In 2023-24, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies successfully developed, delivered and implemented a new framework for non-degree courses to bolster our program offerings and provide new pathways for students with gaps in their skill set. The online 12-week 12U math waiver pilot successfully addressed the numeracy shortfall experienced by many incoming students and will be offered again in Summer 2024.

This year, York University prepared for the launch of its new Markham Campus, which will feature four new undergraduate programs developed by LA&PS, expanding the range of diverse academic interests, inclusive curriculum and hands-on experiences. The programs include, communication, social media & public relations (BA), entrepreneurship & innovation (BCom), financial technologies (BSc) and sport management (BSM).

This year, the University approved the proposal for a new Black Studies undergraduate honours degree program, the first hybrid LA&PS program, set to launch in September 2025.

This year, we successfully transitioned the existing Internship Workshop sessions into a 12-week comprehensive asynchronous Co-op Prep Module designed to equip students with career readiness competencies in preparation for co-op. The curriculum covers a range of topics including relevant software skills, networking skills, refined job search strategies, resume and cover letter writing, interview preparation, on-the-job success, professional communication, mental health and stress management and more.

Collaborative efforts between the Work Integrated Learning and Teaching & Learning teams helped LA&PS secure $50,000 from the Ministry of Colleges and University through the Ontario Micro-Credential Challenge Fund to scale the development of the Co-op Prep Module into an “Upskilling for Co-op: Preparing for the Workplace Micro-Credential,” which will continue to support students before entering the workforce. Informed by industry and employer partners, the curriculum addresses existing gaps in the labour market and will prepare students for success starting in September 2024.

The Faculty is proud to introduce Co-Learn: Collaborative Learning Space, a new teaching and learning hub that will become operational during the 2024-25 academic year in 117 South Ross, thanks to funding from the Ontario government’s Training Equipment and Renewal Fund, intended to help modernize post-secondary facilities. Co-Learn will include three active learning classrooms and a one-button recording studio for instructors to experiment with pedagogical innovations and create digital learning objects.

This year, we implemented an active learning classroom pilot with expanded whiteboard capacity and flexible room layouts in 105H Central Square, in addition to, the rollout of dry-erase marker whiteboards in all LA&PS classrooms to further support innovation in teaching and learning.

We onboarded and trained 85% of our academic units onto our new efficient Curriculum Management System (CMS), Kuali, an innovative digitalization of an earlier paper formatted process, which will be used by units for all course and degree proposal submissions, repository system and academic calendar publication.

We developed a new automated and innovative tracking system for Cyclical Program Reviews (CPR) to improve and support the calibre of all academic programs in LA&PS.