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Acadxnic. 

Planning

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umanities• 

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Date .....

June 27 1 

198. 

Action taken at the June 8, 1983 meeting of the 

Senate Committee on Academic Planning gives rise to the 

following motion: 

"That Senate approve, and recommend approval to 

the Board of Governors, the establishment of the 

Institute for the Humanities." 

The proposed activities of the Institute are described in the 

attached papers. Among other responsibilities, the Institute 

would administer the existing Humanities Minor Program.' The 

attached papers also explain the decision to bring this proposal 

through Senate rather than have it proceed to the Board of 

Governors under Policy AC 35 (Research and Study Groups). 

Discussion at the SCAP meeting identified the need to 

provide a focus for integrated study of the humanities, to 

encourage interaction among faOulty and students with interests 

in the humanities and to give additional co-ordination to 

teaching endeavours in the humanities, including the Humanities 

Minor Program. While some Committee members questioned whether 

a real need existed for the Institute, most felt that the 

importance of humanities thought to the University warranted 

this effort to make the humanities more prominent and to 

encourage humanities scholars to work together. 

Note: The title approved by SCAP was "Humanities Institute" 

The change to "Institute for the Humanities" is 

stylistic, not substantive. 

att. 

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

Senate Committee .. 

Academic Planning 

Subjed

ie..Ijtit 

From...M

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Attached is a copy of a proposal for the establishment of 

a Humanities Institute at Simon Fraser University. ? 

The

proposal is recommended by the Dean of Arts and has been widely 

discussed within the Faculty of Arts and at the Dean's Advisory 

Committee. The objectives 

-

of

-

the proposed Institute 

- are set out 

in sections 4. and 5. of the attached document. 

The Institute's activities would be across departments and 

its suggested mandate is broader than that intended for Institutes 

established under Policy AC 35 (Research and Study Groups). Also, 

it is intended that it be responsible for the existing Humanities 

Minor Program. For these reasons, it is my view that the proposal 

should receive SCAP and Senate approval as well as Board of 

r

?

Governors approval. 

fjM. Munro 

:jeh 

cc. J. Zaslove 

SiMON FRASER

UINIVEISITY

MEMORANDUM

Dr. J.M. Munro 

.........................................................

Vice-President, Academic 

S4bjSd

........UMAN..TIES INSTITUTE 

R.C. Brown 

From

................................................... 

Dean of Arts 

D

ate ........

.............. ...

98.

I recommend that the University establish a Humanities 

Institute within the Faculty of Arts. The Institute 

would have the responsibility for the Humanities Program 

and for the following activities: 

1.

To provide for SFU a specific role in advancing the 

study of the Humanities, 

2.

To serve as the link between the Humanities Minor 

Program and other University concerns, 

3.. To coordinate and support research activities of 

faculty members and graduate students, 

4.

To advise on Departmental development of further 

academic course work in Humanities, 

5.

To link teaching and research to an organizational 

unit that places Humanistic knowledge and concern 

at the disposal of the community, and, 

6.

To plan colloquia, symposia and conferences in the 

Humanities. 

This is a broader responsibility than is intended for units 

established under Policy AC 35 (Research and Study Groups) and, 

for this reason, I suggest that this proposal not be brought 

forward under that policy. 

The justification for the establishment of the Institute and 

its objectives and organization are articulated in the attached 

proposal from the Humanities Committee. I strongly support 

the proposal and recommend its approval. 

.C. Brown 

RCB/bjr 

attach. 

.

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

To.S

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•319             

.

....... 

Sub1ect

....................................................

From

.........1. ?

.................

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH 

Date

......anuary 

........

..198. 

1.

HUMANITIES 

The Humanities disciplines are traditionally defined as the subjects of 

History, Philosophy, Literature, Languages and the Fine Arts, in short 

the study of culture, values, expression and the unique knowledge which 

can be gained from such study. Sometimes referred to as the humanistic 

sciences, or the liberal arts, the Humanities look beyond the boundaries 

of disciplines to the forms of knowledge and subject matter that can be 

related to each other and can create new insights into human problems and 

the limitations of the human. Thus the Humanities not only describe 

particular disciplines, each with an own history and methods: the Humanities 

are a discipline with a history of learning and theory. 

?

Most significantly, 

the Humanities are understood to be the cornerstone of university education, 

because the underlying principle of humanistic knowledge is the generation 

of critical citizens who create values as well as understand them, who 

0 ?

tolerate, and can perform within the conflicts of modern culture. 

2.

HUMANITIES INSTITUTES 

Humanities Institutes (or centres) foster the goals of the Humanities and 

disseminate the results of humanistic enquiry. 

?

In times of social change 

the centering of humanistic concepts in institutes enables teachers, scholars 

and artists to meet free of institutional constraints to plan programs 

and develop initiatives that are responsive to the needs of the whole 

academic and non-academic community. By 1979 The Rockefeller Foundation 

identified over 100 Humanities Institutes. 

?

The model of an institute is 

flexible and enables cooperation to exist among departments, professional 

and lay groups, business and science interests. 

?

The high academic profile 

provided by an Institute creates an environment for grants, for establishing 

links to other universities and institutes, for sponsoring programs, and for 

stimulating the interest in the community for the humanities, and, not least, 

for finding ways to encourage employment for graduates in the Humanities. 

3.

THE ACADEMIC RATIONALE FOR S.F.U. 

Simon Fraser University is an appropriate site for an Institute to fill the 

pressing need for a focus in Humanities in B.C. 

?

This University is more 

suited to such an Institute than UBC or U.Vic. 

?

It has no dominant 

professional faculties. ? 

It has a flexible curriculum; a trimester calendar; 

an innovative faculty; proximity to the present and future population 

-2-

center of B.C.; the fastest-growing student body, one noted for its 

diversity; an existing, well-received downtown facility; a rising 

a

percentage 

history of 

of

inter-disciplinary 

mature students--traditional 

approaches to 

enrollees 

research 

in

and

Humanities;teaching. 

?

It also has a newly-established Humanities Minor program which shows 

every sign of high success and rapid growth. The long-standing 

emphasis on interdisciplinary study here has attracted a faculty and 

a student body easily capable of utilizing to the utmost a facility 

such as the proposed Institute. 

?

The University has for some time 

increasingly developed social-science, inter-disciplinary programs 

with a scattering of many humanities courses into diverse locations. 

Combined with the over-specialization of many Humanities departments 

this has led to the fragmentation of a humanities concept itself and 

confusion about what the Humanities are as a subject area. 

?

In developing 

the Humanities Minor, the Committee identified some 60 courses, with several 

more added since. 

?

These reside in some dozen departments,so that students 

?

wishing to concentrate in Humanities face a formidable task in locating 

existing offerings. The Institute's capacity for advice would serve 

students well, and its ability to coordinate the multiplicity of courses 

into programs of study would promote a coherence presently lacking in the 

separate disciplines of the Humanities Departments. 

The Institute would provide a visible and lasting structure to the academic 

Humanities Minor degree program. By sponsoring projects of faculty associates 

in the humanities, by infusing a Humanities' perspective into range of 

university work, and by identifying individuals in departments who have a 

Humanities orientation the Institute will give the Humanities minor students 

an intellectual identity. 

?

Equally important, the Institute's research 

?

projects, programs, conferences and social concerns will demonstrate to 

faculty and students the concrete manifestations of work in the Humanities. 

As a force for integration, this will give students a sense of how to 

integrate their own studies. 

?

The Institute will relate the Humanities 

?

Minor Program to the program of Humanities in Continuing Studies and Down- 

town Programs. 

?

In the long run the coordination of academic pursuits with 

?

administrative structures will use resources more intelligently and will 

make programs visible and accessible to students and the community. 

4. GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE INSTITUTE 

1)

Without disturbing the autonomy of humanities departments the Institute 

would articulate the activities of faculty members engaged in various 

aspects of the Humanities. 

2)

Link the Humanities Minor Program with other University Faculties, 

Continuing Studies, and departments. 

3)

Provide a mechanism that will enable researchers to apply for funds 

and to receive funds from various agencies. 

-3-

is

4

)

To plan symposiums, conferences, workshops in the Humanities. 

5) And in general promote activities and initiate programs that 

do not conveniently fall within academic departments, for 

example, classics and religious studies. 

5.

?

SPECIFIC IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES 

1)

Development of an M.A. program in the Humanities. 

2)

Promote the establishment of research and teaching fellowships in 

the Humanities. 

3)

Determine effective means for Humanities internships for graduate 

students. 

4)

Determine ways to situate specialized inquiry into larger 

intellectual contexts. 

5)

Recommend and advise on new course offerings in the Humanities. 

6)

Locate and develop financial support for undergraduate and graduate 

students. 

.

?

7) Assist in facilitating the publication of research and the dissemination 

of research. 

8) Assist the Director of Humanities, Continuing Studies, in evaluating 

program recommendations, and in initiating programs. 

?

To assist the 

Director of Humanities, Continuing Studies in locating faculty for 

such programs, and in determining a consensus about the kinds of 

programs, visitors, and activities that are urgent, transient, or those 

which might be renewable or repeatable. Possible public programs already 

mentioned: 

- Humanistic Perspectives in the Profession. 

- Asian Perspectives, The Impact of Canadian Involvement 

in Pacific Rim Affairs on Modern Conceptions of the 

Humanities. 

- In-house seminars for faculty and graduate students in 

the humanities and social sciences. 

- Programs related to SSHRC's Human Context of Science 

and Technology. 

- Explorations of ways to link the humanities and the media. 

-4-- 

6.

ORGANIZATION 

Minimally, a Director and Deputy or Associate Director and an Advisory 

Council drawn from faculty and representatives of the community. 

Responsible to the Dean of Arts. Compensation and status of the Director 

and Associate Director to be determined. Secretarial support to be located 

within already existing organizations. 

?

Responsibilities of the Council 

will be to advise on the Institute's work. A smaller, faculty committee 

drawn from members of the Council will oversee the Humanities Minor 

Program which is a credit program. Non-credit activities will be discussed 

with faculty associated with the Institute. 

7. SPACE 

One office. 

8.

FINANCING 

As outlined in this proposal, the Institute requires no funding from 

the University beyond that allocated to the Humanities Minor Program 

and the Humanities Program in the office of Continuing Studies. Once 

established, the Institute will seek funds from external granting 

agencies, research grants and endowments. Various projects already in 

existence are examples of the kinds of funding that would be "housed" 

in the Institute. ? 

Egyptian Archaeology under the direction of Professor 

Richard Sullivan received $60,000 from SSHRC (total budget $105,000). 

Dr. Steve Duguid's Prison Education Humanities Project received a 

substantial grant from the Solicitor General's office and the SSHRC has 

contributed money to numerous conferences and symposia, including $13,000 

to a National Symposium on the Humanities which would be administered 

from within the Institute. 

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

To?

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.f. .r.ts ...........................

Subject

.....................................................

From     

.a).ov?..ch.:i.,:,.ri',         

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Iepa.rieot.of..Ertg)i.sh

...................

Date ......

J.O.Jun,. 198 .............................

The following is a list of names of faculty members who have expressed 

strong interest and support for the Humanities Institute. 

?

This list 

is composed of faculty from the Humanities Steering Committee and faculty 

who have attended meetings about the institute. 

John Tietz, Philosophy 

Mike Steig, English 

Bill Cleveland, History 

Grazia Merler, DLLL 

Anand Paranjpe, Psychology 

David Maclntyre, FPA 

John Whitworth, Sociology and Anthropology 

Gail Martin, Communication 

. ?

Peter Buitenhuis, English 

Robert Anderson, Communication 

Alberto Ciria, Political Science 

Richard Sullivan, History 

Kieran Egan, Education 

Many more faculty members have expressed strong support for the concept and 

have given me much encouragement but have been unable to attend meetings on 

the subject. I have not included their names. There is no doubt in my mind 

that we will be able to draw on a large number of faculty members for support 

in

this project. 

JZ:ds 

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JUN

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FACULTY