University of Guelph Senate

Transcription

1 University of Guelph Senate Minutes of the Senate meeting held Tuesday, May 11,2004, Room 113, MacNaughton Building, University of Guelph. The following were present: A. Summerlee, Chair I. Birrell, Secretary of Senate J. Alcock P. Hausdorf J. Auld I. Heathcote J. Bag K. Inwood R. Balahura C. Knipe J. Barth R. Kuhn C. Bell J. Livemois J. Benson G. Lumis R. Brooks G. MacPherson M. Buhr S. Maitland R. Brown M. Mancuso E. Carter H. Marmurek A. Clarke J. McCutcheon P. Conlon K. Mathews R. Crawford K. Meckling T. Crease D. Meegan T. Crowley A. Metcalfe 3. Davis R. Mueller D. DiLiberto J. Murray H. Dobson A. Nassuth B. Earn M. Nightingale M. Emes J. Norris T. Gillespie G. Otis A. Gordon P. Padanyi L. Graburn C. Pearson T. Graham D. Pennee V. Gray B. Pettigrew J. Greenwood J. Phillips J. Rajante I. Rajcan F. Ramprashad R. Reader F. Schryer A. Shepard R. Stevenson J. Strommer A. Sullivan P. Tersigni D. Thomas J. Tindale P. Tremaine K. Urech A. Varden J. Wells B. Whiteside H. Whiteside C. Whitfield A. Wilson J. Wood Guests: V. Shalla A. Vowles H. Draper T. Gingerich D. Homsby The meeting was called to order by the Chair, A. Summerlee. I APPROVAL OF AGENDA Crawford/Knipe that the agenda for the meeting of May 11,2004 be approved.

2 I I1 (a) REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR National Agri-Marketing Competition - OAC Result The President congratulated the 10 members of the University of Guelph team which had placed second in North America in the recent National Agri-Marketing Competition. Caucus Co-Chairs The President thanked Rex Crawford and Amy Metcalfe for their dedicated work as Caucus Co- Chairs this year. (c) Budget The President noted that there was no additional information to offer with respect to the budgetary situation. He reported that the Deputy Minister would be on campus in the near future, meeting with the President's Task Force on Accessibility to University Education. 111 READING AND DISPOSING OF MINUTES CrawfordIDiLiberto that the minutes of the meeting held April 6,2004 be approved. IV BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES The Chair noted that, in response to a query raised with respect to the Report of the Research Board at the last meeting, the Chair of the Board had met with the member who had raised the question and provided information that answered the question to her satisfaction. Copies of the Chair of the Research Board's response were available from the Secretary of Senate. V READING OF ENQUIRIES AND COMMUNICATIONS None received, VI QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. VII CAUCUS REPORT A. Metcalfe introduced Deborah DiLiberto, a continuing member of Senate, who would be one of the Caucus Co-Chairs next year. Emily Stahl will be the second Co-Chair.

3 Metcalfe/Crawford that David Hornsby be granted speaking privileges for the meeting. i f VIII REPORTS OF STANDING BOARDS AND COMMITTEES 1. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Degree Parchment Pilot Proiect The report on the pilot project was received for information. 2. BYLAWS & MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE (a) Committee Membershius, Conlon/Sullivan that the membership of Senate Boards and Committees for be approved. In answer to a question, P. Conlon noted that the membership of the committees was fully revisited each year, rather than appointing individuals to committees for the duration of their terms on Senate. This had been the practice of the Committee on Bylaws and Membership for some time and was the reason why all Senators received a committee preference form each spring. Walter Vaughan Medal P. Conlon reported that this year's recipient of the Walter Vaughan Medal was David Hornsby. The medal is given annually to a Student Senator who has high academic standing and who has made a substantial contribution to student life and to the University, particularly through involvement and a commitment to Senate activities. He noted that among David Hornsby's many contributions to Senate as a member for the past three years were the following: Chair of the Senate Awards Committee, active member of the Board of Undergraduate Studies and its subcommittees, member of the Working Group on Academic Integrity, member of the President's Task Force on Accessibility to University Education. David had also been a member of the University's Board of Governors. As CSA Academic Commissioner this past year he had been closely involved with discussions of a number of important academic policies. Members offered their congratulations to David Hornsby.

4 3. BOARD OF GRADUATE STUDIES I (a) (c) Amendments to Calendar Regulations Avvointments to the Graduate Faculty Course Title Change These items were received for information. 4. LIBRARY COMMITTEE Summer Librarv Hours The schedule was received for information. 5. COMMITTEE ON UNIVERSITY PLANNING (a) College of Biological Science Restructuring B. Allen presented the report noting that the key changes were a move from five departments within the College to three, and a focus on coordination of programming among the departments and between graduate and undergraduate programs. He noted that the document that was before Senate had been developed over a long period within the College and drew attention to the list of consultations that had taken place. The report was before Senate with SCUP's strong endorsement. He invited the Dean of the College to comment. M. Emes summarized the principles behind the development of the new structure noting the focus on building collegiality and positioning the College for the future. Moving from five to three departments would bring faculty together in cognate areas, at the same time building a critical mass in the overarching areas of biology. There would be increased economies of scale and opportunities for strategic planning and thinking. A number of members commented on the title of "Associate Dean of Teaching", suggesting that it be amended to Associate Dean Academic to recognize that learning and teaching are very much a joint endeavour. The term "teaching" seemed to be too much of a one-way street. The Dean noted that he was happy to review that suggestion with the Chairs. A member noted that the faculty within CBS fully recognize the need for renewal and many of the changes suggested in the document appear eminently reasonable. However, she noted that this was very much a conceptual document without a lot of detail, and suggested that there were a number of items to flag for future and ongoing consideration as the process developed. First, the role of departments seemed to be changing within the college with more resources being centralized and there was some question as to how that would work in practice. Second, the composition of the Dean's Council under the new structure would change to three deans and three chairs, from the current composition of one dean and five chairs. This represented a change from the executive

5 model to which the College was accustomed and, again, there were questions as to how it would work in practice. Third, there had been extensive consultation with faculty within the College but there was a need to recognize the very important role staff play in the College and she hoped that as the process moved forward there would be strong effort made to involve staff in decision making. Fourth, she queried the proposed role of Associate Deans in the TAPSI process. This would be very different from the current regular peer review process and could be problematic. She also noted some timing concerns with respect to development of TAPSI forms given that the intention was to move to implement the changes by Fall She suggested that JFPC would need to be involved in the details of the new forms. The Chair agreed that these were all important points to bear in mind as the process moved forward, but asked the Provost to comment particularly on the TAPSI questions raised by the 'member. The Provost said that there had been ongoing discussion with respect to how to operationalize the Associate Dean input into the TAPSI process. Associate Deans would not sit on P&T committees. However, JFPC has agreed in the past to allow input from academic administrators, (such as the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Vice-President, Research), as long as such input is received in a manner that is consistent with Faculty Policies, and that would be the intention with any input from Associate Deans. With respect to P&T documents she noted that one department already has functional documents; it was expected that the new documents for the others would be forwarded to JFPC soon and she would ask that body to be expeditious in its consideration of them. A member remarked that she thought the restructuring presented a very exciting concept. She thought the link between undergraduate and graduate programming should be highlighted, rather than presenting the two as separate silos, each headed by an Associate Dean. The Dean noted that the fostering of links between the two sets of programs was clearly a goal of the restructuring. In answer to a question with respect to the addition of an Associate Dean position to the College and its impact on the College's budget, the Dean noted that this was part of the College's longrange strategic hiring plan and the necessary resources had been built into the budget. A member suggested that the College consider including more than one student on the Undergraduate Program Committee. The Dean noted that he was in discussion with the CBS Student Government with respect to the appropriate levels of student participation. Another member added that students would continue to be involved at the departmental level on curriculum committees as they are now. Allenpennee that the proposed restructuring of the College of Biological Science be approved.

6 , Department of Chernistrv & Biochemistry Name Change Allen/Pearson that effective September 1,2004, the name of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry be changed to the Department of Chemistry. (c) Internal Reviews Department of Biomedical Science - Review Summary This item was received for information. In response to a question, it was clarified that the list of recommendations in the summary were the recommendations that had been made by the initial internal review committee. Recommendation 4 with respect to the management of the Department of Biomedical Sciences had been amended in discussions that had followed the receipt of that internal review report. 6. COMMITTEE FOR HONORARY DEGREES The Chair noted that this item would be dealt with in closed session. IX OTHER BUSINESS There being no other business, Senate moved into Closed Session on a motion by B. Allen and seconded by D. DiLiberto. X CLOSED SESSION COMMITTEE FOR HONORARY DEGREES Members voted on four nominations. XI ADJOURNMENT There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. on a motion by R. Crawford and seconded by A. Metcalfe. A. Summerlee, Chair I. Birrell, Secretary of Senate