Facilities & Resources
Both the Graduate program and the University offer a wide variety of resources
and support. The Graduate program in Political Science maintains its own graduate
library, with a selection of volumes plus recent issues of the major professional
journals and photocopies of articles required in core courses.
Political Science faculty are associated with the Centre for Feminist Research,
the Centre for Refugee Studies, the Centre for Research on Latin America and
the Caribbean (CERLAC), the Institute for Social Research (ISR), the York Centre
for Asian Research (YCAR), the Center for German and European Studies, the LaMarsh
Research Centre on Violence and Conflict Resolution, the Robarts Centre for Canadian
Studies, and the York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS).
For a full listing of organized research centers at York University, please see
the Links page.
The University has a distributed-computing environment, consisting of a number
of local area networks that provide access to different computing resources.
At this time, computing services are free to all graduate students. Accounts
provide on and off-site access to e-mail, the Internet, libraries, and a wide
range of software. In addition to university resources, the Political Science
Department maintains a small lab of Mac and DOS machines and printers that can
be used by graduate students.
Other research resources include the facilities at the Scott Library on the main
campus and the Frost Library on the Glendon campus, plus a number of specialized
collections, including the Administrative Studies/Government Documents, Steacie
Science, the Nellie Langford Rowell (Women's Studies) and Osgoode Hall Law Libraries.
The campus also houses various reference collections and reading rooms, eg. at
the Women's Centre, Centre for Academic Writing, Division of Social Sciences,
the Urban Studies program and the Faculty of Environmental Studies.
Graduate students can apply for privileges at the Robarts Research Library at
the University of Toronto, the Toronto Metropolitan Municipal Library system,
the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, and the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education. The facilities of other research organizations have also
been of service, including the Bureau of Municipal Research, Urban Development
Institute, Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario Economic
Council, the Canadian Armed Forces Staff College, and the Institute for Research
on Public Policy, among others. Access to the facilities of other university
libraries in Ontario and Quebec is possible with an Inter-University Borrowing
Project card.
The York Campus
The main campus of York University is composed of over twenty modern buildings
located in a park-like setting on the north-west corner of metropolitan Toronto,
about twelve miles from the city centre. Campus life for graduate students
centres around the Ross Building, where the Political Science Department offices,
the Graduate Students' Lounge, and most university administrative offices are
located. Close to the Ross Building are two buildings opened in 1991, the Student
Centre and York Lanes. The Student Centre houses several restaurants and the
offices of a number of student organizations and services, including, the Graduate
Students' Association, the Women's Centre, and the Student Childcare Centre.
York Lanes houses several shopping facilities and student services including
banks, walk-in dental and medical clinics, a drugstore, a travel agent, a computer
store and the bookstore.
Modern, reasonably priced housing is available for graduate students on campus
in the York Apartments, which contain bachelor, one and two bedroom units.
Many shopping facilities are located near the campus.
Other campus facilities include: squash and tennis courts, swimming, gymnastic,
and hockey facilities, cross-country and running clubs, frequent theatre, music
and dance performances, religious, medical and personal counselling services,
inexpensive movies, and several pubs and eating places.
The University maintains both on-campus and off-campus housing assistance offices.
Many graduate students choose to live close to shopping and entertainment in
pleasant mid-town neighbourhoods within an hour of the campus, which is easily
accessible by public transport. Toronto is a diverse multicultural community
with all the features expected of a major cultural and business centre.
