Summary of Graduates from Integrative Science Academic Program

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Given that the first students started in the Integrative Science academic program in Fall 1999, the first graduates from it (as a four year degree program at Cape Breton University) could only be expected in Spring 2003.

From Spring 2003 through to Spring 2010, there have been 27 Mi’kmaq students who started and completed their science or science-related degrees at Cape Breton University, all of whom have had some relationship to Integrative Science and many (but not all) of whom started university within the MSAP program. These graduates include 13 from the BScCS – Integrative Science plus 4 from the BSc – Biology, 6 from BSc – Nursing, 1 from BSc – Psychology, 1 from BTech – Public Health, and 1 from BTech – Environmental Studies. We note that individuals from Mi’kmaw communities are the only students who have enrolled in or graduated with the degree BScCS – Integrative Science, although the program is open to all regardless of ethnicity.  Additional Mi’kmaw students who started their university journey with Cape Breton University’s Integrative Science courses within the MSAP program have graduated with other degrees, including the BA and BACS.

The above summary portrays a time at Cape Breton University in which more Aboriginal students entered and graduated from science and science-related programming than in the years prior to the implementation of the Integrative Science and MSAP programs.  And, it suggests that together these programs were successful in encouraging greater interest in science among Aboriginal students than had previously been the case. You can read about the objectives and structure of the Integrative Science academic program as originally conceived.

The origins and history of the Integrative Science academic program are also discussed in the article below.

Bartlett, C.M. 2010. Integrative Science/Toqwa’tu’kl Kjijitaqnn: The story of our journey in bringing together Indigenous and Western scientific knowledges. Chapter 16 in: Proceedings of Workshop for the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Project, Debert, NS, 19-21 October 2005 (in press, as of August 2010).