Faculty Council Meeting - Friday, May 14, 2021: Deadline for Agenda Items - Friday, May 7, 2021 at 4:00 pm

MINUTES
Friday, April 9th, 2021
A meeting of the Faculty Council was held on Friday, April 9th, 2021 at 10:00 am via Zoom.

Presentation/Discussion:
Dr. Gautam Das, President, Lakehead University Faculty Association, Ms. Debra Gold, Communications and Copyright Librarian, and Dr. Lynn Martin, Department of Health Sciences, attended Faculty Council to review the Memorandum of Settlement from the recent negotiations.  L. Martin reviewed the entire document and elaborated on changes when necessary. D. Gold reviewed changes in the memorandum that affected Librarians only.
Ongoing issues such as SET (Student Evaluations of Teaching), pension reform and benefit coverage, to name a few, will be reviewed during the next round of negotiations.
A question and answer session followed in which the following issues were raised/discussed:
•    SET; possibility of peer review; OCUFA has produced a detailed report on Teaching Evaluations that advocates for increased emphasis on peer review as a viable approach; and improved wording around what is meant by satisfactory or excellent; consistency of wording/meaning
•    Collegial governance must be improved, ie: Board of Governors
•    Clarification with regard to teaching focussed positions
•    Responsibilities of chairs/directors with regard to liability relating to health and safety
•    Review need for chairs/directors to sign off on forms; what is needed and what is not to reduce some of the work
M. Stevenson thanked everyone for attending our Faculty Council meeting and for their review of the changes to the new agreement.

1.
Approval of Agenda
It was moved by L. Chambers and seconded by K. Burnett that the revised agenda be approved.
        Carried.

2.
Approval of Minutes
Approval of the minutes from March 5th, 2021.
        The minutes were accepted as circulated.
        
3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
None.

4.
Calendar Changes
i)  Indigenous Learning:
It was moved by K. Burnett and seconded by L. Chambers that following calendar change for Indigenous Learning be approved.
(2021-SOC-7617:  Course-New-UG-Indigenous Learning-1xxx (Special Topics)

Election of Chair and Vice-Chair of Faculty Council
I. Lemée, Chair of the Nominations Committee, announced that the following three people have agreed to let their names stand for these positions:
Dr. Monica Flegel - Chair
Dr. Valerie Hébert – Vice-Chair
Dr. T. Puddephatt – Vice-Chair
(All nominations were seconded.)

Dr. T. Puddephatt chose to withdraw his name at this time.  It was stated by I. Lemée that with only two names, the faculty member with the most votes would be elected as Chair and the second automatically Vice-Chair.  Voting commenced by show of hands in the “Chat” section of the Zoom meeting.  S. Viitala tabulated the votes once everyone was finished and announced the following results:
Dr. M. Flegel – Elected as Chair
Dr. V. Hébert – Elected as Vice-Chair
M. Stevenson thanked the Committee for their work.

4.
Calendar Changes - continued
ii)  English:
It was moved by D. Ivison and seconded by A. Carastathis that following calendar change for English be approved.
(2021-SOC-7635:  Courses-Modification-GR-English 5215)

        Carried.

iii)  Gender and Women’s Studies:
It was moved by L. Chambers and seconded by K. Burnett that following calendar change for Gender and Women’s Studies be approved.
(2021-SOC-7620:  Course-Modification-GR-Gender&Women's Studies-WOME-5010 & WOME-5101)

        Carried.


iv)  Social Justice Studies:
It was moved by D. Ivison and seconded by I. Lemée that following calendar change for Social Justice Studies be approved.
(2021-SOC-7636:  Social Justice Grad Course Changes)
        Carried.
5.
Department/School Reports.
i)  English
D. Ivison mentioned that the upcoming English Student Conference to be held on Friday, April 16, 2021 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.  There will be presentations from both undergraduate and graduate English students.  Everyone is welcome and the Zoom link will be posted on the website.

ii)  History
R. Maundrell stated that the Department of History was a recipient of a large donation of $100,000 from Dr. Don Wilson, a former Professor in the Department of History.  R. Maundrell and the department will be meeting to discuss the donation and decide how best to use these funds.

iii) Languages
I. Lemée stated that one of their undergraduate students received an award for best poster during Research and Innovation week.

iv) Music
A. Carastathis spoke about the upcoming music recitals.  They can be accessed/viewed via the Zoom link posted on the Music website.

v)  Outdoor Recreation
L. Potvin said that the repairs to the voyageur canoe would be completed soon and the canoe will be available for use once that is done.

vi)  Visual Arts
K. Holmes announced that the Student Juried Exhibition is online this year, and the website will go live next Wednesday, April 14, on the Thunder Bay Art Gallery website.  The Zoom link will be emailed and posted to the Communications Bulletin.  Thanks to B. Birmingham for supporting 5 student awards this year.

6.
Dean’s Report.
April 9th Report, 2021

Resignations
A. Saulnier will be leaving Lakehead to pursue a career with Queen’s University.  We all wish her luck in her new position and also a big thank you for her service and dedication while at Lakehead.  A. Saulnier stated that she hopes there will be opportunities for collaboration in the future.
Z. Wai will be leaving Lakehead to pursue a career as a Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto.  We thank him for all he has contributed to Lakehead during his tenure here and wish him well in his new position.

Permission to Hire
We have been given permission to hire for a tenure track position in each of Criminology and Political Science in order to continue the important work each department is doing.  Those were the only hiring opportunities that were approved for our Faculty this year.  As this has been a very tough year, we were fortunate to get them.  The hiring process will begin as soon as possible as it will be difficulty to hire for an August start date as well as during the pandemic.  
There was also a new hire for English at the Orillia Campus.  The successful applicant has accepted the position verbally and will be starting in August with all courses being taught online.
We also received approval for a one-year extension of our current term appointment in Outdoor Recreation.

Student and Faculty Update
Students and faculty continue to be under horrible stress due to the challenges caused by the continued pandemic and online instruction.  With bargaining held during this time as well as the cyberattack in February, it is important to remain flexible with the students and with each other.  Everyone is feeling the burden of these challenging times which makes self-care so very important.  This is just a reminder that there are support services out there that can help, such as:  EFAP (information posted on the Human Resources website); various support groups both on and off campus, and Student Help and Wellness.  Concerns over the upcoming fall term have also been expressed by students and faculty.  Right now, we have no clear picture of how things will roll out but much of this will be dependent on what the government restrictions and plans are for return to work.  Each department/school has specific program requirements that are needed for students to graduate.  Those concerned about this should reach out to me to discuss what can be done.

Student Numbers
There are no new numbers yet for 101 students.  H. Murchison will be contacted for updates shortly.

7.
Other Business:

i)  Faculty Council Meetings:  Change of Date in May; Additional Meeting in June
D. Ivison requested that the next Faculty Council meeting be moved from to Friday, May 14th, 2021 due to the LUFA annual general meeting to be held on May 7, 2021.  

ii) Proposal of Additional Meeting in June
D. Ivison proposed that there be an additional Faculty Council meeting in late June to ensure calendar changes, ie:  new programs and major modifications, including associated Regulations and Admissions requests, can be approved by July 1, 2021.  M. Stevenson suggested the third Friday in June, as a possible date.  Everyone agreed and the date for the meeting was set for Friday. June 17, 2021 at 10:00 am.

8.
Next Faculty Council Meeting:  Friday, March 14th, 2021 at 10:00 am via Zoom. (Revised date.)

9.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 am.  

ATTENDANCE
Thunder Bay Campus
R. Maundrell
K. Holmes
D. Ivison
B. Birmingham
L. Chambers
A. Carastathis
I. Lemée
C. Sanders
G. Colton
L. Potvin
B. Vernier
B. Parker
L. Forbes
E. Chugunov
K. Burnett
T. Puddephatt
L. Primavesi
S. Viitala

Orillia Campus
M. Stevenson
J. Jarman
A. den Otter
A. Saulnier