Faculty Meeting Friday, November 13, 2009

 Friday, October 16, 2009

 

A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 10:00 am in the ATAC Board Room 5035.

 

 

It was moved by J. Leggatt and seconded by H. Smith that the agenda be approved.

 

                                                                             Carried.

  

 

It was moved by M. Nisenholt and seconded by M. MacLean that the minutes of September 11, 2009 be approved.

 

                                                                             Carried.

 

 

i)     Ballots for the election of Graduate Studies Membership.

ii)    Ballots for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Strategic Plan Steering

     Committee.

iii)   Current enrolment numbers from B. Nelson

 

 

B. Nelson said the exam schedule has been posted for December.  We will be using PACI this year for some exams and the "clean-up" has already been done with Scheduling.  If there are any conflicts, they can be reported to Lorrie or Donna in Scheduling.  The list of November graduands has been sent to all Chairs/Directors with a deadline of next Friday, October 23/09.  B. Nelson reported that Enrolment Management has been reviewing the registration process in order to get the students to enrol early so that under-enrolled classes can be addressed, and to ensure they register only once and properly.  She hopes to have a clean timetable ready by the end of March so students have a better opportunity to meet with faculty to discuss their courses and this will in turn make for better retention.  It will also help with workload assignments which are due by the end of June as any adjustments can be done earlier.  In order to register early, students also need good information as well as an up-to-date online calendar for accurate information.  They need to know where they stand academically, ie. which courses they have passed or failed. By allowing early registration, Academic Advising in less busy in September and able to work with students before classes start. B. Nelson advised us that there will be a training session held in November for those staff members that do the scheduling to help familiarize them with the whole system and how it interacts.  Discussion followed.

 

 

1.            Calendar changes.  Calendar changes must be submitted in time for the January Senate meeting.  That meeting is January 29 and the Senate Executive meeting at which the changes would come forward is January 15. 

2.            Fall Preview Day.  We need to staff our booth from 10:00 am to 1:50 pm.  Check the email I forwarded to you for information on your assigned room for the discipline specific  "Academic Sessions."  Also give some thought to whether you would like to have an interactive session of facility tour. 

3.            We had another successful Ontario University Fair.  This year I went down with Aris Carasthasis, Jenny Roth, Rhonda Koster, and Eric .  I continue to make the argument that we need greater representation there from our Faculty. 

4.            At Enrolment Management yesterday, we were given some interesting statistics about our graduation rates and retention rates.  Of particular interest to me was that there was a significant difference between retention rates for Con ed students getting Arts degrees and students getting straight Arts degrees.  The Con ed students are well above the university average, and the straight Arts students are well below it.  We can only speculate on the reasons for that, but it may suggest that we need to do more work on career counseling.  This is an issue we may want to address in our strategic plan.

5.            No word yet on hiring for this year.  Enrolment numbers are good, so that is encouraging.  I encourage you to be prepared to make a case for positions you feel need to be filled. 

Respectfully submitted by Dr. Gillian Siddall, Dean, Social Sciences and Humanities.

It was moved by G. Siddall and seconded that a sub-committee be created to deal with the promotion of our Faculty.

                                                                            Carried.

 

 

i) Department of Women's Studies - Calendar Changes

 

It was moved by P. Wakewich and seconded by H. Smith that the calendar changes for the MEd with Specializations in Women's Studies and Gerontology be approved.

 

                                                                            Carried.

 

ii) Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism - Adjuncts - Dr. Jackie Dawson & Dr. Emma     Stewart

 

It was moved by R. Koster and seconded by H. Smith that the appointments of Dr. Dawson and Dr. Stewart as Adjunct Professors be approved.

                                                                            Carried.

Departmental/School Reports - cont'd

 

ii) Sociology - Calendar Change: New Third Year Course in Life Studies and Changes to the Dr. Anita Chen Bursary.

 

It was moved by P. Wakewich and seconded by J. Leggatt that the new third year Sociology course be approved.

                                                                            Carried.

 

It was moved by P. Wakewich and seconded by R. Berg that the wording change to the Dr. Anita Chen bursary be approved.

 

                                                                            Carried.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

There was none.

 

 

A.den Otter reported that she will have the list of spring/summer courses soon.  There will be the same number of courses as last year which will be 3 or 3.5 FCE's.  She will be contacting all Chairs/Directors that might be affected by those courses that will be running.  The took a survey of what students were interested in. The proposal is due next Thursday, and postings for instructors will follow after the courses are chosen.  A. Den Otter now has a chart with enrolment numbers for Fall/Winter and will send that along tomorrow.  It has data from the last two years.  There are a number of FCE's that are sustainable, and 3.5 or 4 that depend on class size.  She will talk to each Chair/Director with regard to course offerings.

There are some calendar changes. There is an Indigenous topics course and an environmental sustainability course.  There are 6 or 7 faculty members from Thunder Bay campus on the planning committee.  These should be ready for December.  R. Koster wanted to know if the courses were existing or new.  A. Den Otter stated that they were existing.

 

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

 

 

 ATTENDANCE

 

V. Smith

B. Nelson

M. MacLean

J. Leggatt

R. Koster

H. Smith

G. Colton

ATTENDANCE - cont'd

 

R. Berg

M. Nisenholt

L. Paquette

P. Wakewich

G. Siddall

 

A. den Otter

 

D. Jobin-Bevans

P. Jasen

J. Nicholas