Introduction
Victoria College (Vic) is committed to providing students with a personal and inclusive university experience inside and outside the classroom. This is an environment where students and faculty are engaged in building a community that welcomes diversity, embraces creativity and is energized by challenge.
At Vic, we nurture a close-knit learning environment from the very beginning of your academic career. Whether it is through our Vic One program, Vic One Hundred or the 199 courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Science, every first-year Victoria College student takes at least one small seminar course. You will experience here the academic advantages of being a student at one of Canada’s leading research universities combined with the intimacy of a small liberal arts college.
Vic One
Victoria College offers first-year Arts and Science students an opportunity for a unique educational experience that draws upon the College’s history and identity. Eight streams with differing emphases are available in this foundation year program, known as Vic One. Each is named in honour of respected Canadian leaders with strong ties to Victoria College. The Margaret Chambers stream, named after a Victoria College graduate in mathematics who became an investor and philanthropist, is suited to students interested in commerce, management, economics, and policy. The Northrop Frye stream, named after the former Victoria College professor and distinguished literary critic, focuses on the humanities. The Paul W. Gooch stream, named after the former President of Victoria University who inspired the Vic One program, comprises studies in philosophy, ethics, religion, and diversity. The Norman Jewison stream, named after the former Victoria University Chancellor and celebrated film director, is oriented towards the creative arts and society. The Lester B. Pearson stream, named after the former Canadian Prime Minister, is concerned with the social sciences. The Egerton Ryerson stream, named after the first Principal of the College who was a pioneer in Canadian education, introduces issues in education and teaching. The Arthur Schawlow Stream, named after the Physics Nobel laureate, is geared towards the physical and mathematical sciences. The Augusta Stowe-Gullen stream, named after the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school, is of interest to students wishing to pursue studies in the life sciences. The eight streams feature lively seminars and dialogue, and are enriched by weekly plenary sessions with guest professors, visiting artists, writers, ambassadors and other public figures.
The Vic One streams comprise up to three FCEs of the five FCEs taken by most first-year students. Two required courses in each stream are seminar courses given by faculty of Victoria College. They have a limited enrolment of 25 students in each class. The third co-requisite course is listed with each course description. Students who have questions about their Vic One co-requisite course must contact the Vic One Liaison Officer vic.one@utoronto.ca.
Vic One enrolment requires an application that is found on the Vic One website (www.vic.utoronto.ca). All first-year students in the Faculty of Arts and Science (St. George campus), regardless of college membership, are eligible for admission to Vic One. Admission decisions are based on extra-curricular activities, a short original essay and the student’s entering grades.
PLEASE NOTE: Vic One students are NOT eligible to enrol in Vic One Hundred courses, 199 first-year seminars or any other One program.
Vic One Hundred: First Year Seminars
Vic One Hundred is a Victoria College initiative that offers first-year Arts and Science students the opportunity to experience a small class environment. These limited enrolment courses facilitate close contact with distinguished teaching faculty and fellow students, while providing an excellent gateway to, and foundation for, subsequent studies.
PLEASE NOTE: Vic One Hundred seminar courses are NOT open to students enrolled in any One program (including Vic One) or 199Y first-year seminars.
Enrolment in a first-year seminar course (199s and Vic One Hundred) is limited to 1.0 FCE. Students may take a combination of Vic One Hundred and 199H seminars as long as enrolment does not exceed 1.0 FCE.
Combined Degree Program (CDP) in Arts/Science and Education (Victoria College and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education)
The Combined Degree Program in Arts/Science and Education is designed for students interested in studying the intersections of teaching subjects and Education, coupled with professional teacher preparation. Students earn an Honours Bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Arts and Science (St. George) and an accredited professional Master of Teaching (MT) degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). The CDP permits the completion of both degrees in six years with 1.0 FCE that may be counted towards both the undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Program requirements:
1. Minor in Education and Society, Victoria College
2. Major in one of the following areas, corresponding to the first teaching subject:
3. Minor in an area corresponding to the second teaching subject as determined by OISE. See http://pepper.oise.utoronto.ca/~jhewitt/mtresources/intermediate_senior_teaching_subject_prerequisites_2016-17.pdf)
Application Process
Applicants apply successively to the H.B.A./H.B.Sc. program, the MT program, and the CDP. See the department/college page for admission requirements in the relevant Major and Minor programs.
In the Spring term of Year 3 of the Bachelor program, students apply at OISE for conditional admission to the MT. To be considered for conditional admission to the Master of Teaching and the Combined Degree Program, students must meet the following admission requirements:
- Have completed or be on course to complete the Education and Society Minor Program (Victoria College)
- Be registered in the 3rd year of the H.B.Sc. or H.B.A. Degree Program, in one of the above listed major programs.
- Have completed at least half of the teaching subjects prerequisite courses (i.e. 3.0 FCEs in 1st teaching subject, and 1.5 FCE in 2nd teaching subject) by the end of third year.
- Have an average grade equivalent of at least B+, normally demonstrated by an average grade in the 2nd year.
- Provide at least two letters of reference.
- Meet other qualifications as specified by the MT program.
See: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/mt/How_To_Apply.html
Once students have accepted a conditional offer of admission to the MT program, they will be eligible to take 1.0 graduate FCE at OISE in their fourth year, which will count towards both the undergraduate degree and the Master of Teaching degree.
If the student does not meet the above conditions, the offer of conditional admission to the Combined Degree Program will be rescinded. Students in this position could apply separately to the Master of Teaching outside of the Combined Degree Program.
For students to be given full, unconditional admission to the MT program, they must:
- Maintain at least a B+ (3.3) average in their final year or over senior courses.
- Achieve a grade of at least B+ average in the 1.0 graduate FCE taken in Year 4.
- Have completed required courses to meet the first and second teaching subjects.
- Successfully complete the requirements for the H.B.Sc./H.B.A. program.
- Have the undergraduate degree confirmed.
Academic Path to Completion for the CDP
Year 1-4: H.B.Sc./H.B.A program and degree requirements
Year 4: 1.0 FCE in the MT graduate courses
Year 5-6: 9 FCEs of the MT program requirements
Enquiries: vic.academics@utoronto.ca; 416-585-4441
Creative Expression and Society Program
The Minor in Creative Expression and Society allows students to develop creative and communicative proficiency by taking part in one or more workshop-style courses in fiction, non-fiction, or poetry writing and/or creative expression through aural and visual media. Students will also explore the reciprocal relationship of the creative arts and society by studying social issues in the arts, the influence of writers and artists on society, and the impact of society and the marketplace on creative endeavours. Courses explore such topics as the arts and public opinion; reception and interpretation; marketing and reviewing; censorship and criticism; ethics and accountability. This program fosters the exercise of creativity while making the relationship of creative expression and social conditions a subject for reflection and dialogue.
Education and Society (Arts Program)
The Vic-sponsored Education and Society Minor is open to all Arts and Science students. This program is for those who are interested in education, either as a skill that will prepare you for many occupations, or as a strong background for admission to a teacher education program, such as the Combined Degree Program with OISE (separate application required, see below) or another consecutive teacher education program.
Literature and Critical Theory Program (Formerly Literary Studies)
The Literature and Critical Theory program (formerly Literary Studies) is based on a pair of ideas. The first is that many of the most important issues that engage our attention call for a multidisciplinary approach. The second is that the kind of critical analysis demanded by the study of literary texts offers powerful tools for investigating other cultural and social forms, both past and present. Central to the program is the comparative study of forms of representation – texts, media, institutions, and theories — in diverse cultures and historical periods. This requires thinking seriously about what it means to compare and what it means to translate.
The Literature and Critical Theory program will attract students who are interested in exploring and generating links between literature and historical, cultural, political, social, and psychological forces. The program trains students to think about how problems of the present are tied to those of the past, and to consider critically how we both represent this past and imagine possible futures. Students will be engaged in the practice of close, contextualized analyses of literary texts and other discursive forms, including artefacts, institutions and social practices, originating in different languages, geographical locations, and historical periods.
Literary production, like all forms of cultural production, invariably exceeds the boundaries of the nation, and increasingly so in today’s globalized world. The boundaries between various cultural media are similarly porous, and the aesthetic values by which we identify, judge, and classify literary and cultural objects are historically shaped. For these reasons, students will be encouraged to study in more than one language and to work with a variety of media. Our courses explore literary and cultural movements across languages, geographical regions, epochs, media, and disciplines.
Material Culture Program
What does it mean to live in a “material world”? What might we learn from studying the things that surround us? In an increasingly consumer-oriented, globalized and digital age, how do objects express the longstanding beliefs and values of different societies? Material culture is the study of objects – clothing, household goods, machinery, built forms – that show signs of human influence. The program engages students in the study of material culture (tangible things, broadly defined); supports research projects which originate with studies of artefacts; and fosters trans-disciplinary and inter-institutional dialogues amongst students, scholars, stewards and purveyors of material culture – within the university and at a range of cultural agencies. We examine the meanings people invest in their things, across cultures and time periods, and consider processes of production and consumption, including moments of invention, exchange, use, re-use, divestment, disposal, and collection. Students will work with curators and other professionals to analyze the social and cultural relevance of objects as part of understanding of a culture or society. The Minor is designed to complement programs in such disciplines as Asian Studies, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Geography, History, Art, History of Science and Technology, Semiotics, Renaissance Studies, and Anthropology.
Renaissance Studies Program
The Renaissance Studies Program lets you study one of the most critical periods in European and world history. Changes in art and literature, in social and political development, and in technology and science transformed European concepts of the individual, society, and the world.
Many aspects of our modern world had their origin in this period: our emphasis on the study of human affairs; our irrepressible interest in the exploration of the universe, in science, and in medicine; the institutions of church and state as we know them today. The Renaissance is also a period of unparalleled European contacts with non-European civilizations – from the powerful Islamic world of the Near East and North Africa to the great pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas, from the uncharted forests of equatorial Africa to the exotic lands of the Indian subcontinent and the Far East, nothing seemed too distant or too inaccessible for the European mind or merchant.
This interdisciplinary program is particularly attractive to students of history, politics, literature, fine art, history of science, music and theatre, because it assembles aspects of all these studies to focus on one seminal period in Western civilization.
Science and Society Program
The Science and Society program studies the complex, interdependent relationship between science, technology, and society. The influence of scientific research and its applications is evident in virtually all aspects of modern life, from our conception of societal obligation and familial relations, to our interaction with the commonplace materials and objects we use to sustain ourselves. However, scientific and technological development is in turn affected by and shaped by politics, public opinion, moral beliefs and cultural practices.
Courses in this program explore topics such as ethical uses of technology, scientific revolutions and controversies, science-related policy and politics, modeling and communication of scientific research, and knowledge transfer from research to commercial and societal applications.
Semiotics and Communication Studies Program
Semiotics is the science of communication and sign systems, in short, of the ways people understand phenomena and organize them mentally, and of the ways in which they devise means for transmitting that understanding and for sharing it with others. Although natural and artificial languages are therefore central to semiotics, its field covers all non-verbal signalling and extends to domains whose communicative dimension is perceived only unconsciously or subliminally. Knowledge, meaning, intention and action are thus fundamental concepts in the semiotic investigation of phenomena.
