Faculty Council Meeting

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL
MINUTES
October 2nd, 2015

Approved
 
A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, October 2nd, 2015 at 10:00 am in ATAC Board Room 5035/OA 2005.

1.
Approval of Agenda
 
It was moved by A. den Otter and seconded by M. Beaulieu that the agenda be approved.

        Carried.

2.
Approval of the Minutes
 
It was moved by J. Roth and seconded by I. Lemée that the minutes from April 21st, 2015 be approved.
 
        Carried.

It was moved by M. Beaulieu and seconded by D. Ivison that the minutes of May 19th, 2015 be approved.  

        Carried.

3.
Business Arising from Minutes

 None.

4.
Introduction of New Colleagues

R. Koster introduced Dr. Ryan Howard, a new faculty member in the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks
and Tourism.

J. Roth stated that she will introduce the new faculty member in the Department of Women’s Studies at our next Council meeting.

K. Holmes introduced Professor Sam Shahsahabi as the new tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts.  She stated that Professor Shahsahabi has been with the department for some years.

M. Stevenson stated that the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies had hired two new tenure-track members, Dr. Ryan McVeigh and Dr. Beth Visser.

5.
Dean’s Report

Dean’s Report to Faculty Council Meeting – Friday, October 2nd, 2015
Interim Position
In a rapid turn around, I began as the Interim Dean of the Faculty of SS&H on September 15, 2015 with a mandate to continue until June 30, 2016. During this time, there will be an external search for the position early in the new calendar year with a start date of July 1, 2016.

OUF
My sincere thanks to members of our faculty who attended the OUF over last weekend in Toronto; early reports from the Office of Recruitment suggest that overall attendance numbers at the fair where up this year over last year, and specifically numbers of students that visited the LU booth. Chairs can expect to receive contact information collected at the fair to be used for more targeted recruitment activities later in the fall.

Homecoming
The following is information concerning the 50th Anniversary Homecoming events over this coming weekend. There will be a table set up in the Agora tomorrow populated with articles from our faculty departments between 9.00 am and 3.00 pm. Chairs form our faculty have been asked to drop off any objects for this purpose to the office of the Dean before the end of the afternoon today.  The second event for our faculty will take place on Sunday afternoon in the MVA building between 1:00 and 3.00 pm. All faculty members have been invited to attend a mixer around the theme of art and music. Kristy Holmes has been the principle organizer for this event, and I would like to thank faculty who have sent their RSVP for this event.

Dean of SS&H Task Force
I would like to make a call out to our Chairs/Director for interest to serve on the Dean of SS&H Task Force, a working group to begin meeting sometime this month. The business of this taskforce will be to discuss and develop an action plan around, but not exclusive to three broad issues, including: recruitment, enrollment and retention (including new program offerings); support for research; faculty-based fundraising indicatives. I will be circulating a call out to our Chairs/Director this afternoon, and would encourage you all to think about your participation on this committee.

Request for Tightening Process
I would like to request that Chairs/Director supported requests for student overloads must include the student’s average (min. of 70%) and must not exceed 1 FCE per year. All requests should be forwarded to Sue Viitala’s attention and in the case of an email, to myself with Sue cc’d. Additionally, please be sure to include the total number of FCEs that the student has enrolled in for the academic year, this will assist Sue and I in turning these around these requests more efficiently.
Research Profiles
I would like to create a Research Profile for our faculty, and would like to ask that Chairs/Director work with our faculty members to forward a 3-5 sentence brief on current research initiatives in our faculty. These do not need to be long, but there is a need for the Dean to become more conversant on the topic of research both in general terms, and at the level of each individual faculty member. May I ask that this information is forwarded directly to me via email over the coming days.

Annual Reports
Having just completed my first round of Annual Report reviews for the Faculty of SS&H, I am truly amazed at the level of productivity in our Faculty, This process gave me insights into faculty research, teaching, and most specifically into the high level of service activities that our faculty members are engaged in throughout the University and the greater community. One request that I would like to encourage faculty to consider for next year would be to use Part IV “General Comments” to list 3-5 of your top hit accomplishments that you are most proud of for that year. The format of the Annual Report template really doesn’t allow for any contextualization or elaboration of entries, so by making this more obvious, my hope is that I can produce an more accurate and helpful review of individual accomplishments listed in the body of the report.
6.
Departmental/School Reports

i)  History
It was moved by M. Beaulieu and seconded by I. Lemée that Dr. Peter Raffo be reappointed as an External Adjunct Professor in the Department of History effective July 1, 2015 for a four-year period.

        Carried.

ii)  Philosophy
It was moved by R .Maundrell and seconded by M. Beaulieu that the Philosophy calendar change, 2015-SOC-5205, be approved.

        Carried.

8.
Other Business

None.
        Carried.

10.
Adjournment
 
It was moved by D. Ivison and seconded by J. Roth that the meeting be adjourned at 10:30 am.
    
         Carried.


ATTENDANCE
 
Thunder Bay Campus

D. Ivison
D. Jobin-Bevans
I. Lemée
B. Vernier
K. Holmes
G. Colton
J. Roth
M. Beaulieu
R. Maundrell
P. Cain
R. Howard

Orillia Campus

A. den Otter
M. Stevenson

REGRETS

M. Richardson
D. McPherson