Faculty Council Meeting - Deadline Agenda Items - Wednesday, April 4/2018

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL

MINUTES
February 2nd, 2018
A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, February 2nd, 2018 at 10:30 am in ATAC Board Room 5036/ Orillia 3041 – Teleconference/PolyCom.

Introduction of New Faculty Member:
A. den Otter introduced Dr. Alana Saulnier, a new faculty member in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies/Criminology.

1.
Approval of Agenda
 It was moved by J. Roth seconded by G. Colton that the agenda be approved.
        Carried.

2.
Approval of Minutes
It was moved by J. Roth and seconded by R. Robson that the amended minutes from Friday, January 5th, 2018 be approved.
        Carried.

3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
None.

4.
Dean’s Report
February 2018
Highlights from January’s activities:
Dr. Douglas Hayes has joined me this term as my Assistant Dean. I’d like to welcome Doug and thank him for his assistance. He will be working on a number of activities for our Faculty this term.

Our Winter 2018 Newsletter has been completed and is posted on line. Print copies will be forthcoming. My thanks to Frances Harding for her excellent story gathering and writing skills, and Rusty Brown for making it look professional – and Sue for paying the folks, getting the newsletter to print and posting it online!

In early January we hosted guests from Mid Sweden University, who were here exploring partnership and exchange opportunities for undergraduate students in the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism and graduate students in the MES.

I have been working on exploring opportunities for the development of a BA General Combined Credential with Georgian College with the Deputy Provost (this is part of the continued exploration of opportunities for our partnership with Georgian). We have nothing concrete as yet, but when we do, I will be bringing it to Faculty council for input and suggestions.

I presented the Faculty of SSH budget to the Executive Team; I am hoping that we will have some news on our submitted hire requests in late February. The final budget is not approved by the Board of Governors until May.
I will be in Orillia Feb 26 to March 2nd, and again March 18-22.

5.
Assistant Dean’s Report
SS&H Undergraduate Research Internship
Again this year, the Dean will be offering two internship awards, one in Orillia and one in Thunder Bay.  A description of the award and outline of the process are currently posted on the Social Sciences and Humanities website.  The committee will make it’s decision on the recipients of the awards on March 29.  Those who have already been successful receiving the awards in the past are eligible to apply again.
There will be two lunches, one in Orillia and one in Thunder Bay, for those faculty members and their interested students.  The details will be sent out shortly. T. Puddephatt suggested the program is very valuable in gearing students toward graduate school, and encouraged the faculty to offer a higher number of awards to encourage hands-on student training.

6.
Departmental/School Reports
v)  Women’s Studies
It was moved by J. Roth and seconded by K. Holmes that the calendar changes for Women’s Studies be approved.

2018-SOC-6500:  Course-Modification-UG-Women’s Studies-Course title Change.
2018-SOC-6509:  Course-Modification-Women’s Studies – addition of Offering information.
2018-SOC-6510:  Courses-Modification-Women’s Studies-addition of offering information.

        Carried.
7.
Other Business
i)  Academic Blocks and Timetabling
A. Guttman stated that the new loading sheets were a good idea but very time consuming as English has 70 programs that require service courses from English.  It was suggested that seats be set aside to cover all the requests.  It was stated that Scheduling might not be award of all these requests.  A. Guttman also asked if any other departments/school had the same problem.  She also suggested that a follow-up discussion after this initial process would be helpful to see how things are working out.

ii)  Discussion of Video Seminars and Online Teaching
T. Puddephatt spoke about online teaching and the revenue that was generated from them, wondering whether a system in which the money earned from these courses could be converted into online support resources.  A. Guttman stated that we should be allowed to offer as many sections of over enrolled courses as possible in order to generate money.  A brief discussion followed regarding the technology that is currently in place for the online offerings and how they might be enhanced. It was decided that the Dean would report back to faculty council about possibilities (hardware and software) to expand online and video-streamed course seminars across campuses and distance programming, like is done in other faculties such as health science. This might relieve pressure from competition for the telepresence room, and encourage higher quality learning.

8.  Next Faculty Council Meeting:  Friday, March 2nd, 2018 at 10:30 am; Room:  ATAC 5036/OA 3041.
9.
Adjournment
 It was moved by all that the meeting be adjourned.    
Carried.

ATTENDANCE
 Thunder Bay Campus
J. Leggatt
K. Holmes
A. Carastathis
S. Jacoba
D. Hayes
M. Johnston
R. Robson
J. Roth
A. Guttman
T. Puddephatt

Orillia Campus
S.S. Islam
M. Stevenson
A. den Otter
A. Saulnier
B. Visser

REGRETS
I. Lemée
M. Beaulieu
D. Ivison

S. Jeppesen