.
DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE
Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on
Monday, April 5, 2004 at 7:00 pm in
Room 3210 WMC
Open Session
Present: ?
Stevenson, Michael
President and Chair of Senate
Absent:
Apaak, Clement
da Silva, Gisele
Atkins, Stella
Dickinson, John
Beynon, Peter
Fung, Edward
Brennand, Tracy
Gordon, Robert
Budd, James
Grimmett, Peter
Clayman, Bruce
Heaney, John
Collinge, Joan (representing C. Yerbury)
Higgins, Anne
Copeland, Lynn
Horvath, Adam
D'Auria, John
Kalanj, Tiffany
Driver, Jon
Love, Ernie
Dunstervi lie, Valerie
Mauser, Gary
Fizzell, Maureen
McArthur, James
Giacomantonio, Chris
McFetridge, Paul
Gill, Alison
Smith, Don
Gregory, Titus
Van Aalst, Jan
Gupta, Kamal
Wessel, Sylvia
Haunerland, Norbert
Wong, Milton
Hira, Andy
Yoo, Rick
Honda, Barry
Kaila, Pam
Krane, Bill
Lewis, Brian
In attendance:
Li, Ze-Nian
Calvert, Tom
Percival, Paul
Cameron, Rob
Peters, Joseph
Daag, Chris
Pierce, John
Gobas, Frank
Piischke, Michael
Martin, Randy
Rozeli, Sara
Mustard, Peter
Sears. Cam ilia
Roseland, Mark
Scott, Jamie
Saif, Mehrdad
Shaker, Paul
Whiteley, Diane
Tombe, Trevor
Waterhouse, John
Weeks, Dan
Wong, Josephine
Woodbury, Rob
Heath, Ron, Dean of Student Services/Registrar
Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat
Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary
S.M.
5 April
2004
Page
2
1.
Approval of the Agenda
The Agenda was approved as distributed.
2.
Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of March
1, 2004
Reference was made to the second full paragraph on page
4.
Suggestion was made
that the word 'was' prior to the word 'logical' should be changed to 'may be' in
order to accurately reflect the discussion that occurred. There was no objection to
this suggestion, and the Minutes were approved as amended.
3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
Referring to the question raised at the last meeting concerning an amendment to the
current policy on Centres and Institutes to include a formal requirement for
presentation to Senate, Senate was advised that the policy could be modified if
Senate so wished.
4.
Report of the Chair
On behalf of Senate, the Chair welcomed newly elected Senator Ze-Nian Li, School
of Computing Science, to the meeting.
Reference was made to the recent announcement by the Provincial Government
with respect to the permanent establishment of an SFU campus in Surrey to be
located in the Surrey Central Building designed by Bing Thom. Senators were
advised that the building was named best multi-use building and the best building in
the world for
2004
at an international competition held annually at Cannes for
architects and the construction industry worldwide. The Chair further reported that
the commitment by the Province includes full funding for the purchase and fit out of
the space in Surrey and as of approximately one week ago the University now
owned the space and was concentrating on the fit out requirements needed for
increased enrolment beginning September
2005.
The Chair also reported on additional announcements by the Provincial
Government concerning post secondary education in BC including the
establishment of a new University of BC campus at Kelowna and the establishment
of the University College of the Cariboo as a special university which, by legislation,
is to be committed to teaching only and will incorporate the mandate of the Open
University, including the management of courses largely owned by the existing BC
universities. Existing universities were not consulted with regard to these
developments which represent very significant changes in higher education in the
Province. The Chair reported that senior members of the university administration
will be meeting with the senior staff of the Ministry of Advanced Education to
discuss the implications of these changes.
5.
Question Period
There were no questions submitted.
S.M. 5
April 2004
Page 3
a
6. ?
Reports of Committees
A) ?
Senate Committee on Universit
y
Priorities
i)
Paper
S.04-25 -
Proposal for a PhD Program in Earth Sciences
Moved by P. Percival, seconded by C. Apaak
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the proposal for a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, as set out in
S.04-25"
P. Mustard, Graduate Program Chair, Department of Earth Sciences, was in
attendance in order to respond to questions.
In response to questions about library and space resources, Senate was advised that
at the time the program was considered by the SGSC, confirmation was received
from the Library that no additional library resources were required, and that Earth
Sciences would be part of the new Applied Science
2 building which is scheduled
for completion by September
2005.
.
The administration and course requirements of the PhD Research Seminar courses,
the implementation of the oral candidacy exam, and funding level for graduate
students in the program were briefly discussed.
Question was called, and a vote taken. ?
MOTION CARRIED
ii)
Paper
S.04-26
External Review - School of Engineering Science
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by B. Lewis
"that Senate concur with the recommendations from the Senate
Committee on University Priorities concerning advice to the School of
Engineering Science on priority items resulting from the external
review as outlined in
S.04-26"
M. Saif, Director, School of Engineering Science was in attendance in order to
respond to questions.
Brief discussion took place with respect to the School's approach to biomedical
engineering. Senate was informed that the School, in conjunction with Kinesiology,
• hopes to build on its existing strengths in areas such as biomedical robotics, sensor
instrumentation, and applied mechanics. In response to an inquiry, Senate was
advised that the Biomedical Engineering curriculum was under review by the
S.M. 5 April 2004
Page 4
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and following faculty approval will be
forwarded to the FAS Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
Concerns expressed by the external reviewers about faculty leaves of absences were
noted and question was raised as to how this issue would be resolved. Senate was
advised that departmental policy had changed so that no more than
2
faculty
members from any one group would be approved for leave of absence, and no
more than six within the entire School would be approved for leave of absence at
the same time.
Concern was expressed about the comments on page 3 regarding preference of
graduate students over undergraduate students for TAships. Inquiry was raised as to
whether a solution could be achieved that would satisfy both the concerns of
undergraduate students as well as the requirements of the TSSU agreement. Senate
was informed that the School had already reached an agreement with TSSU that
allows the use of undergraduates as TAs, especially in certain courses where
undergraduate students were more qualified than graduate students to TA the
courses.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
iii) ?
Paper S.04-27 -
Degree Name Change for REM
?
is
Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by B. Lewis
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the change in degree title for the planning stream in the
School of Resource and Environmental Management from Master of
Resource and Environmental Management to Master of Resource and
Environmental Management (Planning), effective immediately"
F. Gobas, Director of the School of Resource and Environmental Management was
in attendance in order to respond to questions.
Inquiry was made if there was a procedure in place for students who completed the
planning stream prior to this change taking effect to achieve certification if they so
wished. Senate was advised that students can apply on their own to the certification
body and, considering that they had already met all of the requirements, they would
be in an excellent position to be awarded certification.
Concern was expressed that adding a specialty in parenthesis would set a precedent
and there may be many other programs that might be interested in doing the same
thing. It was pointed out that changes of this nature would only be approved under
the most unusual circumstances but if there was another degree where similar
S.M. 5 April 2004
.
Page
benefits would accrue to the students serious consideration would
5
be given to such
a request.
Brief discussion followed with respect to other options for the name change,
specifically the use of the more common designation Master of Planning. It was
pointed out that if the name of the degree was completely changed, the University
would have to go through the entire process of having a new degree approved. Also
the currently proposed change was a potentially much broader designation than
Master of Planning and reflected the breadth of the program more accurately.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
iv)
?
Paper S.04-28 - Facult y
of Arts Name Change
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by
J.
Pierce
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the change in name for the Faculty from the 'Faculty of
Arts' to the 'Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences', effective
September
7,2004-
J. Waterhouse advised that the effective date of the above motion was being
amended from 'effective immediately' to 'effective September 1, 2004' because of
administrative issues that an immediate change would cause.
Concern was expressed about the acronym and inquiry was made as to whether the
Faculty of Social Sciences and Arts might not be more appropriate.
Senate was advised that the impetus for the change originated with a number of
Chairs and Directors within the Faculty who felt that the current name did not
adequately reflect the diversity within the Faculty. Opinion was expressed that while
the proposed name change increased the coverage in terms of diversity it did not
include all areas and these areas were in no way served by the name change.
Question was raised as to why the enumeration of the different aspects in the
Faculty stopped at the Social Sciences and specific inquiry was made about
Humanities. Senate was advised that Social Sciences represented approximately
60% of the Faculty and well over that in terms of students, and that traditionally
Humanities and Performing/Contemporary Arts were represented within the Arts. It
was felt that there had to be a balance between accuracy and brevity and an
overwhelming majority of the members of the existing Faculty felt that the proposed
name was entirely appropriate.
.
?
In response to an inquiry, Senate was advised that the name of the degree would
remain Bachelor of Arts.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
S.M. 5 April 2004
Page 6
T. Calvert, Acting Director, IT and IA Program Office, SFU Surrey, and R. Cameron,
Associate Dean and Chair, FAS Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, were in
attendance in order to respond to questions for the following SCUP and SCUS items:
S.04-29 and S.04-30.
V) ?
Paper S.04-29 - New Media Environments Stream - School of Interactive Arts
and Technology
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by T. Gregory
"that Senate approve the development of the New Media
Environments stream in the School of Interactive Arts and
Technology"
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
B) ?
Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies
i)
?
Paper S.04-30 - Curriculum Revisions - Facult
y
of Applied Sciences
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by T. Gregory ?
9
"that Senate approve the development of programs in the School of
Interactive Arts and Technology leading to BA and B.Sc. (Major and
Honors) degrees in Interactive Arts and Technology as described in
the proposed Calendar entry in the previous Senate paper S.04-29,
effective September 2004"
It was requested that it be clearly recorded in the Minutes that approval of the above
motion only approves the development of programs and in no way approves a
program leading to either of the degrees mentioned. Reference was made to the
Calendar entry in Senate Paper S.04-29 which laid out the details for the admission
requirements and the lower level programming requirements but it was emphasized
that there has been no development with regard to the upper level part of these
programs reported to Senate. Senate must have complete documentation for the
full program before decision can be made on the programs themselves.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
Senate received information that the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies,
acting under delegated authority, approved changes to existing courses and
programs in the School of Computing Science and the School of Engineering
Science. SCUS also approved, under delegated authority, program revisions, a
change of course numbering, course replacements/phase-outs for
S.M. 5
April 2004
•
Page
IART/ITEC/MTEC/INTD courses, and seven new IAT courses. Senators
7
were alerted
to an error on the Senate paper and were asked to amend the course information on
c) iii. as follows: IAT 202-3
Programming Multimedia should be changed to IAT
265
Multimedia Programming for Art and Design.
ii)
?
Paper S.04-31 -
Addition to General Admission Requirements
D. Whiteley, Director of Admissions and Records and Registration, Student Services
was in attendance in order to respond to questions.
Motion 1
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by S. Rozell
"that Senate approve the addition of BC First Nations
12
to the
admission requirements under the List 3 (Social Sciences Group),
effective Fall 2004"
Question was called, and a vote taken. ?
MOTION CARRIED
Motion 2
• ?
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by C. Giacomantonio
"that Senate approve the addition of Français Premiere Langue
12 to
the admission requirements under List 2
(Humanities Group), effective
Fall 2004"
Senate was advised that List
2
in the above motion should in fact read List 3. The
amendment was accepted as friendly with the motion now reading as follows:
"that Senate approve the addition of Français Premiere Langue 12 to
the admission requirements under List 3 (Humanities Group), effective
Fall
2004"
In response to a question as to whether someone who chose French in Group 1
could claim English
12
in the other list, Senate was advised that the Committee did
not consider this. Suggestion was made that this issue should be considered and the
Vice-President Academic was asked to look into it.
Brief discussion took place wherein there appeared to be confusion with respect to
the intention of the motion. Senate was advised that the intention of the motion was
to allow students to take two first language courses to completion and to count both
against requirements for entering SFU.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
? MOTION CARRIED
S.M. 5 April 2004
Page 8
Motion
3
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by C. Sears
"that Senate approve the addition of American Sign Language 12 to
the admission requirements under the Grade 11 requirements,
effective Fall 2004"
Question was called, and a vote taken. ?
MOTION CARRIED
C) ?
Senate Committee on International Activities
i)
?
Paper S.04-32 -
Annual Report (For Information)
C. Daag, Director, Project Support Services, and R. Martin, Director, International
Cooperation and Mobility, SFU International Office, and
J.
Driver, Senator and
Chair of SCIA were in attendance in order to respond to questions.
Reference was made to the MOU with the University of Tehran and inquiry was
made as to how the program would be delivered. Senate was advised that the
MOUs approved by SCIA were normally preliminary memoranda of understanding
to begin the development of a program. SCIA's terms of reference were to advise
the President with respect to the desirability of entering into international activities
and in doing so SCIA takes into account the University's policy on international
activities including consideration of human rights situations and the safety of SFU
participants. This particular MOU was a very early recommendation from SCIA that
it would be reasonable to go ahead and begin development. It was very much at
the exploratory stage and would be brought back at various stages in its
development and if there were any potential problems SCIA would intervene and
reject further development of the MOU.
Some Senators hold the view that very few students seem to be aware of exchange
program opportunities and suggestion was made that a better a mechanism needed
to be developed to address the communication issue so that more faculty and
students were aware of the possibilities.
Reference was made to the Consortium Exchange Relationships listed on page 10. It
was pointed out that the University of New Mexico was incorrectly listed under
Mexican schools.
It was noted that there were data about international exchanges from the point of
view of SFU students going abroad but there appeared to be no information for
exchange students attending SFU. Senate was advised that the subcommittee of
SCIA only approves outgoing students but in terms of reciprocity the numbers are
almost at par. Between exchange programs, field schools, and international co-op
S.M.
5
April
2004
•
Page
placements, SFU sends in excess of
300
students abroad annually
9
which was well
above the Canadian average.
A question arose as to whether the Committee considered library resources when
looking at partnerships with other universities. It was pointed out that although
there were some obvious barriers to the physical delivery of books, SFU has
agreements in place for electronic materials which would make it relatively easy to
extend access to anywhere in the world. This issue might be worth exploring in
terms of the quality of programs that could be offered. The Chair suggested that
Library review the list and follow up with the Committee with regard to this issue.
Brief discussion took place with respect to the cost of exchange programs. Senate
was advised that exchange programs were revenue neutral as long as there was a
strict balance of students coming and going.
D)
?
Senate Committee on Enrolment Management and Planning
i)
?
Paper
S.04-33 -
Undergraduate Admission Targets for
2004/05
Motion 1
• ?
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by
J.
Pierce
that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the following DOMESTIC undergraduate admission targets
for each basis-of-admission group and for each semester in
2004/05,
and that SCEMP be delegated authority to make further adjustments
based on actual enrolments in
2004-2
and
2004-3
2004-2
2004-3
2005-1
Total
B.C. GR XII
75
2,375
75
2,525
B.C. College
550
850
525
1,925
"Other"
250
650
350
1250
Total Intake
875
3,875
950
5,700
The Vice-President, Academic advised Senate that the totals in the tabulation
included enrolments that SCEMP was aware of when the motion was under
consideration. Subsequent to SCEMP's consideration the budget letter was received
and it was learned of an additional 111 students that need to be allocated for the
coming year. These students carry some funding with them but have not yet been
allocated by SCEMP to any of the basis of admissions. Discussions were underway
with the Deans as to where these additional enrolments should be allocated. The
• ?
budget letter specified one exception and that was that of the
111, 20 must be
taught by eLearning in Distance Education.
Discussion took place with respect to Table
3
on page
5
and brief explanation was
provided for the difference between last year and this year.
S.M.
5
April 2004
Page 10
The Chair expressed opinion that departments/schools should not be complacent
about enrolment management and the belief that SFU gets first rate students
automatically. All programs should pay careful attention to the recruitment exercise
and to the quality of students that are being brought in. This was especially
important in high fee environments where opportunities for university enrolment
may be impacted by the new distribution of seats by the Provincial Government.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
Motion
2
Moved by
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by M. Fizzell
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the board of
Governors the DOMESTIC undergraduate admission targets to each
Faculty as indicated in TABLE 1 (attached to
S.04-33),
and that SCEMP
be delegated authority to make adjustments based on actual
enrolment experience in
2004-2 and
2004-3"
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
Motion
Moved by
3 ?
J.
Waterhouse, seconded by B. Clayman
0
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors the INTERNATIONAL undergraduate admission targets to
each Faculty and for each semester in
2004/05
as indicated in TABLE
2
(attached to
S.04-33),
and that SCEMP be delegated authority to
make adjustments based on actual enrolment in
2004-2
and
2004-3"
C. Apaak indicated that he had been trying to get exact figures on how many
international students were enrolled at SFU. Information on the web site for
Analytical Studies appeared to be outdated. The Vice-President, Academic felt that
the number of undergraduate international students was likely readily available and
could be determined quite easily but he was not so confident about data for
international graduate students. The Dean of Graduate Studies indicated that he
was fairly sure the number could be generated for international graduate students.
The Chair therefore requested that the Dean of Graduate Studies convey the
graduate number and the Dean of Student Services/Registrar convey the current
undergraduate number.
Reference was made to Table
4,
and it was noted that the target for international
undergraduate students was considerably larger than the number that were actually
enrolled in
2003/2004.
Inquiry was made as to whether there was any evidence
that the increase in student tuition fees had influenced undergraduate applications
S.M. 5
April 2004
,
Page 11
from international students. Senate was advised that the number of applications was
relatively high and consistent with previous year applications but a problem arose
last year with the processing of applications in sufficient time for students to receive
the necessary visas and study permits. It was explained that the visa process had
changed rather dramatically since the terrorist attacks in September
2001
and a
much longer lead time was now required. Some of the students who were admitted
for January couldn't get their visas in time and will show up in the summer
enrolment. It was also noted that the US had become less of a destination for
international students and Canada was considered a safer place so it is believed that
the cost of tuition at SFU which is very consistent with Canadian and other
universities around the world is not a factor in the discrepancy noted in Table
4.
Comment was made that the increase in tuition fees for undergraduate international
students would have some impact and it was hoped that the University would seek
ways of making other sources of funding available to assist less fortunate
international students to attend SFU. Senate was advised that increased student aid
specifically earmarked for undergraduate international students had been budgeted
for, since fees for international students had increased and funding is expected to
remain approximately the same over the next three years. This funding was
allocated from a budget separate from the budget for scholarships, awards and
•
?
bursaries and will be administered by the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships,
Awards and Bursaries.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
E) ?
Senate Graduate Studies Committee
i)
?
Paper
S.04-34 -
Annual Report (For Information
The Annual Report of the Senate Graduate Studies Committee was received by
Senate for information.
7. ?
Other Business
i) ?
Paper
S.04-35 -
Name change for the Community Economic Development
Centre
Moved by B. Clayman, seconded by M. Plischke
"that Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of
Governors a change in name from the Community Economic
Development Centre to the Centre for Sustainable Community
Development, effective immediately"
. ?
M. Roseland, Director of the Centre was in attendance in order to respond to
questions.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
?
MOTION CARRIED
S.M. 5 April
2004
Page 12
8. ?
The
Informationnext
regularly
?
scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, May
10, 2004.
9
Open Session adjourned at 8:35 pm. Following a brief recess, the Committee moved into
Closed Session.
Alison Watt
Director, University Secretariat
r
L r