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

Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved as distributed.

Approval of the Minutes of the Open Session of March

1, 2004

Reference was made to the second full paragraph on page

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.

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.

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.

Question Period

There were no questions submitted.

S.M. 5

April 2004

Page 3

6. ?

Reports of Committees

A) ?

Senate Committee on Universit

Priorities

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

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

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

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

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

Waterhouse, seconded by

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

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

Paper S.04-30 - Curriculum Revisions - Facult

of Applied Sciences

Moved by

Waterhouse, seconded by T. Gregory ?

"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

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

Waterhouse, seconded by S. Rozell

"that Senate approve the addition of BC First Nations

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

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

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

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

Moved by

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

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

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.

April

2004

•

Page

placements, SFU sends in excess of

300

students abroad annually

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.

Senate Committee on Enrolment Management and Planning

Paper

S.04-33 -

Undergraduate Admission Targets for

2004/05

Motion 1

• ?

Moved by

Waterhouse, seconded by

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

2,375

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

on page

and brief explanation was

provided for the difference between last year and this year.

S.M.

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

Moved by

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 ?

Waterhouse, seconded by B. Clayman

"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

(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

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

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

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.

Open Session adjourned at 8:35 pm. Following a brief recess, the Committee moved into

Closed Session.

Alison Watt

Director, University Secretariat

L r