Faculty Council Meeting - November 14, 2025 - Deadline for submissions is November 7/2025

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL

MINUTES

 Friday, October 17, 2025
 A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 10:00 am via Zoom.  

GUEST:
Dr. Gillian Balfour:  Provost & Vice-President (Academic)

A. den Otter welcomed Dr. Balfour to Lakehead University and to our Faculty Council meeting.

Dr. Balfour introduced herself and went on to give a brief history of her time in academia.  She completed a PhD in Sociology at the University of Manitoba where she focused on socio-legal studies and feminist criminology. Her research interests included a critical analysis of restorative justice and sentencing law reforms intended to address the over-incarceration of Indigenous women.

Before joining Lakehead University, she served as Provost and Vice-President Academic at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) since 2022, where she was the chief budget officer and academic leader with a unique government mandate to provide online and on-campus learning for 30,000 learners.
Prior to her time at TRU, Dr. Balfour served as Vice Principal and Academic Dean at King’s University College at Western University from 2020 to 2022.

Her leadership background includes almost two decades at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where she was the Associate Dean of Trent Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning.

A brief discussion followed.
=====================
1.
Approval of Agenda
 It was moved by C. Sanders, and seconded by R. McVeigh that the agenda be approved.

        Carried.
2.
Approval of Minutes
It was moved by D. Hayes and seconded by D. Akca that the minutes from September 12, 2025 be approved as circulated.
        Carried.
 3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
None.

4.
Calendar Change Requests

i) Gender & Women’s Studies
It was moved by L. Chambers and seconded by E. Chugunov that the following calendar change request
for Gender & Women’s Studies be approved.
2025-SOC-9043:  Course-Modification-UG-Gender and Women's Studies-Course title name change for
WOME 1100
        Carried.
    
ii)  History
It was moved by M. Stevenson and seconded by P. Das that the following calendar change request for
History be approved.
2025-SOC-9079: New HIST Undergrad Course

        Carried.

iii) Indigenous Access
It was moved by K. Burnett and seconded by D. Ivison that the following calendar change requests for
Indigenous Access be approved.
2025-SOC-9050:  Admission Requirement Addition for all Indigenous Access Programs
2025-SOC-9059:  Program Update for Indigenous Transition Year Program
2025-SOC-9061:  Course restriction change to include Indigenous STEM Access Programs students in
ITYP 1191 course

        Carried.

iv) Interdisciplinary Studies
It was moved by D. Akca and seconded by R. McVeigh that the following calendar change requests for
Interdisciplinary Studies be approved.
2025-SOC-9065:  Course-Discontinuing-UG-Criminology-4015-Criminal-Profiling
2025-SOC-9077:  Course-Modification-UG-Criminology-3135-Description

        Carried,

It was moved by R. McVeigh and seconded by J. Jarman that the following calendar change request for
Interdisciplinary Studies be approved.
2025-SOC-9082:  Program; Minor modification; UG; Interdisciplinary Studies; Concentration Updates

        Carried.

It was moved by J.  Jarman and seconded by R. McVeigh that the following calendar change requests for
Interdisciplinary Studies (MDST) be approved.
2025-SOC-9098:  Media, Film, and Communications Internships Minor Changes
2025-SOC-9099:  Media, Film, and Communications Minor Small Change

        Carried.

v) Music
It was moved by E. Chugonov and seconded by S. Shahsahabi that the following calendar change
request for Music be approved.
2025-SOC-9056: New Music History courses/ deletion of old courses

        Carried.

vi)  Philosophy
It was moved by R. Maundrell and seconded by L. Potvin that the following calendar change request for
Philosophy be approved.
2025-SOC-9085:  Courses-New and Discontinued-UG-Philosophy

        Carried.

vii)  Sociology
It was moved by C. Sanders and seconded by R. McVeigh that the following calendar change
requests for Sociology be approved.
2025-SOC-8880:  Changes to Title, Description, Prerequisites and Notes
2025-SOC-8881:  Cross Calendared Changes to Title, Description, Prerequisites and Notes
2025-SOC-8945:  New 5th (Graduate) Year Course SOCI-5102

        Carried.

viii)  Visual Arts
It was moved by S. Shahsahabi and seconded by E. Chugunov that the following calendar change
requests for Visual Arts be approved.
2025-SOC-9018:  VISUAL ARTS PRE-REQ FIX
2025-SOC-9019:  HBFA/HBFA,BED IS replacement courses

        Carried.

    5.1
Department/School Requests.
None mentioned.  A. den Otter stated that if anyone would like to invite someone to speak at Faculty Council, please notify S. Viitala and herself.

5.2
Department/School Reports and Announcements.
i)  History
M. Stevenson recommended that Dr. Tom Peotto be appointed as External Adjunct Professor in the
Department of History for a four-year term.  (Recommendation Memo from Dr. Stevenson; CV for Dr.
Peotto) (Please contact S. Viitala if you wish to view Dr. Peotto’s CV.)

        Approved.
6.
Dean’s Report.

Friday, October 17, 2025

1.    Curriculum Sustainability Annual Reports
•    Submitted the report to the Provost for her review/suggestions
•    Will meet with Chairs for one hour at the end of October to discuss

2.    New Programs
    All new programs now require to have a market analysis first
    This will be based on the cost; return; demand; and evidence-based information.

3.    Faculty Complement Plan- Five Years
•    2.5 FCE
•    Core courses and Electives
•    Contractual/CA course releases
•    Sabbatical
•    Retirement
    All Deans will now be involved with SEM planning with the first meeting to be held in November
    2025.

4.    Evolution: Integrated Academic and Research Plan
•    SSH Faculty Research Plan: Themes and endowed chairs
5.    Envisioning Faculty Structure
•    Will include everyone.
    General discussion followed.

7.
Assistant Deans’ Report

i)  Dr. Jennifer Jarman – Orillia Campus
    Friday, October 17, 2025

CS Report
I have been working on the Curriculum Sustainability Report for our Faculty.  The information was reviewed carefully to ensure all departments were using the correct template.  The final version was submitted to G. Bonifacio for her review and approval before it was sent to the Provost.

ii)  Dr. Doug Ivison (Acting Assistant Dean) – Thunder Bay Campus
     Friday, October 17, 2025

CS Report
I assisted the Dean with the Curriculum Sustainability Report, reviewing each department submission, and making suggestions and changes where warranted.

OUF
This is the largest student recruitment event in North America. The event was held at the Metro
Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto on the weekend of September 27 and 28, 2025.  I attended as well as L. Potvin from the Thunder Bay Campus.  A. den Otter and D. Akca from there from the Orillia Campus.  There was a lot of interest expressed in Lakehead prgrams both for programs at Orillia and Thunder Bay.  
The event was well attended.

Fall Preview Day
Our Fall Preview Day for the Thunder Bay campus will take place on Thursday, December 4, 2025 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Please RSVP if you plan to attend, and also if you require assistance with setup.  We are hoping that there will be representation from all Departments for this important event.  As well, guided tours and information sessions related to undergraduate admissions, financial aid and support services will be offered

8.
Other Business.
i)  G. Bonifacio reminded everyone about the NERPS Conference taking place during March 2026.
Thank you to those who expressed interest in this conference in Tokyo. Please refer to the link below and consider submitting a proposal with your colleagues and students. Should you have any questions or are interested in participating, please contact her directly.
Link to Conference Website for more information:  https://nerps.org/nerps-2026-japan/

9.
Next Faculty Council Meeting:  
The next Faculty Council meeting with be held in Friday, November 14, 2025 at 10:00 am via Zoom.

10.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:38 am.

ATTENDANCE

Thunder Bay Campus
G. Bonifacio
K. Burnett
L. Chambers
J. Chisholm
E. Chugunov
D. Hannah
D. Hayes
S. Jacoba
D. Jobin-Bevans
D. Ivison
I. Lemée
B. Maiangwa
R. Maundrell
E. Piersig
L. Potvin
T. Puddephatt
C. Sanders
S. Shahsahabi
C. Wick
S. Viitala - recording

Orillia Campus
D. Akca
P. Das
A. den Otter
V. Hébert
N. Lochhead
R. McVeigh
S. Olutola
M. Stevenson
K. Walton

Regrets
A. Carastathis
L. Forbes
K. Holmes
B. Parker