Two new minors were approved during the Nov. 4 Ryerson Senate meeting and the Department of Geography was renamed to department of geography and environmental studies.
The Senate agenda stated that the name change will “better reflect the diverse offerings of the department.”
A minor has also been approved and will now be offered to students following a demand for a minor in public relations from journalism and communication students.
Ava Cross is the undergraduate program director for the school of professional communication. She was the main author of the proposal for the new minor, with consultation from Ivor Shapiro, chair of the school of journalism, and Catherine Schryer, chair of the school of professional communication.
Cross says that approximately 40 per cent of journalism graduates are known to pursue professional work in PR or communications at some point in their careers and a survey of a variety of Ryerson programs indicated there would be clear student interest in the minor.
“The minor in public relations will help students understand the role of PR experts as they negotiate between the organizations they represent and the media,” Cross says.
A minor in global politics and development has also been approved. The department of politics and public administration will offer it in the Faculty of Arts.
The politics students can’t take the minor because there is too much overlap between what is covered in the minor and what is covered in regular classes.
The minor will be available to students from almost any program or department at Ryerson including journalism, business, engineering, history, and the RTA School of Media.
Tariq Amin-Khan is a professor in the department of politics and public administration who took the lead with new minor.
“Given the incredible diversity of students at Ryerson, we are hopeful the new minor will garner much interest from undergraduate students in various programs and departments at Ryerson,” he says.
Ramna graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 2015.