.
DRAFT UNTIL APPROVED BY SENATE
Minutes of a Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on
Monday, November 7, 2005 in Room 3210 WMC at 7:00 pm
Open Session
Present: Stevenson, Michael, President and Chair of Senate
Apaak, Clement
Breden, Felix
Copeland, Lynn
Corbett, Kitty
Dickinson, John
Dickinson, Peter
Driver, Jon
Ester, Martin
Easton, Stephen
Fizzell, Maureen
Fleming-Saraceno, David
Francis, June
Gordon, Irene
Gordon, Robert
Halpern, Erica
Harder, Derrick
Haunerland, Norbert
Hayes, Michael
Honda, Barry
Hunsdale, Shawn
. Javed, Waseem
Joifres, Michel
Krane, Bill
LaBrie, John
MacKenzie, Christine
MacLean, David
Magee, Sean
Percival, Cohn
Percival, Paul
Pinto, Mario
Plischke, Michael
Schellenberg, Betty (also representing J. Pierce)
Scott, Jamie
Shaker, Paul
Smith, Don
Tilley, Kevin
Uhlmann, Sasha
van Baarsen, Amanda
Warner, D'Arcy
Waterhouse, John
Weeks, Daniel
Williams, Peter
Wong, Josephine
Woodbury, Robert
Zandvliet, David
.
Heath, Ron, Registrar
Watt, Alison, Director, University Secretariat
Grant, Bobbie, Recording Secretary
Absent:
Black, Sam
Brennand, Tracy
Budd, James
Caufield, Sarah
Deigrande, James
Grimmett, Peter
Horvath, Adam
Johansen, Elinor
Louie, Brandt
Love, Ernie
McArthur, James
In attendance:
Hayden, Michael
Stead, Doug
Wattarnaniuk, Walter
S.M. 7 November 2005
Page 2
A
Fol
ppr
low
ova
ing
l of
the
the
w
A
it
ge
hdr
nda
awal of Item 6.A.iii - Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences - the
0
Agenda was approved as amended.
2.
Approval of the Minutes of the O
pen
Session of October 3, 2005
Referring to the first paragraph on page 4, L. Copeland noted that photocopy fees were
determined by the University Administration, not by the Board of Governors as indicated
in the minutes. The revision was noted and the Minutes were approved as amended.
3.
Business Arising from the Minutes
There was no business arising from the Minutes.
4.
Report of the Chair
On behalf of Senate, the Chair welcomed the following newly elected/re-elected Faculty
Senators from the Faculty of Health Sciences to the meeting: K. Corbett, M. Joffres, and
M. Hayes.
The Chair reported on his recent trip to Asia. Senate was informed about successful
meetings in conjunction with the ongoing celebration of SFU's 40
1h
anniversary with
Alumni at various locations. Additionally as President of SFU, the Chair reported that he
had been invited to participate in international colloquia on information and
communication technology in Beijing and on Asian Migration and Economic
is
Development in Hong Kong. The Chair felt that SFU was invited to the two conferences
primarily because of the new Joint Degree Program in Zejiang. He felt that SFU would
be strongly advised to consider more programs of this nature.
The Chair was pleased to report that SFU had, once again, been ranked amongst the top
three comprehensive universities by Maclean's, and congratulations were extended to
everyone in the University whose efforts resulted in the ranking.
i)
Paper S.05-109 - President's Agenda 2005-2009 (For Information)
Prior to discussion of this item, the Chair advised that he would like to respond to three
questions that had been submitted by Senator P. Dickinson with regard to the report.
The first question related to the proposal on page 3 to increase the proportion of the total
enrolment in graduate programs to 25% of the total enrolment and what mechanisms
were in place to secure adequate funding for this increase. The Chair explained that the
25%
was a target and was highly unlikely to happen in five years time but he felt it was
the kind of balance that leading research institutions need to have. If adequate funding
for graduate enrolment is not forthcoming, the University would not press for any
significant expansion of graduate enrolment. Universities across Canada share a concern
that the past 10-15 year hiatus in funding for graduate enrolments has seriously
undermined the quality of university systems across the country, and it was an absolute
priority that all levels of government find a way to reach agreements on graduate
enrolment funding.
il
S.M. 7 November 2005
• Page 3
The second question related to the issue of expanded faculty complements mentioned in
passing on page 3 of the report. A question was posed why there was not a separate
section devoted to faculty recruitment and retention since attracting top graduate students
required an excellent faculty complement. The Chair agreed that ideally faculty•
complements should expand in proportion to increases in undergraduate and graduate
enrolment but it was unlikely that grants would be sufficient to cover what universities
deemed to be adequate complementary funding for faculty expansion relative to targeted
enrolment increases on the graduate side. Issues of recruitment and retention were dealt
with extensively in the President's previous Agenda statement and remain an
overwhelmingly important issue and probably should have been referenced in this report.
The final question related to the Great Northern Way campus and why there was no
mention of its status, development, and priority in the document. Senate was advised that
the Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey campuses are seen as higher priorities. The GNW
campus has been viewed as a potentially interesting model for collaboration to generate
programs that are not currently offered, and that might be offered without prejudice to
funding of programs and priorities within SFU. There are several areas being reviewed
that might be the basis for collaborative programming at GNW campus, but discussions
have been difficult and so far sources of funding are not forthcoming. So the Consortium
continues to cooperatively manage the site, and if collaboration on academic grounds is
not possible, there may be other possibilities for development of the site with resulting
•
money used to endow programs at SFU.
The President was commended for including in the document a section on student life
that captured the concerns of the past few years of the Student Society. Disappointment
was expressed that the Dual Degree Program in China was cited as a model for the future
as it was hoped that there would be more consistency in the application of tuition fees
charged to students in any such future programs. A brief explanation was provided to
Senate about how the fees in the SFU-Zhejiang program are consistently applied to
domestic and international students.
It was noted that the term 'interdisciplinary' was used several times throughout the
document. An opinion was expressed that the existing structure in the University that
required programs to be housed in specific Faculties mitigates against the
interdisciplinary nature of programs, and question was raised as to whether there were
any plans in place from a structural point of view to address this issue. The Chair felt
that there was likely not a straight-forward way to create structures that encourage
mobility across disciplines but that SFU was genuinely better at doing it than most
universities. A senator suggested that due to increased cross-teaching and research
initiatives, it might be interesting to consider assigning teaching FTEs and research
overhead directly to the individual faculty member doing the teaching and/or research.
The Administration was commended for the support provided to international students at
• SFU, with particular reference being made to the creation of the International Student
Lounge. However, a concern was expressed that most of the international students at the
University currently come from specific parts of the world and that there should be more
diversification within the international student population. It was noted that many
students from developing countries are not able to afford current tuition fees and it was
S.M. 7 November 2005
Page 4
suggested that funding should be set aside to target high quality students from these
countries. Reference was made to the first paragraph on page 4 of the report, and a
question was posed about the rationale for the proposed increase in international student
enrolments. The Chair felt that having an international component within the student -
body enriched the educational experience of all students and agreed that there ought to be
more diversity in the international student population. There appeared to be interest from
the Government in this issue and he hoped to see some funding committed to this area.
Reference was made to page one under the section of notable achievements, and
clarification was requested with respect to the ranking of research mentioned in the first
bullet. The Chair explained that SFU ranks 4
th
amongst all Canadian research-intensive
universities in humanities and social sciences, and 5
th
amongst all in science and
engineering in terms of the success rate of awarded grants to faculty members on a per
capita basis. He felt this was a more valid measure than absolute dollars awarded in
research, especially when comparison is being made against large engineering and
medical programs.
5.
Question Period
There were no questions.
6.
Reports of Committees
i)
A)
P
Se
a
na
pe
t
r
e
S
C
.05-
omm
110
ittee
-
on
Na
U
m
ni
e
ve
a
r
nd
sity
P
P
rogr
rior
a
it
m
ies
Changes to the Forest Renewal BC
0
-
Endowed Chair in Terrain Anal
ysis
and Forest Geoscience
Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by M. Plischke
"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the change of the
title of the "FRBC Endowed Chair in Terrain Analysis and Forest Geoscience" to
the "FRBC Chair in Resource Geoscience and Geotechnics" and the changes to
the proposed research program, reflecting a new emphasis on resource
geoscience"
D. Stead, Department of Earth Sciences, was in attendance in order to respond to
questions.
Brief discussion took place with respect to the definition of 'sustainability', clarification
of 'sustainable resource development' as it related to the list sectors on page two of the
document, the role of 'conservation' within the activities emphasized, and the relevance
of tourism.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
0
S.M. 7 November 2005
•
Page
5
ii)
Paper S.05-1 11 - Course Scheduling Policy - T.30.01
Moved by J. Waterhouse, seconded by C. Apaak
"that Senate approve the Course Scheduling Policy - T.30.01"
M. Hayden, Chair of the Course Accessibility Implementation Committee, and W.
Wattamaniuk, Director of Analytical Studies, were in attendance as resource persons.
Speaking at the request of T. Brennand, who was unable to attend the meeting, P.
Percival advised that some of the concerns that the Department of Geography had raised
with the first draft had been addressed in this version. There were still complaints
related to editorial corrections of a non-substantive nature. There was no objection to a
suggestion that the motion go forward on the understanding that these editorial
improvements will be accepted after the fact.
Opinion was expressed that the policy was very prejudicial to programs in the humanities
that tend to have smaller classes and fewer mandatory courses that need to be scheduled
on a flexible basis. Courses scheduled flexibly and non-routinely will receive low priority
thus creating enormous stress and burden in terms of scheduling and finding classroom
• space. It was pointed out that this imbalance already exists because of the block
scheduling done in Science. The policy will result in Science losing some of the
advantage they have had and other departments should actually benefit because a better
balance across Faculties will be created. It was also noted that the intent of the policy
was to provide students with more certainty with respect to planning their course
schedules.
Amendment moved by I. Gordon, seconded by J. Francis
"that the following section be added to the policy
12. Reporting
To ensure accountability, transparency, and fairness of application of this
policy, the Registrar's Office through Analytical Studies will report to
Senate once a year on:
12.1 The steps taken to survey instructional staff regarding the
effectiveness of rooms assigned for different teaching and learning
strategies and regarding the disposition of complaints regarding
inappropriate room assignments where these complaints are based on
pedagogical or teaching strategies that are intended to enhance students'
learning.
12.2 Room usage by day and time of day for each department and non-
departmentalized Faculty for both undergraduate (by levels) and graduate
courses"
Noting that the amendment was similar to elements of section 6 of Appendix I and
section 8.1 of the document, a suggestion was made to incorporate the thrust of the
amendment into the document so that in 8.1 the committee would solicit input from the
faculty and departments with regard to any concerns about the policy, and in Appendix I,
S.M. 7 November 2005
Page 6
Section 6 Senate would be included in the distribution of the report mentioned. On the
understanding that appropriate wording would be added to the two sections mentioned
above, the changes were accepted as a friendly amendment.
Discussion ensued with respect to whether it was more important to students to know
exact times that a course was scheduled as opposed to knowing in which semester a
course would be offered. In response to this inquiry, the following points were made:
• more important to know when a course will be offered rather than the specific
time
•
the greater degree of certainty the better to schedule the term, especially if
involved in campus activities outside the classroom
• policy will help graduate students who have to work around teaching assignments
•
since SFU is a transportation oriented school, knowing times is a big issue,
especially if driving long distances or taking public transit
• using the entire week will benefit students greatly as it will help to reduce
crowding on buses which are especially full Tuesday to Thursday, and will also
help to reduce course conflicts
Detailed discussion took place with regard to how priorities would be assigned to
different types of courses, for example, regular daytime courses offered occasionally in
the evening, and courses with tutorials which are spread out at different times during the
week. Senate was advised that as long as a regular scheduling pattern can be advertised,
t
R
he
ef
c
e
our
renc
se
e
w
w
oul
as m
d not
ade
l
t
os
o
e
se
s
c
c
t
he
ion
dul
8.2
ing
a
pr
nd
ior
a
i
que
ty.
stion was raised as to why the last item in
9
this section differed in wording from the others with respect to 'may be given priority' as
opposed to 'will be given priority'. Senate was advised that the list would be used when
space was short and the last option could be used to decide in favour of a department that
had tried hard to spread its offerings across the entire week. However, it was felt that it
would disadvantage departments who simply cannot spread their curriculum over the
entire week if this criterion was made a requirement. It was pointed out that section 5.1
*
-6
allows the Dean of a Faculty to approve any scheduling pattern, so if a need ws
recognized, the Dean could automatically give a department the priority required.
Senate was advised that the policy would take effect for the Fall semester, 2006.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
iv)
Paper S.05-113 - Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Environmental Education
Moved by B. Krane, seconded by I. Gordon
"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the
proposal for a Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Environmental Education"
Senator D. Zandvliet, Faculty of Education, was available to respond to questions.
S.M. 7 November 2005
Page 7
Speaking on behalf of T. Brennand who could not attend the meeting, P. Percival
indicated that despite the fact that Geography courses were prominently featured in the
Diploma, the Department had not been consulted, and she wanted to remind all Faculties
that wide consultation was required for curriculum changes/development. Senate was
informed that consultation had taken place with individual faculty members in the
Department of Geography.
Reference was made to the list of courses at the bottom of page 4, and a concern was
expressed about the inclusion of EDUC 311 and EDUC 441 since the existing course
descriptions make no reference to environmental issues. It was pointed out that the
courses in this group are, to some extent, foundational courses and will expose students to
different views around environmental teaching.
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
v)
Paper S.05-114 - Facult y
Structure Review (For Information)
Senate was advised that it has been a long time since the University comprehensively
examined its academic structure and since there have been a considerable number of
changes in the composition of University programs, it was deemed appropriate for a
review to be carried out at this time. A Task Force will be formed and university-wide
I
consultations will be part of the process. It was stressed that the process does not
presume any particular outcome and could result in no changes being recommended.
Reference was made to the proposed timing of the first round of consultations, and it was
suggested that this should occur prior to the preparation of the discussion document.
Units who feel that some realignment is important for them will be requested to provide
input prior to the discussion document.
Brief discussion followed with respect to the composition of the Task Force, especially
student representation.
The document was at Senate for information.
B)
Senate Graduate Studies Committee
i)
Paper S.05-115 - Faculty of Education: Deletion of Intermediate and
Elementar y
Mathematics Education (MA. MEd) Program
Moved by J. Driver, seconded by P. Shaker
"that Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the
deletion of the Intermediate and Elementary Mathematics Education (MA,
MEd) program"
Question was called, and a vote taken.
MOTION CARRIED
S.M. 7 November 2005
Page 8
ii)
Paper S.05-116 - Facult
y
of Applied Sciences - REM: Revisions to planning
stream of the Master's program including change of degree title (For Information)
Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under
delegated authority, approved a revision to the planning stream of the master's program -
in the School of Resource and Environmental Management. The revisions to the program
description clarify the course requirements and include a list of elective courses, and a
change of the degree title for students completing the planning stream to
Master of
Resource Management (Planning).
iii)
Paper S.05-117 - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - Cohort Special
Arrangements Program - Master of Arts in International Leadershi
p
: course changes (For
Information)
Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under
delegated authority, approved a revision to the course requirements for the above-noted
program. The changes include the approval of a new course and the waiver of a course
requirement for graduates of a McRae Institute program in the cohort.
iv)
Paper S.05-118 - Facult
y
of Health Sciences - New courses (For Information)
Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under
delegated authority, approved five new courses for offering in the Graduate Diploma:
Foundations of Global Health Studies. Inquiry was made as to why these new courses
were labeled GLOH instead of HSCI. It was noted that at the graduate level it was not
uncommon for different programs within a department, school or faculty to be given
different course designations as a helpful identifier for a particular stream or program.
C)
Senate Nominating Committee
i)
Paper S.05-119 - Elections
Senate was advised that no further nominations had been received. J. Smith was
therefore elected by acclamation to the Senate Appeals Board and all other positions
remain vacant and will be carried forward to the next meeting of Senate.
7.
Other Business
i)
Paper S.05-120 Annual Re
p
ort and 3-Year Plan -SFU Librar
y
(For Information)
L. Copeland, Senator, and University Librarian, was available to respond to questions.
The Annual Report and 3-Year Plan were received by Senate for information without
discussion.
8.
Information
The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of Senate is Monday, December
5,
2005
The Open Session adjourned at 9:00 pm. Senate moved directly into Closed Session.
.
Alison Watt
Director, University Secretariat