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

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

Anthropology

Anthropology studies the diversity of human life in every part of the world. Long-term ethnographic fieldwork is the hallmark of the anthropological approach to studying the human condition and allows people to see how our world fits into a larger context.

Contemporary anthropology examines the material, social, and cultural conditions of human behaviour and life from a “locally global” perspective.

Anthropology will expose students to a variety of different cultures. At the same time, they will learn to examine their own life from an anthropological perspective. Students will learn how to explore and understand radically different contexts in both their own and other cultures.

Two elements distinguish anthropology: an intensely comparative, wide-ranging view of human society and culture, and a strong desire to know how individuals in specific cultures make sense of the world and respond to its challenges.

Anthropologists are committed to understanding common aspects of human social life, despite apparent differences. They typically spend long periods of time doing field research where they interact with people in their environment to gain cultural understanding.

Chemistry

Chemistry studies the elements that comprise all matter. Everything around the world— the air, water, food, cars, even human bodies — are made from these elements. 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. Chemistry students will have access to state-of-the-art research facilities that provide the infrastructure to support the research interests of University of Lethbridge’s award-winning faculty, the instructors, as they investigate diverse areas of the chemical sciences including catalysis, nanomaterials and food chemistry.