Mount Saint Vincent University. Department of Office Administration

In 1925 a Bachelor of Secretarial Science, which later became, a Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Studies was offered at Mount Saint Vincent College in the “commercial department” and later the business department. The program offered a variety of subject courses as well as secretarial courses. In the 1950s, the business department became a separate unit and courses became less broad and more business orientated. In 1958, two-year diploma programs were introduced in Secretarial Science and Medical Secretarial Science. The Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Studies was phased out in 1966 and replaced with a new degree called the Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics. In 1971 the Bachelor of Business Administration was introduced and in 1972, men were admitted for the first time as part-time students into the program. In 1973, the diploma in Secretarial Studies changed to an Executive Secretarial Diploma and a new diploma in Legal Secretarial Studies was offered. In 1976 the Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, which had been phased out in 1972, was replaced with the Bachelor of Secretarial Arts degree. In 1977 the Business Administration Department and the Secretarial Department separated, however students in the Secretarial program continued to take Business Administration courses. In 1988 the Secretarial Department became the Office Administration Department. That same year the Executive Secretarial Diploma changed to the Diploma in Office Administration: Executive, the Legal Secretarial Diploma became the Diploma in Office Administration: Legal and the Medical Secretarial Diploma became the Diploma in Office Administration: Medical. In 1992 a new degree was developed called the Bachelor of Applied Arts (Information Management). It was the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada and it offered classes in arts, business and information management. The title changed again in 1999 to a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Information Technology, as it is known today. Sister Mary Assisium was in charge of the Secretarial Studies department from 1925 to 1945, followed by Sister Katherine Meagher in 1950. Other known department heads were Sister Anne Fintan (1964-5), Sister Marion Power (1967), Sister Brenda Helton (1970s) and Jean Mills (1990s).