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Plan your Degree
Explore the complex relationships between humans and their natural and built environments. Our programs combine interdisciplinary knowledge with experiential learning to help you find your fit and graduate prepared.
The Faculty of Environment has two new majors!
Explore the human past, from Neanderthals to current issues of First Nations heritage in one of Canada's top archaeology programs. Delve into forensic science and biological anthropology to learn about primates and changes in the human skeleton, or examine human-environmental interactions while working in labs, in the field, or travelling to local and/or international destinations.
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Department: Archaeology
Potential Careers
This degree prepares you for a variety of careers including: forensic scientist, paleoanthropologist, maritime archaeologist, and more working for industry, government, police and coroners, museums, parks and historical sites.
Is Archaeology for You?
- Do you like to solve mysteries old and new?
- Are you interested in biology, forensics or DNA?
- Does Indigenous knowledge, culture and heritage management interest you?
Draw on diverse disciplines to explore the relationships between humans and the environment. By examining Earth’s physical, chemical and biological processes, you will learn how to think critically about how the world works, and use science to address environmental problems. You will tailor your degree to your interests by choosing one of six streams.
Five study streams: Applied biology, environmental Earth systems, environmetrics (environmental statistics), water science, and environmental science general. Learn more about the streams here.
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Department: Environmental Science
Potential Careers
This degree prepares you for a wide range of careers including an environmental health and safety inspector, fisheries technician, food safety coordinator, water quality controller, air quality technician and more with industry, governments and non-profit agencies.
Is Environmental Science for You?
- Do you like debunking fake news like "climate change isn’t real"?
- Have you ever wondered if a water source was safe to drink?
- Are you curious about how to repair contaminated environments?
Geographic Information Science (GIS) — NEW MAJOR
A bachelor of science in geographic information science (GIS) will have you thinking critically to understand and solve complex social and environmental challenges through data. This program provides in-depth GIS knowledge and skills while giving you the flexibility to branch out into related fields to prepare you for a wide variety of career options in a data-driven world.
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Department: Geography
POTENTIAL CAREERS
Senior government managers and officials, social and community service workers, business development officers, market researchers and analysts and more
Is GIS for you?
- Do you want to learn how to build tools to visualize and solve complex spatial problems?
- Do you like working with data and learning new technologies and software?
- Have you ever wondered how we can improve access to health care, transportation and schools?
Dive into environmental issues, particularly the climate crisis. Learn to use a global perspective to examine the intersection of social and biophysical systems (e.g. housing development and wildlife habitat loss) and discover how to mitigate negative effects of these systems. Advanced data analysis and modeling will become part of your toolkit.
Degree: Bachelor of Environment
Department: Geography
Potential Careers
This degree arms you with the ability to support decision-making and communicate scientific and technical information to diverse audiences. It will prepare you for careers in a variety of settings including government, industry and non-governmental agencies among others. Career paths include environmental planning analyst, policy advisor, environmental communication specialist, transportation policy analyst, sustainability coordinator, compliance specialist, environmental risk assessor and more.
Is Global Environmental Systems for You?
- Do you want to understand climate change and what we are doing about it?
- Do you want to know what environmental justice is?
- Are you curious about how to influence environmental legislation based on scientific evidence?
Explore the complex challenges facing our communities and our planet. You will learn how social, economic, political and environmental forces shape our daily lives. By applying a global perspective, you will identify practical solutions through a range of research and analysis methods.
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Department: Geography
Potential Careers
This degree prepares you for a career as an urban planner, tourism developer, government advisor, community development analyst, sustainable programs manager, policy analyst, environmental media coordinator and more.
Is Human Geography for You?
- Do social issues like homelessness, addiction, and racism interest you?
- Are you curious about how we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
- Are you interested in how we can make neighbourhoods and cities more equitable, sustainable and functional?
Explore Earth systems science by studying the interactions between air, water, land and the spaces where organisms live. Investigate the events that influence our lives and learn how we are altering the Earth’s environmental systems. You will tailor your studies to match your interests and career goals and be eligible for professional certification in the environmental and resource sectors.
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Department: Geography
Potential Careers
This degree prepares you for a variety of careers including: climatologist, environmental protection officer or technician, pollution control consultant, water or air quality technician, professional geoscientist, soil scientist, remediation specialist, surveyor, hydrologist, agrologist and more, working for governments, industry and conservation groups.
Is Physical Geography for You?
- Have you ever wondered what happens when a landslide blocks a river valley or a threatens a highway?
- Do you want to know why our climate is changing and what our future climate will look like?
- Do you know that soil resources for food production are threatened?
Discover how we manage natural resources like energy, forestry and fisheries. Learn how social and natural sciences, along with urban and rural planning, guide sustainable environmental management and gain an understanding of socio-cultural and Indigenous perspectives, Earth processes, environmental impact assessments, analytics in decision-making, conflict resolution and policy, planning and regulation.
Degree: Bachelor of Environment
Department: Resource and Environmental Management
Resource and Environmental Management also offers an accredited Planning Stream that students can apply to in their second year.
LEARN MORE
Potential Careers
This degree prepares you for a wide range of careers in the government, industry, and non-profit sectors such as a business sustainability manager, compliance coordinator, parks manager, policy analyst, environmental manager or planner, restoration ecologist, or waste management program coordinator.
Students in the Planning Stream will work towards their Registered Professional Planner (RPP) designation, preparing them for a career in transportation planning, rural and urban planning, environmental planning and more.
Is REM for You?
- Will we have enough electricity if we all drive electric vehicles?
- Do you think it is important to have access to fish, food and water that comes from local sources?
- Do you want to make industries such as forestry, agriculture and fisheries more sustainable?
Urban Worlds— NEW MAJOR
With over half of the world’s population living in urban spaces, cities matter. They produce, reflect, and amplify most of the dynamics, potential, and problems of global society. With planetary pressures like population growth and climate change, urban spaces need to be more resilient and sustainable for society to thrive in a turbulent world. Students in SFU’s new Bachelor of Arts (BA), Major in Urban Worlds program gain the knowledge and skills to shape cities and urban life for better in the future.
Degree: Bachelor of Arts from either the Faculty of Environment (Urban Change Stream) or the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Urban Studies Stream)
Department: Geography
One major, two options for completion:
All students build a foundation in the first 4 courses:
- URB 101: What is a city?
- GEOG 161: Urban Change: An introduction to dynamic places
- PLAN 100: Introduction to Planning
- INDG 101: Introduction to Indigenous Studies
You then choose one of two streams: Urban Change, offered through the Faculty of Environment, or Urban Studies, offered through the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. In the final year, the two streams come together, and students apply what they’ve learned to real-world, local contexts, through partnerships with local urban agencies. Practicum options are available.
Potential careers
The world is changing rapidly and so is the full range of career opportunities that await. Armed with the necessary knowledge and skills, graduates pursue careers in fields such as:
- Urban and land-use planners
- Senior managers in government, construction, transportation, production utilities
- Social and community service workers
- business development officers
- market researches/analysts
- consultants (policy, planning, research)
and more
Is Urban Worlds for You?
- Are you interested in cities, how they work, and how they change?
- Do you want a career that shapes your city for the better?
Topics: Gentrification, homelessness, housing crises, climate change, migration, spread of infectious disease, racism, city’s role as a node of extraction in the global economy.
