SES Executive Notes: April 4, 2011

Present

  • Andrew P. Dean
  • Christine Gottardo
  • Scott Hamilton
  • Kamil Zaniewski
  • William Sears
  • Maurice Benson
  • Livio Di Matteo
  • Monica Ilie
  • Stephen Kissin
  • Peter Lee
  • Tina Maenpaa (recorder)

Regrets

  • Carney Matheson
  • Adam VanTuyl

1. Additions to and Approval of Agenda

No additions.

Agenda approved by S. Kissin, seconded by K. Zaniewski

Accepted

2. Review of Summary Notes from March 7, 2011

To approve the Notes of March 7, 2011
Moved: A. Dean
Seconded: K. Zaniewski

Carried

Business arising from notes

  • FIPPA training for access to transcripts is in the works
  • Justifications for filling technician positions need to be submitted
  • Comments on the Academic Plan can be submitted by following the link on the University main webpage
  • The Science Olympics webpage is now live
  • There is some concern over the wording for the fall back degrees and concurrent education programs but at this time SUSC accepts the proposed wording

3. Announcements (A.P. Dean)

  • Convocation will be held on May 27th and 28th at the Community Auditorium. The Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies ceremony is on the 28th at 2:00pm. Faculty members are encouraged to attend the ceremonies. For the afternoon ceremony Ronald Doere a Marine Biologist, will be receiving an honorary degree. This year, the Registrar will be reading all the names. There has been some discussion about moving Convocation to a week day. At this time there has been no decision made
  • If you want to read the minutes from Deans' Council they are now available on the VPA webpage: http://vpacademic.lakeheadu.ca/
  • Get going on graduate offers. Claw-back date for GA's is April 18th
  • Academic dates have been discussed and a proposal has been written to have the fall term start date on the first Monday after Labor Day and the winter term start date to be on the first Monday after New Years. If a make up day is needed for the winter term, then it will be on the Tuesday after Easter. There will not be fall study break
  • The VP (Academic) & Provost search committee has been chosen. It has been decided that there will not be an open presentation and the short list of candidates will not be released to respect the privacy of the candidates
  • Aboriginal Day is April 19th departments are encourage to participate

4. Carry Forward Policy

A.P. Dean motioned for the Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies Carry Forward Policy proposed on March 7th to the Executive Committee be accepted.

L. Di Matteo Seconded the motion

Passed

5. Gerry Munt Meeting on April 18th

There was some discussion on how to establish a Strategic Plan for the Faculty and the key points made were:

  1. Established Timeline needed
  2. Approval should be with the Executive and then with Faculty Council
  3. Objectives need to be created
  4. Strategies to achieve our objectives need to be determined
  5. The outcomes must be measurable

6. Recruitment (Call Lists)

A.P. Dean reminded Chairs to pick up their lists of prospective students. Chairs are encouraged to contact these students as a way to persuade their decision and increase conversion. There was some discussion on how to connect with students.

7. Vision Statement (AD)

Drs. Gottardo, Lee, Randall and Carney have been developing a vision statement that will be presented to Faculty Council. Their goal is to create a focused statement that represents the Faculty's possibilities.

8. NSERC Idea (CG)

As a result of Lakehead's disappointing results for NSERC grants this year, C. Gottardo shared with the executive her idea to put together a video from a student prospective to highlight the importance that NSERC grants have on their university experience as such grants provide the resources they need to become future researchers.

There was some discussion on the criteria used to make the decisions on who receives a grant and it was clear that Lakehead University will always struggle with meeting these standards as we are a smaller institution.

9. Biology Adjunct Professor Renewal

9.1 Dr. Robert Rempel (PL)

Peter Lee moved to renew the appointment of Dr. Z. Suntres as an external adjunct professor for the Department of Biology.

M. Benson seconded the motion.

Passed

Adjourned: 3:35pm