Bachelor of Arts and Science - Economics & Chemistry (Optional Co-op)

The Faculty of Arts & Science offers programming leading to a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), or a Bachelor of Arts and Science (BSc). These degree options are tailored to students' specific areas of interest across three academic divisions, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. In addition to traditional degrees, many departments offer specialized programs or participate in the delivery of multi-disciplinary programs and majors.

For the Bachelor of Arts and Science, students must complete two majors: an Arts major, and a Science major.

Economics is a behavioral science that studies the conditions under which individuals provide the best possible satisfaction of their needs. It is not specifically about money, things or material objects — it’s about the consequences of individual decisions made under conditions of scarcity.

Students will gain a deep understanding of the decision making process at the individual, firm or government level. They will learn how unhampered market processes lead to efficient production of goods and services, and the effects of interfering with these processes.

Students will deal with a variety of topics, such as the comparison of economic systems, the economics of marriage and family, as well as banking and private property rights. They will also delve into current concerns like employment, inflation, government bailouts, the national debt, nonrenewable resources, agriculture and the environment.

Chemistry studies the elements that comprise all matter. There are five main branches of chemistry:

• analytical focuses on the detection and measurement of chemical species used in fields like forensics. • organic deals with carbon compounds, which are the main components of living matter. • inorganic delves into all the remaining elements, most of which are found in the mineral world. • physical looks at the study of the fundamental principles governing the behavior of matter. • theoretical starts by exploring basic physical theories like quantum mechanics in order to provide frameworks within which all chemical phenomena can be understood.

The primary focus of the program is to provide students with extensive theoretical knowledge in all five branches, in addition to enhancing their technical and practical skills with hands-on experience. Throughout the program, they will receive intensive laboratory instruction on the transformation and safe handling of chemical compounds, as well as hands-on training in advanced instrumental techniques such as elemental analysis, optical spectroscopy, magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction and mass spectrometry.

Students will have access to state-of-the-art research facilities that provide the infrastructure to support the research interests of the University of Lethbridge's award-winning faculty, the instructors, as they investigate diverse areas of the chemical sciences including catalysis, nanomaterials and food chemistry.