E-mail this pageAbout Canadian Studies
What is Canadian Studies?
Canadian Studies is a well-established field of study at many academic institutions around the globe. As an academic field, the program offers a wide variety of courses, research, and outreach activities focusing on Canada. For a long time the program was designed for graduate and post-graduate students to specialize in specific Canadian topics such as history, political science, business and economics, and others through research and course work. Thanks to the combined efforts of Canadianists around the world, Canadian Studies has grown and matured by establishing strong roots and links with the baccalaureate level in the past 30 years. Students at the undergraduate level have come to appreciate and understand the uniqueness of Canada in the geopolitical context of North America through a multidisciplinary program of course work. The regional links between Canada, Mexico and the United States through NAFTA has provided an additional spark in generating students' interest in Canadian Studies.
The heart of the undergraduate program lies in approaching Canadian issues in an inter-connected and inter-related fashion. Unlike other academic disciplines that are one dimensional, students in Canadian Studies are encouraged to think and approach issues facing Canada along a broad band by linking politics with business, history and economics, geography with literature, regions with art and language, environment with cross-border relations, etc. Canadian Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh is among the oldest and strongest undergraduate programs in the nation. With a faculty specializing in every academic field focusing on Canada, access to resources, availability of scholarships, and more importantly, the location of the college near the U.S.-Canadian border provides the program a real-life laboratory on Canada. It pushes students to understand the many factors that underlie the importance of Canada as a long standing political ally, business and economic partner in trade and investment, and a friend of the United States.
As an undergraduate multidisciplinary program, Canadian Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh encourages students to think beyond the confines of a nation state. It allows students to experience a vibrant international environment through Study in Canada, internship experiences, an immersion program in French, field trips, student centered conferences, and other outreach activities on and off campus. It also gives students a competitive advantage over their peers for careers in Canadian and international organizations in this country. A list of careers where Canadian Studies graduates have been placed in the past is included on our careers page . Graduates in the program can also pursue a master's or a doctoral degree in international relations, business and economics, political science and history to further their careers in academia or in government.
Questions, Comments, Suggestions?
For further information about Canadian Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact:
Dr. Mark Richard
Coordinator, Canadian Studies Program
Office: Ward Hall 217B
Phone: (518) 564-2226
Fax: (518) 564-2300
E-mail: mark.richard@plattsburgh.edu