These are informative weekly sessions taught by academically successful upper-year students enrolled in Science, Mathematics, and/or Psychology. Through engaging pedagogy you will develop strong study habits, discover the wide range of resources available to you as a student at UTM, and build a strong community with other first-year students in your academic discipline. LAUNCH is free to all new students. No credit is awarded for LAUNCH.

These are informative weekly sessions taught by academically successful upper-year students enrolled in Humanities and/or Social Science. Through engaging pedagogy you will develop strong study habits, discover the wide range of resources available to you as a student at UTM, and build a strong community with other first-year students in your academic discipline. LAUNCH is free to all new students. No credit is awarded for LAUNCH.

This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and social science in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university.

This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university.

This course brings together first-year students to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of social science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop foundational learning strategies and sharpen their academic skills to support the transition into university.

This course is an introduction to the common problem-solving tools used in the sciences and social sciences. It is designed to address the fundamental skills needed for comprehension and effective communication in these areas. The skills being addressed may include critical analysis of texts (primary literature, review papers, textbooks), use of databases to gather, manipulate and visualize data; interpretation and presentation of data; information gathering and writing skills (lab reports, critical essays); and oral presentations. Specific examples will be drawn from a variety of current research topics in both the sciences and social sciences. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

This course asks big questions about what creative expression is, how it influences society, and what role it plays in people's lives. Students will explore expression as social and cultural production, as intervention, and as a tool for social dialogue through assignments and small group activities that develop and refine key skills relevant to the humanities and social sciences. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

This course will explore the enormous opportunities and the complex challenges presented by technological development. Topics discussed will include the history of technological changes over the last decades, their effects on the social and economic environment, including new opportunities in different industries (from publishing, to education, to information technology and pharmaceuticals), the impact on income distribution, the ethical challenges related to scientific progress and its application, and the effect on the participation of women and minorities in the workforce (especially in high-tech industries). In this course, students will interact with local technology companies as well as policymakers. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

This course is an introduction to inter-cultural communication primarily in the areas of writing and speaking. It is designed to address fundamental skills related to language use in the academic setting by focusing on topics such as customs, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Specific examples will be drawn from real-life university situations, and multiple viewpoints on the nature of diversity in communication will be discussed. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

This course investigates the concept of happiness from its earliest articulations in the ancient world to today. Drawing on a wide array of sources in disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, we will investigate "happiness" across time and place. Throughout the semester students will reflect on the concept as it relates to their own lives as well as how it shapes society as a whole. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

Through an interdisciplinary lens, this course investigates the concept of individualism from its beginnings in antiquity through today. Students will explore the relationships as well as the tensions between the individual and society. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will introduce them to essential elements of a holistic student experience (such as career exploration, health and wellness, and co-curricular engagement).

This interdisciplinary course encourages students to take ownership of their education through a focus on the process of learning how to learn and by cultivating the habits of mind for lifelong achievement and success. Students will explore theories of learning and research on the strategies students should employ to reach deep understanding. "Science of Learning" is designed to help students develop their critical thinking, university-level oral and written communication, critical reading, and other foundational academic skills. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will help them build foundations for academic success (such as understanding the value of higher education, developing a growth mindset, and finding passion).

This course will explore how cinematic movies represent time capsules. They tell stories that embody historical events, describe political ideas, represent race and gender roles, disseminate propaganda, display economic class difference, demonstrate the technological sophistication of its day, capture styles of fashion, music and art, and propagate culturally important ideas. As movies are watched by everyone across the whole socioeconomic spectrum (both historically and currently), students will have an opportunity to evaluate and discuss how this powerful form of media has had and will continue to play an important role in representing and shaping society. As part of this course students will participate in a series of tutorials that will introduce them to essential elements of a holistic student experience (such as career exploration, health and wellness, and co-curricular engagement).

This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of social science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and social science in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course brings together first-year students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement to explore a current topic or problem at the intersection of science and humanities in a small-group environment. The focus of each section will depend on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will provide students with the opportunity to develop university-level research and critical thinking skills to support the transition into university.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course investigates the complexity of our global interconnectedness through the lens of a substantive topic. Questions vary annually, but may include: Do all nations benefit equally from this increasing connectivity? How do global connections affect culture? What strategies offer long-term sustainability? What are the impacts of interconnectedness, both to individual citizens and to societies at large? Questions will be explored using a multidisciplinary approach.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course aims to engage with the current political challenges that religion in its diverse manifestations poses to secular society and political systems. This seminar will encourage students to become more thoughtful and self-critical about how society responds socially and politically to these challenges in the 21st-century.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

Students will investigate how both a curiosity for novelty and a desire for control motivated the so-called "Age of Discovery" and shaped the experiences of First Nations, Africans, and Europeans in medieval and early modern North America. With a focus on how people adapted to new environments, this course will provide opportunities for students to explore historical questions with contemporary resonance from the perspectives of both science and the humanities.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course focuses on themes of social justice, global change, and conflict through the lens of multiple disciplines. Through the exploration of concepts such as class, race, gender, religion, culture, and power on a global level, students will be involved in assignments and small group activities that develop and refine key skills that contribute to student success in university courses.

Note: All interested students must apply and a select group of academically successful students will be accepted into utmONE Scholars. The application can be found here: https://uoft.me/utmone-scholars

This course will explore how humans have utilized the natural world and the impacts it has had on both the global environment and human societies. We will focus on topics such as human and natural history, conservation, sustainability, resource exploitation, domestication, GMOs, and our fascination with nature. The course will include a field walk in our campus environment.

(Formerly CCT201H5/VCC201H5) Introduces the ways in which we use and understand images across the realms of art, advertising, mass media, and science, with examples drawn from painting, photography, film, television, and new media. Presents a diverse range of recent approaches to visual analysis and key theories of visual culture.

This course examines monster movies and television shows alongside readings from monster literature, comics, and critical essays. It considers the social significance of the monster in order to learn something about how the threat of the monster relates to historical anxieties concerning mass-media technologies, social deviance, and the hybrid forms of visual media culture that we typically associate with the era of 21st-century convergence culture but define the genre of monster media from its ancient beginnings.

Introduces students to histories and theories of urban spaces emphasizing the modern city. Drawing from history, architecture, geography, and media studies, the course explores how urban change is evident in the spaces, forms, and sounds of the modern city. Case studies of specific urban environments depending on instructor's research emphasis.

Examines the history and theoretical treatments of mass consumerism in North American society. We will look at the relationship between the market and cultural politics, cultural production, and mass consumption. Specific topics include: the shift from mass production to mass consumption; the growth of department stores; the rise of advertising; the relationship of race, class, and gender to consumer capitalism; the development of product brands; and the emergence of global marketing.

An examination of a topic in Visual Culture. Topics vary from year to year; the content in any given year depends on the instructor. This will be a lecture course.

An in-depth examination of topics in visual and media culture, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics vary from year to year, and the content in any given year depends upon the instructor.

Examines the ways in which social-cultural identities are constructed by, and at times disrupt, various visual technologies, logics, and representational strategies. Issues and problems to be addressed include nationality, stereotyping, invisibility, and surveillance. Course materials will be drawn from modern and contemporary art and visual culture, and will also include readings from the fields of feminism, race studies, queer theory, and performance studies.

Many of our most popular and influential image technologies, visual forms, and ways of thinking about images first developed in the second half of the 19th century: the heyday of European colonialism. This course re-examines the visual culture of modernity in the light of this deeply colonial genealogy, through forms such as photography, colour printing, film, exhibitions, postcards, maps, scientific illustrations, and the body as image.

This course will examine political and social activism in visual and media culture focusing on the role that visual representation has played in social movements and how artists/activists have employed visual media to achieve specific ends that challenge and resist dominant visual representations and political formations.