OFFICE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC AND PROVOST
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S.09-136
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC
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TEL: 778.782.3925
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vpacad@sfu.ca
Canada V5A 1S6
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FAX: 778.782.5876
www.sfu.ca/vpacademic -
MEMORANDUM
ATTENTION
Senate
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DATE
November 16, 2009,
FROM ?
Jon Driver, Vice-President, Academic and
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PAGES 1/1
Provost, and Chair, SCUP
RE:
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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences: Department of Women's Studies Name Chan
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of Gender,
Sexuality, and Women's Studies (SCUP 09-54)
At its November 4, 2009 meeting SCUP reviewed and approved the name change of Department of
Women's Studies to Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies within the Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences.
Motion
That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the name change of Department of
Women's Studies to Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies.
S
end.
c: C. Murray
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ?
THINKING OF THE WORLD
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Department of
Women's Studies
MEMORANDUM
ATTENTION Dean Lesley Cormack, FASS
Department of Women's Studies
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FROM ?
Catherine Murray, Chair, WS
Simon Fraser University ?
RE ?
Department of Women's Studies Name Change to
8888
University Drive
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Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
Burnaby BC Canada
V5A 1S6
DATE
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September 25, 2009
Phone:
778-782-3333
Fax:
778-782-5518
In 2002, the Department of Women's Studies received Senate approval for a minor
in Gender Studies, the first of its kind in BC. The minor was designed to offer
students opportunities to integrate their understanding of gender relations in society
and culture. Under this umbrella, the Department introduced four new courses and
grew total enrollments by 30% from 684 in 2002-2003 to 896 in 2008-2009.
Consistent with the recommendation from the External Reviewers, the Department
agreed to facilitate better integration of the two programs (WS and GDST), since
the minor was located in a different area of the calendar, and considerable student
confusion arose. Indeed, the counting of total enrollments in WS was understated.
Accordingly, the Department agreed to a three -stage process to determine the best
way to integrate the programs and to revise the Department's name. On June 23,
2009, the Chair issued an open call for comments, nominations for names and briefs
to all eligible voters (including faculty, associate faculty, graduate student
representatives, undergraduate student, library representatives and staff). The full
file was again circulated July 14, with an identification of the three main options.
These were Women's and Gender Studies, Gender and Women's Studies and
Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies. An electronic ballot was held to narrow
the list to the front-runner. Wednesday, July 22, a four-week notice of a referendum
was, circulated consistent with the Department's constitution, to allow for electronic
ballots to be submitted in time. There were two advance ballots.
On August 19, 2009, the Department voted in a secret ballot overwhelmingly 15
yea and 1 nay in favour of a motion "Are you in favour of changing the department
name to Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies"; more than
is
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(Sectionthe two-thirds majority requirement under the articles of our constitution
(Section 1). The decision was thus nearly unanimous.
SIMON FRASrR UNIVERSITY ?
THINKING OF THE WORLD
Department of
Women's Studies
MEMORANDUM
Rationale
In so doing, the Department once again becomes the first in Canada to include
Gender and Sexuality within Women's Studies, feminist pedagogy, and including
recent scholarship on masculinity. With sexuality recognized as an area of
concentration, we highlight the growing focus of research and teaching for a
number of our senior associates (including E. Chénier (History), A. Travers
(Sociology and Anthropology), J. Spear (History), M. Morrow (Health Sciences)
and D. Reder (English) already well-established in the field. We signal our intent
to continue to build on the growing appeal of at least three international conferences
on sexuality we co-sponsored which were held at SFU in the past five years,
including the popular
TransSomatechnics and Regulating Bodies Colloquia.
By
differentiating sexuality from gender studies, we broaden our appeal, especially at
the graduate level where a number of our doctoral students are already working in
the field and we show good potential for growth in undergraduate enrollments. We
also continue the interdisciplinary intersections of history, social science, cultural
studies, health and science already identified as our considerable strengths. Over
the past year as a part of the self-study and curriculum review processes, the
Department has conducted a rigorous comparison against other departments in
North America. Similar integration of gender and sexuality as fundamental
categories of feminist theory was found in the US at Yale, Harvard and Cornell. By
contrast, our competitors at UBC and U of T have asserted separate programs. We
note that UBC was successful in attracting a $1.7 million endowment for sexuality
research. No other Department in Canada (among the 9 chosen reference
institutions) integrates the three as they intersect with race, ethnicity, class,
dis/ability, age and other categories of difference in the negotiation of power. The
amalgamation is also reflective of a very strong repository of adjacent SFU library
holdings under the Library of Congress system
2
and available 2007 circulation
figures show the highest annual circulation per item
3 Finally, no other new
college/university program in BC would appear yet to be growing in these areas,
suggesting this is a significant area of innovation, distinctiveness and comparative
advantage in recruitment for SFU/FASS to offer.
1
These are: UBC, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Acadia, St. Mary's, University of Toronto, Saskatchewan,
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Brandon and Dalhousie.
2
The ranges are: HQ I - 2044 -- The family. Marriage. Women ;HV 1442 - HV1448 - Women;
HV 1449 - Gay men. Lesbians; with sub-ranges including the sexual life (HQ 12-449); family,
marriage, home
(HQ503 -
1064); sex roles (HQ 1075-1075.5) and women; and feminism
(HQ1 10 1-2030.7).
Each item circulates 10.18 times compared with English 3.08, or general social sciences at 2.49
time per book.
3
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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THINKING OF THE WORLD
Department of
Women's Studies
MEMORANDUM
To consolidate and build on these and other undertakings, our department has
already applied for a full time position in sexuality (now on hold in the current
budget climate) and undertaken a significant restructuring of curriculum consistent
with the recent three-year plan (See appendix X). We believe, then, the name
change is filly consistent with the Academic Vision at SFU which supports a full
commitment to interdisciplinarity, and to capturing emergent trends. We are
committed to enabling students to become ethical, responsible and informed
citizens and providing valuable training in areas from social to health policy, from
cultural studies to-political economy, and careers in government, international
development, business or community activism. Most importantly, in the dialogue
that shaped this initiative, the commitment to a radical, inclusive women's studies
continues to be affirmed at the heart of debates between feminism and post-
feminism concepts and underpins the newname change. The Department's
members thus request the Dean of FASS to forward our ratification of a change of
name
to
SCUP and Senate for consideration and approval in the package together
with the Response to the Academic review, and Three year plan. Additional
documentation is available upon request.
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r
'1
SIMoN ERASER UNIVERSITY
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THINKING OF THE WORLD
