Thursday 4–6:30 p.m.

Instructor: Dr. Renée Houlan 

FREN 4848 – Literature and Culture of the French Pacific (CRN 28556)
Remote asynchronous delivery 
Instructor: Dr. Rohini Bannerjee

HIST 2827 – History of Vietnam (CRN 28614) 
Monday and Wednesday 1–2:15 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Bill Sewell 
This class explores Vietnamese history after the founding of the Nguyen Dynasty. These roughly two centuries fall into four eras—dynastic, colonial, Cold War, and independent socialist republic—in which political, economic, intellectual, and social issues are addressed. No previous study of Vietnam is required. (NB: Although the class considers military events and issues, this is not a course in military history.) 

HIST 2831 – China Revolution 1800-1949 (CRN 28613) 
Remote asynchronous delivery  
Instructor: Dr. Xiaoping Sun
Monday and Wednesday 10–11:15 a.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Bill Sewell 
This course explores two formative eras in Japanese history: the era of courtly (or aristocratic) society and the era of the samurai (warriors). Although the course proceeds chronologically, in order to provide students with a more analytical understanding, it employs a thematic approach, considering political, economic, intellectual and social issues in each era. No previous study of Japan is required.  

HWSS/ICST 2827 – East/West Approaches to Sport (CRN 28283/28284)
Monday and Wednesday 1–2:15 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Charles Beaupré

HWSS 3826 – Sociology of Health and Illness (CRN 28546) 
Monday and Wednesday 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. 
Instructor: TBA

HWSS 4826/SOCI 4849 – Sociology of Sport (CRN 28545/28552) 
Tuesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Augie Westhaver  

IRST 3832 – Unsettling "Ireland": Gender, Race and Class (CRN 28627) 
Remote synchronous | Tuesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Edward Molloy
This course explores the unsettling intersections of sexual, colonial, racial and economic exploitation in Ireland. We deconstruct Ireland’s self-image as a liberal postcolony, parsing its multiple, often contradictory, logics of exploitation, gender oppression and resistance to domination. We interrogate concepts such as social reproduction, racial capitalism, hegemony and whiteness in the crucible of settler colonial logics: Ireland. 

POLI 4834 – Reconciliation in Canadian Politics (CRN 28575)
Tuesday 4-6:30 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Hannah Wylie
What is “reconciliation”? This term is everywhere in contemporary politics, but its use is also often deeply contested. There are many reasons for this, both etymological and political. This course provides an understanding of key debates surrounding reconciliation and a variety of analytical tools for engaging carefully and critically with uses of the term in policy and politics. Though the primary focus is on reconciliation in Canada, we will also draw on literature from other political contexts around the globe where reconciliation has been at issue in order to situate Canadian debates about reconciliation in a global context and to explore the influence of the transfer of policy discourses and mechanisms between contexts. In the process, you will engage with broader theoretical discussions about reconciliation as well as analyze and compare applications from specific cases. 
 
POLI 4846 – Political Theory (CRN 28597) 
Thursday 4–6:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Stella Gaon
Co-located with the Honours Seminar course POLI 4510.2 

SJCS 4826 – Sexuality and Rebellion (CRN 28549) 
Tuesday 4–6:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Val Marie Johnson
How does sexuality operate through unequal power relations, and as a channel for rebellion and resistance, and regulation and enforcing normalcy? How is sexuality socially and historically constructed in relation to intimate and social experience, and power, through bodies, selves or subjects, and collective dynamics? Prerequisite: SJCS 1211 & SJCS 2000 or permission from the instructor.
 
SOCI 3834 – Men and Masculinities (CRN 28550) 
Tuesday and Thursday 10–11:15 a.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Pauline Hoebanx 

SOCI 3835 – Family and Modern Society (CRN 28632) 
Monday and Wednesday 4–5:15 p.m. 
Instructor: Ka U Ng

SOCI 4843 – Sociology of Emotions (CRN 28551)
Tuesday 4-6:30 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Rui Hou

SPAN 2826 – Special Topics in Spanish (CRN 28558)
Friday 12-2 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Adam Spires

WGSS 3830 / RELS 3356 – Film and Religion (CRN 28620/27268)
Monday and Wednesday 1–2:15 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Lindsay Macumber    

WGSS 4829 / WGST 6838 – The Academic Incubator (CRN 28132/28135)
Tuesday and Thursday 10–11:15 a.m. 
Instructor: Dr. Michele Byers
This incubator course offers a playful space for experiments in taking academic knowledge out of the university into the wider world. Most students think about this transition but rarely get time or guidance to explore. You'll have the opportunity to creatively share knowledge with people beyond your own discipline and the space to brainstorm ideas, develop plans and try things out with them. It’s open to students from all faculties and fields of study because interdisciplinarity is a cornerstone of modern life. The project possibilities are virtually endless. Here are just a few:

• Start a business or develop a product
• Generate policy
• Community build and engage in direct action and / or advocacy
• Create art, craft or literature
• Produce a short film, podcast or website
• Make something accessible that wasn’t before

Stay tuned here for more course information as it becomes available.