Faculty Council Meeting - January 9, 2026 - Deadline for Submissions - January 5/2026

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL

MINUTES
 Friday, December 5, 2025
 
A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 10:00 am via Zoom.  
AGENDA
1.
Approval of Agenda
 
It was moved by R. McVeigh, and seconded by D. Ivison that the agenda be approved.
        Carried.
2.
Approval of Minutes

It was moved by R. McVeigh and seconded by D. Ivison that the minutes from November 14, 2025 be approved.
        Carried.
        
3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
None.

4.
Calendar Change Requests

    i)  History
It was moved by K. Burnett and seconded by M. Stevenson that the following calendar change request for History be approved.
    2025-SOC-9145:  Course-Modification-UG-Indigenous Learning-Minor course change for IL operated INDI 3435/ENST 3435/NORT 3435

            Carried.

It was moved by M. Stevenson and seconded by R. Maundrell that the following calendar change request for History be approved.
    2025-SOC-9157:  Comparative Religion Minor UG Course Switch
    
            Carried.
    
    iI)  Indigenous Learning
    It was moved by K. Burnett and seconded by R. McVeigh that the following calendar change request for Indigenous Learning be approved.
    2025-SOC-9144:  Course-Modification-UG-Indigenous Learning-Minor course change for IL operated INDI 3435/ENST 3435/NORT 3435
    
            Carried.

    iii) Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism
It was moved by K. Burnett and seconded by A. Carastathis that the following calendar change request for Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism be approved.
    2025-SOC-9150:  Course change - UG - Prereq update ORPT-4911

            Carried.

    iv)  Sociology
It was moved by C. Sanders and seconded by T. Puddephatt that the following calendar change request for Sociology be approved.
2025-SOC-9106:  Course-Modification-UG SOCI-4012: adding crosslists WOME-4012, SOCJ-5017

    v) Additional Dean

    i) Business Administration
    This calendar change request was tabled for further information.
    2025-SOC-8998-B-B:  Business 1056, 1076, and 2110 - Thunder Bay
    
    5.1
Department/School Requests.
Dr. Gautam Das and Dr. Robert Mawhinney are scheduled to attend our Faculty Council meeting on Friday, January 9, 2026.
Dr. Aamir Taiyeb, Vice-Provost International, has been tentatively scheduled for our Faculty Council meeting on Friday, February 6, 2026.    
D. Ivison suggested that Dr. Langis Roy, Vice-Provost Research, be invited to one of our Faculty Council meetings in the near future.

5.2
Department/School Reports and Announcements.

i)  Research and Innovation Week
C. Sanders stated that he is the Chair of the Undergraduate Conference Committee for Research &
Innovation Week, and invites undergraduate submissions from the Faculty of Social Sciences and
Humanities. Students may present either an oral or poster presentation, and projects may be completed
or in progress. Work previously presented at departmental conferences or other venues is welcome.

FSSH has historically been underrepresented at R&I Week, and this is an excellent opportunity to
showcase the strength of our faculty. Participation offers valuable professional development experience,
and the event is designed to highlight our students.

Please help spread the word and encourage your undergraduate students to submit an abstract. I know
this is a busy time of year, so I am happy to support students in preparing their submissions or developing
their presentations.

6.
Dean’s Report.
There was no Dean’s report for this meeting.

7.
Assistant Deans’ Report
i)  Dr. Jennifer Jarman – Orillia Campus

Report for Friday, November 14, 2025 (This report was not included in the minutes of November 14.)

•    Sadly, Dean Glenda Bonifacio’s mother died on November 10th.  Dean Bonifacio is travelling to the Philippines and will return on December 11th.  

Social Sciences and Humanities Enrolment update from Institutional Planning and Analysis

•    At a recent meeting with H. Murchison I was provided with an up-to-date position of our Faculty’s enrolments.  There is much good news to share.  

•    For the fourth year in a row, recovery of full-time enrolment in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities is projected to continue (projected enrolment at Nov 1, 2025 based on data extracted Oct 19, 2025). 

•    Full-time enrolment is expected to increase by 6% year on year. 

•    Full-time undergraduate enrolment is projected to be up 6% compared to last year.  Although full-time undergraduate enrolment is projected to decrease by 2% (12 students) on the Thunder Bay campus, full-time undergraduate enrolment is projected to increase by 13% (76 students) at Lakehead Orillia.

•    Graduate student enrolment is also projected to increase by 4% to just over 100 students across the two campuses.

•    The official census has just been taken and will be reported to the government at the beginning of December.  Following the submission of this "official file", Institutional Planning and Analysis will update its data tables and will also develop a data package for Deans. 
•    In the meantime, if any department would like more detail on their projected Fall 2025 enrolment, they can reach out to IPA.

Lakehead - International Visa update
•    Vice-Provost International Aamir Taiyeb reports that there is good news from the federal budget regarding Lakehead’s international visas.  There will be a broadening of the criteria for foreign student visas from graduate students only to undergraduates as well.  This should make it possible for Lakehead to fill its allocation of foreign visas, which apparently did not occur this year.  If any departments are involved in recruitment efforts targeted to undergraduate students, the possibility of them being able to come is much better this coming year.

Orillia Recruitment Open House
•    There was a very successful open house in Orillia this past weekend with a total of 332 prospective students touring the campus.  

Report for Friday, December 5, 2025
•    Orillia space.  I have made an inquiry to the Principal’s office concerning space planning with respect to SSH faculty offices.  There are no plans to take away any SSH offices, although there are requests to have other people use the offices when members are on sabbatical and not planning to be in their offices during this period.  These requests are at faculty member’s discretion.  I reiterated that we have urgent needs including upgrading the current carrel space for LTAs and contract lecturers in relation to privacy and Zooming needs, for bringing all our faculty members together in one space instead of being divided between the two University Avenue buildings, as well as long-standing requests for Media and Psych labs to support members’ research and teaching programs.

•    Post Ice Storm Symposium.  As part of the Dean’s plan to build SSH and community connections, a plan to hold a symposium emerged from a discussion with York University about a potential partnership with York’s Disaster Studies phd. We subsequently held a Post Ice Storm symposium, AFTER THE ICE STORM: SHARING STORIES AND BUILDING DISASTER-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES, on November 7th, 2025.  This event was opened by Ontario’s Minister for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Jill Dunlop and the Orillia mayor, Don McIsaac.  The mayor noted that this was the worst natural disaster to hit Orillia in 70 years.  Over the course of the day, 35 participants from organizations that work with the vulnerable sector shared their experiences, challenges, needs, and worked to identify gaps with the goal of laying the groundwork to make sure that vulnerable people would be included in future emergency needs planning in this region.   The Social Sciences and Humanities was well represented on the organizing committee, and acted as facilitators and speakers at the workshop.  There are plans for future events and possibly a SSHRC application.

•    Philippines recruitment and partnering.  Discussions with the International Office are ongoing with reference to recruitment and potential partnerships for the Philippines for SSH programs.  The Philippines is one of the world’s largest English-speaking countries and has many has strong ties with Canada, so it is an important country for us to work with.  The High Commission in Manila has hosted networking events that our contacts have attended. The work of building connections between Lakehead and relevant partners is developing.  
    A SSH Orillia Festive Party is being organized for December 15th at a local pub.  


ii)  Dr. Doug Ivison (Acting Assistant Dean) – Thunder Bay Campus
     Friday, December 5, 2025
•    Fall Preview Day – Thanks to all who participated in yesterday’s Fall Preview Day. All units were represented, which was good to see.
•    Social Justice PhD – The committee held another meeting to work out details for the framework of the proposed PhD program. We’re preparing something for the January meeting of SJS, and if SJS approves the proposal in principle will share it with Faculty Council.
•    The Vice-Provost (International) gave a report at Senate on Dec. 1 discussing the implications of recent changes affecting international students. He confirmed that the decreased quota should not have a negative impact as it reflects current numbers, and also noted that graduate students will no longer require a PAL, which is significant for Lakehead given that the vast majority of our international students are graduate students.

8.
Other Business.
i)  Dean’s Return
The question was asked when G. Bonifacio would be returning to Orillia.  J. Jarman shared the information that she would be leaving to return to Orillia on Thursday, December 11, 2025, and would be back to work at shortly after that.

9.
Next Faculty Council Meeting:  
The next Faculty Council meeting with be held in Friday, January 9, 2026 at 10:00 am via Zoom.  Deadline for submissions for agenda:  Monday, January 5, 2026 (Friday, January 2, 2026 is a holiday.)

10.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 10:33 am.

ATTENDANCE
Thunder Bay Campus
B. Birmingham
K. Brooks
K. Burnett
A. Caratathis
J. Chisholm
E. Chugunov
D. Hannah
D. Hayes
K. Holmes
D. Ivison
D. Jobin-Bevans
R. Maundrell
T. Puddephatt
T. Rollo
C. Sanders
C. Wick
S. Viitala - recording

Orillia Campus
D. Akca
A. den Otter
J. Jarman
D. Krupp
D. Mackinnon
R. McVeigh
M. Stevenson
K. Walton

Regrets
P. Das
L. Forbes
I. Lemée
S. Jacoba
L. Chambers
L. Potvin
R. Warburton