ATKINSON COLLEGE, YORK UNIVERSITY
GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT AND URBAN STUDIES PROGRAM
This department, as a component of Atkinson college, was established with a special
mission - to offer degree studies to part-time students in a dedicated collegial
environment with full-time instructors. Atkinson College since its founding has been the
unit in York University responsible for offering a Summer Session as well as a wide
selection of evening undergraduate courses, with a few day courses on weekends, during
autumn-winter terms. Geography in Atkinson College is an independant undergraduate
department collaborating with other geographers in the university to maintain a broad
graduate program. The Department of Geography in the Faculty of Arts is the senior
geography department in York, and in addition there are a number of geographers in the
Faculty of Environmental Studies.
The Atkinson department was founded in 1965 with a single appointment (the first Chair,
1965-70), but grew to seven full-time appointments by 1972. The early growth of the
department was largely based on a demand for degrees from a cadre of competent
school-teacher students. Over the years the prevailing strengths of the department have
been in urban planning policy, glacial geomorphology and soils, medical geography,
conservation, and historical geography. The geography department initiated and has largely
manned the program in Urban Studies for twenty five years, and a General and Honours B.A.
is offered in both Geography and Urban Studies. The department oversees a General and
Honours B.A. in Conservation and Environmental Studies, and it was involved in the
founding and has been a major player in the Canadian Studies program.
In the 1960s "learning for life" was expected to be a continuing demand in
the future, to be satisfied by dedicated institutions, but with changing work schedules
the possibilities for part-time education gradually became much more universal and
available from many institutions and agencies. The Department of Geography in Atkinson
College has seen its enrolment waver in the past ten years, and retirements have not been
replaced. The solution that is now being implemented is an amalgamation of Geography with
kindred disciplines in a School of Social Sciences which will continue to offer the
standing degrees in Geography, Urban Studies, and other disciplines. There are at present
four full-time members of the department, augmented by one cross-appointment and three or
four contract instructors. |
