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S.91-49

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Office of the Vice-President, Academic

Memorandum

To:

Members of Senate ?

From:

J.M. Munro

Vice-President, Academic

Chair of

Subj

Date:

19 September 1991

of Women's Studies, from a

Program to Department

The Senate Committee on Academic Planning considered the -

recommendation that the status of Women's Studies be changed from a

Program to a Department. Dr. Kimball appeared before SCAP and

supplemented the materials which had been circulated in advance of the

meeting with a succinct analysis of the maturity of Women's Studies as a

discipline. The comments she provided to SCAP are attached.

SCAP approved the recommendation without opposition, and forwards

the following motion to Senate for approval:

That Women's Studies be changed from a Program to a Department.

If this motion is approved by Senate, the motion should be forwarded to

the Board of Governors for approval.

-b-Aj4,,^c. 

J.M. Munro

Enclosure

cc: M. Kimball

Women's Studies - Maturity of the Discipline

Number of Programs

There are more than 400 programs in Women's Studies in the US; 15

programs offer a masters degree, and there is I

Ph.D.

program.

In Canada, there are over 20 programs.

13 institutions offer majors or combined majors programs;

13 institutions offer minors programs;

3 institutions offer graduate programs (Simon Fraser, Concordia

and Carleton)

There are no institutions presently offering a Ph.D. program,

-although the first-Special Arrangements-PhD. candidate- - ---

successfully defended the oral examination in September 1991

at Simon Fraser University.

Independent Body of Scholarship

At least 8 academic journals are devoted to Women's Studies. Articles are

reviewed anonymously.

The rejection rates for these journals range from 60% to 93% of articles

submitted, and these are similar rates to journals in adjacent fields.

Demand for places in Women's Studies Programs

1. ?

The Women's Studies Graduate Program receives over-40 applications

each year for entry into the program. In general, 4-6 applicants are

admitted each year. In addition, there is a growing interest in doctoral

work.

Future Developments

The short term focus will be on the development of a major in Women's

Studies. One joint major (with English) already exists, and a second (with

Psychology) is in the approval process.

The longer term objective would be the development of a doctoral

program, which would probably take three to five years to develop and

implement.

The faculty in the program have joint appointments with other programs,

an arrangement which is satisfactory to the incumbents, and there is no

intention to change these appointments to full-time appointments within

Women's Studies.

The only resources increase which will result from the transformation of

the program into a department, is the increase in stipend which will be

paid to the chair of the department (the increase will cost $2,870 p.a.). In

addition, the chair will require an office in the Women's Studies area.

FACULTY POSITIONS IN WOMEN'S STUDIES

Joint appointment with History

Wendell, S.D. ?

Assoc. Professor Joint appointment with Philosophy

Kimball M.M.

Assoc. Professor Joint appointment with Psychology

L ],

Vacant Position ?

Joint appointment with History

Levitin, J

Assoc. Professor Joint appointment with School of

Contemporary Arts

Vacant Position

Full-time position in Women's Studies

Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair

Women's Studies

Nesmith, C.

Assist. Professor Joint appointment with Geography

Cohen, M. ?

Professor

Joint appointment with Political Sc.

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts

MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Jock Munro

From: R.

C. Brown

Vice-President, Academic

Dean of Arts

Subject: Departmental Status:

Date: 9 July 1991

Women's Studies

Attached is a proposal from Dr. Meredith Kimball to change

the status of the Women's Studies Program to the Department of

Women's Studies. The Faculty of Arts Curriculum Committee has

- ----approved--the--proposal—and--it--also--was--approved— by majority -vote- in -

a Faculty referendum. Please forward our proposal to the Senate

Committee on Academic Planning for its consideration.

I ?

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 

?

memorandum 

TO ? 

R.C. Brown ? 

FROM M. Kimball 

Dean 

?

Co-ordinator 

Faculty of Arts 

?

Women's Studies 

RE ? 

Departmental 

Status: 

Rationale ? 

DATE 6 March1991 

I request that you put the following motion before the appropriate 

university bodies: 

That the status of Women's Studies be changed from 

a Program to a Department. 

During consideration of the catch-up and three-year planning 

undertaken in the Fall of 1989 members of the Women's Studies Program 

considered and unanimously supported the above proposal. The decision 

was a result of the analysis of the past twenty years of experience of 

Women's Studies as an international discipline and of the growth of 

the Women's Studies graduate and undergraduate programs at Simon 

Fraser University. We concluded that both the faculty members and 

program are at a level of maturity which deserves and requires 

departmental status. 

A. ? 

BACKGROUND 

Program 

Growth 

1.

a) Increase in the number of undergraduate and graduate courses: 

In the fall of 1976 seven undergraduate Women's Studies courses were 

listed in the calendar. In the current calendar twenty-two 

undergraduate and eleven graduate courses are listed. 

b) Increase in the number of undergraduate course offerings: 

In the first fall of the program (i.e. 19761, four courses were 

offered. In the fall of 1985, there were six. We now offer 10 to 12 

courses in the fall semester (12 in 89-3; 10 in 90-3, 12 planned for 

91-3). 

2.

Undergraduate Enrollment increase: 

Enrollment figures for the fall semester have gone from 84 in 76-3 to 

281 in 90-3. The figure for 80-3 was 98. This is an increase of over 

180& from 1980 to 1990. The increase can be broken down further: 

1980-85, 64.3%; 1985-90, 74.5%; which indicates that the increase is 

accelerating. 

3.

Increase in minors in the program: 

In 1985-3 there were 24 enrolled minors (we have no figures for the 

number declared]. In 1990-3 we had 46 of 53 declared minors enrolled 

and in 1991-1 this increased to 53 of 59 declared minors enrolled. 

. ?

4. ? 

Growth in Faculty Appointments: 

In the fall of 1976 there were two joint appointments. In the fall of 

1991 there will be eight 

j

oint appointments in addition to the Ruth 

Wynn Woodward Endowed Professorship. 

5. ? 

New degrees: 

a)

The Women's Studies M.A. Program was begun in 1985 with two 

students, and now has 15 students. 

b)

The W.S. Certificate Program has been approved, effective 

September 1990, and now has 3 students. 

Women's Studies students can do Co-op Education through the 

Liberal Arts Co-Op Education Program and a Post Baccalaureate Diploma 

through the Faculty of Arts PBD Program. 

d) A joint major with the English Department has just been 

approved and already has enrolled four students. A second joint major 

with the Psychology Department is being developed. 

Our academic program is 

?

recognized as ne 

o

of the foremost in Canada 

and the United States and attracts international interest. 

Community Service

The awarding of the Endowed Chair in Women's Studies has brought the 

SFU Program to national prominence and the holders of the Ruth Wynn 

.

?

Woodward Professorship in Women's Studies have expanded the teaching 

and community work of the program beyond the university to the 

province of B.C. and to the Yukon. As well, our Certificate Program 

addresses students' needs to transfer their Women's Studies knowledge 

to job situations and buttresses the community outreach aspects of the 

Woodward Chair. 

In conjunction with the Endowed Chair, Women's Studies has developed a 

speakers list of faculty and graduate students prepared to make 

presentations to women in communities outside the Lower Mainland. 

Each year we update the list of available topics, formats, and 

presenters, and circulate it with a covering letter to women's 

centres, programs, etc. in BC and the Yukon. This facilitates our 

outreach work to women who are unlikely to be able to come to the 

Lower Mainland to participate in Chair activities. 

It might be argued that there is an insufficient number of faculty with 

full appointments in Women's Studies for the transfer to departmental 

status. This is, however, a "catch twenty-two" type of argument. The 

preponderance of 

j

oint appointments are a consequence of the early history 

of the program. Regardless of joint appointments the history and 

development of the program to date clearly indicate the 

high

level of 

faculty commitment to Women's Studies, a commitment which will continue 

with departmental status which will result in Women's Studies having a 

faculty complement that includes a combination of full and joint 

. appointments. 

./3

This series has been very successful. From October 1990 through Mar 

1991, 11 speakers, (regular faculty, sessional instructors and 

graduate students) will have travelled to 10 towns and cities 

throughout BC and to Whitehorse, Yukon. Requests for speakers exceed 

what our budget can accommodate. 

B. ? 

PLANS FOR DEVELOPMENT 

The Increase in enrollment plus the inquiries we receive for 

undergraduate and graduate courses has led us to conclude that we 

should now begin to undertake development' in the following areas: 

1.

Creation of new 

j

oint-majors and the development of 

a Women's Studies major. 

2.

Expansion of the M.A. Program 

3.

Development of a Women's Studies Ph.D. 

1.

Joint Majors, Major 

The creation of joint major programs with several departments has 

already begun. The Women's Studies-English joint major has now been 

approved and negotiations for a Women's Studies-Psychology joint mai 

are-underway. The demand for a major program is there, and many 

institutions in North America offer the major. The appointments of 

Marjorie Cohen and Catherine Nesmith have expanded the faculty 

complement so that development of a Women's Studies major will now be 

undertaken. This development has been contemplated for some time, but 

was not undertaken during the period of restraint when no new 

appointments were being made. Further, it was always our intention to 

move into a major program, and achieving departmental status will 

contribute to this move. 

2. Ex p 

ansion of the M.A. Program 

Our M.A. program has been very successful in attracting qualified 

students. Each term we are unable to take several qualified students 

because there is not a faculty member available to supervise work in 

their area. Clearly the demand exists, in terms of qualified 

applicants, to create a larger high quality M...A. program when the 

resources are available. 

We note that in his challenge 2001 document, President Saywell 

designates Women's Studies as an area where programs should be elaborated, 

a position which these development plans address. 

.../4 

'09,

3. Ph.D Students 

As with all other levels of the program, we have had an increase in 

inquiries into the willingness of our faculty to undertake special 

arrangements Ph.D.s. Obviously, we have been unable to respond to 

these requests because of constraints on faculty time, and our first 

commitment to the M.A. Program. But this is an area into which we 

could expand, given more resources, and indeed would like to. In turn 

this raises the question of developing a Women's Studies Ph.D. As 

Women's Studies expands in universities across the continent, the 

demand for Ph.D.s in this field increases. Simon Fraser's Women's 

Studies Program has the credentials and the experience to undertake 

Ph.D. instruction, and we should be among the major grantors of this 

degree in Canada. We have always been at the forefront of the 

development of Women's Studies, and an extension into this degree 

follows from our previous work and achievements. 

C. ? 

BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS 

There will be rio immediate budgetary requirements associated with the 

implementation of departmental status. Clearly in the long run more 

faculty, especially full-time appointments in Women's Studies, and staff 

positions will be required to implement both the major and the Ph.D 

programs. However, these should occur as a part of the normal university 

growth over the next 10-20 years, as indicated in the Challenge 2001 

document. 

Conclusion 

The reasons for changing Women's Studies' status from that of a 

program to a department are obvious enough. Through the eight full- 

time 

j

oint appointments and the full-time 

appointment

of the Ruth 

Wynn

Woodward Professorship, the program is operating as, and has assumed 

all of the responsibilities of, a department. The extent of our 

curriculum at the graduate and undergraduate level is equal to or more 

extensive than other departments of comparable size. The quality and 

importance of the program have been acknowledged by the granting of a 

federally funded endowed chair. Our co-ordinator has a workload equal 

to that of other small departments, although she does not receive the 

same compensation. We sit on the DAC, and form a DTC from our own 

faculty. Finally we are about to develop several joint majors and a 

major and to undertake consideration of the feasibility of a Ph.D 

program. We are doing the work of a department in teaching, research, 

community and committee work, and now Is an appropriate time for the 

University to recognize this. 