Faculty Meeting Thursday, January 7, 2010

Date: 
Thursday, January 7, 2010 - 12:00am
Location: 
ATAC 5035
Agenda: 
MEMORANDUM
 
Date:              January 7, 2010
 
To:                  Members, Council of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities 
      
From:             Victor Smith, Chair, Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Council
 
Subject:         COUNCIL MEETING             
                                                                                                                                               
There will be a meeting of the Council of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2010 AT 2:30 PM TO 4:30 PM IN ROOM 5035 (ATAC BUILDING).
 
                                                            AGENDA  
 1.        Approval of Agenda.
 
 2.        Approval of the November 13, 2009 Minutes.   
 
 3.        Business Arising from the Minutes.
 
 4.        Registrar's Report.
 
 5.        Dean's Report.
 
 6.        Report on Meeting of SSHRC Leaders.
 
 7.        Departmental/School Reports.
             i)  History - Calendar Changes - Undergraduate
            ii)  History - Calendar Changes - Graduate (see Support Documents)
           iii)  Indigenous Learning - Calendar Changes
           iv) Northern Studies  - Calendar Changes (see Support Documents)
 
 8.        Orillia Report.
 
 9.        Other Business.
 
10.       Adjournment.           
_________________________________
VICTOR SMITH, Chair, Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Council.
Minutes: 
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL
 Friday, November 13, 2009
 
 
APPROVED 
 
A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 10:00 am in the ATAC Board Room 5035.
 
1.
Approval of Agenda
 
It was moved by H. Smith and seconded by D. McPherson that the revised agenda be approved.
 
                                                                             Carried.
  
2.
Approval of the Minutes
 
It was moved by R. Koster and seconded by D. McPherson that the minutes of October 16, 2009, be approved.
 
                                                                             Carried.
 
3.
Business Arising from Minutes
 
None.
 
4.
Registrar's Report
 
Registrar's Report
To
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
November 11, 2009
 
·         Scheduling Workshop
o    A workshop for Scheduling representatives in academic units will be held on Monday, December  7th (location to be verified once numbers are known)
o    A choice of two sessions is available - 9-10:30 or 10:30 to noon
o    Departments who have not yet responded are encouraged to do so
o    Loading sheets for 2010 will be available for distribution at that workshop
·         Graduation Lists
o    Since the Council did not meet to approve graduands for the November 6th meeting of Senate, is it your intention to discontinue the practice of reviewing /approving graduation lists in the future?
o    Please advise us prior to the May meeting of Senate in 2010
·         Academic Schedule for 2010-2011
o    Senate has approved a Monday, September 13th start date for classes in Fall 2010
o    The complete schedule will be posted very soon
o    The Registrar will be forming a working group to look at a generic Academic Schedule policy
o    If there are volunteers from Council please call Brenda at 8615
·         Examinations at PACI
o    All students who are writing at PACI have been sent an email giving directions to the building
o    Signs will be posted at entrances to the gym
o    LUSU has arranged with Thunder Bay Transit to add more direct routes between the Main Campus and PACI during the hour before each exam period
o    Entry to the gym will be from Waverley Street as the  main building is still a construction site
o    There will be a member of Security present at the start of examinations
o    Since there is not yet a telephone in the gym, instructors who have exams there are asked to take along a cell phone; if one is not available please contact Scheduling and we will arrange for one
 
 
 5.
Dean's Report for Faculty Council 
 
Dean's Report for Faculty Council
November 13, 2009 ATAC 5036
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 set up a schedule for staffing the booth.  Please let Sue know who will be staffing the booth for your academic unit over the 10:00 am to 1:50 pm period.   Again, I encourage you to give some thought to whether you would like to have an interactive session of facility tour. 
3.            Graduate Studies Brochure.  Please have a look at the brochure and make sure you are satisfied with the way in which your program is being represented.  These blurbs are taken from what is on the Graduate Studies website, so if you are not happy with what you see here, you should check the Grad Studies website to see how your program is described there, and let Grad Studies know if you would like changes.  You might also review how your graduate program is described on your own departmental website.
4.            Budget:  Judith attended the Deans' Council meeting on my behalf this week--budget was discussed at that meeting.  Enrolment numbers are better than anticipated on both campuses, and consequently there is still talk of hiring this year, but still no details.  There is talk of a 3% cut as well, but it is not yet clear whether this will be a horizontal cut.  Part of the context for the cut is the assumption that there will be no increases in government funding in the next few years, and that, in fact, there may be a decrease in per/student funding from the government.  Please be working on your requests for positions--you can help me make a strong case, not only for your own unit, but for our Faculty as a whole.  I've finally been successful in getting the printouts of enrolment numbers to break out the Con-ed numbers to reflect how many of those students are actually getting degrees from our units.  I'm going to be making a very strong case for our need for resources relative to the actual numbers of students we teach.
5.            H1N1--you received an email from me reiterating the current policy that we not require doctors' notes and that faculty report any significant decreases in attendance. 
Respectfully submitted by Dr. Gillian Siddall, Dean, Social Sciences and Humanities.
 
6.
Departmental/School Reports
 
i) Department of Sociology - Calendar Change - Major's Average for BA/BEd P/J Psychology
   or Sociology
 
This item was deferred.
 
Graduate Calendar Change
 
It was moved by S.D. Stone and seconded by H. Smith that the amended graduate calendar change be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
ii) Philosophy - Internal Adjunct - Dr. Michel Beaulieu
 
It was moved by R. Berg and seconded by S.D. Stone that Dr. M. Beaulieu be appointed as Internal Adjunct in the Department of Philosophy.
                                                                            Carried.
 
iv) Department of Languages
 
Classics
It was moved by M.N. Rinn© and seconded by M. Beaulieu that the calendar change be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
Special Topics
It was moved by M.N. Rinn© and seconded by H. Smith that the calendar change be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
 
 
v) Northern Studies - Calendar Changes
 
It was moved by M. Beaulieu and seconded by A. Carastathis that the calendar changes be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
vi) Department of Women's Studies - Calendar Changes
 
It was moved by H. Smith and seconded by M.N. Rinn© that the calendar changes be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
 
Departmental/School Reports - continued
 
 
vii) Department of Music - Calendar Changes - Restructuring of Music History Courses
 
It was moved by G. Colton and seconded by A. Carastathis that the calendar changes be approved.
                                                                            Carried.
 
 
7.
Other Business
 
 i)  Report from the Promotion and Recruitment Committee
 
M. Nisenholt reported that the committee has met twice and is working with individual Departments and Schools to review and update their promotional material.
 
 
ii)  Course Evaluations
 
S. Viitala spoke about the new process for course evaluations.  We will no longer be hiring course evaluators but rather have a student from each class conduct the review.  The completed evaluations will be brought directly to the Dean's Office or in the case of night courses, left at Security.  A memo and a package of course evaluation forms will be sent to each faculty member who require fall evaluations as well as shared courses.  There was a concern raised that there might not be enough evaluation forms.
 
 
iii) Ballots for Elections to SS&H Strategic Planning Steering Committee
 
There was concern about those faculty members who have cross-appointments being listed separately on the ballot as it might split the vote.  It was also noted that a faculty member could be elected and not want to serve on the committee.  A draft ballot was reviewed and discussion followed.
 
 
8.
Orillia Report
 
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.  They 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.
 
9.
Adjournment
 
The meeting adjourned at noon.
 
 
 ATTENDANCE
 
Thunder Bay Campus
V. Smith
R. Koster
H. Smith
G. Colton
A. Carastathis
R. Berg
M. Nisenholt
G. Siddall
D. McPherson
M.N. Rinn©
S.D. Stone
D. Ivison
M. Beaulieu
 
 
Orillia Campus
A. den Otter
 
REGRETS
D. Jobin-Bevans
J. Nicholas
S.S. Islam
B. Stolar
 
Orillia Campus
K. Willison