APPROVED BY SENATE

Minutes of a Meeting of the Senate of Simon Fraser University held on

Monday, October 1, 2012 at 5:30 pm at the West Mall Complex (Room 3210)

Open Session

Present:

Andrew Petter, President and Chair

Black, Sam

Brandhorst, Bruce

Burley, David

Chapman, Glenn

Corbett, Kitty

Craig, John

Cupples, Claire

Delgrande, Jim

Driver, Jon

Flodr, Sarah-Sophia

Francis, June

Geisler, Cheryl

Hall, Angie

Hedley, Nick

Kessler, Anke

Leacock, Tracey

Leznoff, Daniel

Li, Paul

Lundgreen-Nielsen, Jens

Madoc-Jones, Geoff

Magnusson, Kris

Myers, Gordon

O’Neil, John

Parekh, Nimisha

Parkhouse, Wade

Paterson, David

Percival, Colin

Percival, Paul

Perry, Tom

Pinto, Mario

Quarmby, Lynne

Rajapakse, Nimal

Ruben, Peter

Schellenberg, Betty

Tingling, Peter

Kate Ross, Registrar and Executive Director, Student Enrolment

Shelley Gair, Recording Secretary

Absent:

Brennand, Tracy

Chen, Alexander

Cyr, Dianne

Easton, Stephen

Eckman, Charles

Elle, Elizabeth

Golnaraghi, Farid

Gordon, Robert

Kopahi, Moe

Kropinski, Mary Catherine

Laitsch, Dan

Leivdal, Joseph

McRae, Jennifer

Palis, Heather

Pavsek, Christopher

Pierce, John

Pilarinos, Andreas

Robinsmith, Stacey

Sakhrani, Rohan

Shapiro, Daniel

Shaw, Chris

Somers, Julian

Szeto, Hendson

Taylor, Carole

Warner, D’Arcy

Wilson, Meaghan

Woodbury, Rob

Wussow, Helen

Zhang, Kevin

In Attendance:

Beale, Alison

Daminato, Cathy

Lechner, Mark

Tiffany, Evan

Volkoff, Olga

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1.

Approval of the Agenda

The agenda was approved as distributed.

2.

Minutes of the Open Session on September 10, 2012

The minutes of the open session on September 10, 2012 were approved as distributed.

3.

Business Arising from the Minutes

Senate was informed that the curriculum questions raised by Senator Leacock at the September

Senate meeting are being investigated and the information will be made available to Senator

Leacock and anyone that expresses an interest.

4.

Report of the Chair

The Chair welcomed two new faculty Senators from the Faculty of Education, Geoff Madoc-

Jones and David Paterson, and then provided an update on some new initiatives and information

items.

The first community summit of SFU Public Square was held in September and was successful in

engaging the community. The SFU Public Square is an ongoing initiative where people within the

university can connect with the community and people in the community can involve the

university on issues of public concern. The Dream Colloquium Series, also a new initiative, has

held two sessions and both were well attended. The purpose of this initiative is to create

interdisciplinary engagement for students, provide an opportunity for faculty to get together and

create a lecture series that may lead to research and teaching collaborations, and to provide some

outstanding speakers for the university community. Additional information on both of these

initiatives can be found on their respective websites.

Several information items were highlighted for Senate. A new Office of Sustainability has been

established on campus for the purpose of developing a strategic approach to the various

sustainability commitments. The Chair encouraged all Senators to attend the upcoming

Convocation ceremonies. A research reception will be held on October 30

th

with the purpose of

discussing research, updating the community and celebrating some of the success that SFU has

had over the past year. Strike notices were recently served by TSSU and CUPE concerning

contracts that were not settled in the previous mandate. The Chair assured everyone that the

university will attempt to keep everyone informed throughout the process.

The Chair also mentioned that he had the opportunity to provide the keynote address at the

MOSAIC Annual General meeting. MOSAIC is an organization that provides immigrant and

settlement services for refugees and immigrants. The President used this opportunity to

emphasize the need for adequate space for undergraduate and graduate students, funding for

students, and a strategic focus on investments in innovation, research and future job creation

within B.C.

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5.

Question Period

A concern was raised regarding the new Office of Sustainability and the trend within universities

to have an increasing portion of the budget spent on central administration as opposed to teaching

or research. Senate was informed that SFU has the lowest administrative overhead of any

comprehensive university in Canada and that the creation of the new office is actually a

realignment of current resources and an opportunity for existing personnel to work together in a

more coordinated way. A request was made to see the numbers regarding administrative costs and

the Chair assured Senate that this would be made available.

6.

Reports of Committees

A)

Senate Committee on University Priorities (SCUP)

i)

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by T. Leacock

“That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the Terms of Reference

for the Beedie Professorship Endowment Fund.”

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

ii)

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by J. Francis

“That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the Full Program Proposal

for a Graduate Certificate in Business in the Americas within the Beedie School of

Business, effective Spring 2013.”

The effective date was originally Summer 2013 but it was changed to Spring 2013 during the

meeting.

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

iii)

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by J. Craig

“That Senate and approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the Full Program

Proposal for a Joint Major in Philosophy and Health Sciences in the Department of

Philosophy within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the Faculty of Health Sciences,

effective Fall 2013.”

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

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iv)

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by C. Geisler

“That Senate approve the Action Plan for the School of Communication that resulted from

its External Review.”

A question was raised as to why one of the recommendations, that a greater number of students

should be in the Honours program, wasn’t addressed in the response from the School of

Communication. Senate was informed that in the review, the nature of Honour programs at SFU

was misunderstood and rather than correct this error, it was decided to focus on the action plans

instead.

Concern was also expressed that the recommendation by the external review that senior faculty

members should be teaching at all levels and that there was a “malaise” among the senior faculty,

was not adequately addressed. Senate was informed by the Director of the School of

Communication that it was felt that the malaise described by the external reviewers was

somewhat exaggerated and that a meeting has been planned within the School of Communication

to review the three areas of faculty responsibility (i.e. service, teaching, supervision) and to

encourage senior faculty to stay involved.

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by J. Craig

“That Senate approve the Action Plan for the Department of English that resulted from its

External Review.”

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

vi)

Motion

Moved by J. Driver, seconded by D. Paterson

“That Senate approve the name of the Institute for Research on Early Education and Child

Health be changed to Centre for Research on Early Child Health and Education.”

Question was called and a vote taken.

MOTION CARRIED

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B)

Senate Graduate Studies Committee (SGSC)

i)

Curriculum Revisions – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (S.12-145)

Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under delegated

authority, made a revision to an existing course in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

(Liberal Studies).

ii)

Curriculum Revisions – Faculty of Education (S.12-146)

Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under delegated

authority, made revisions to existing courses in the Faculty of Education.

iii)

Curriculum Revisions – Faculty of Health Sciences (S.12-147)

Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under delegated

authority, made revisions to an existing program in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

iv)

Curriculum Revisions – Faculty of Science (S.12-148)

Senate received information that the Senate Graduate Studies Committee, acting under delegated

authority, made revisions to existing courses in the Faculty of Science (Earth Science,

Mathematics).

C) Senate Nominating Committee (SNC)

i) Senate Committee Elections (S.12-136)

Senate received a revised summary from the Senate Nominating Committee regarding election

results, nominations received and outstanding vacancies for positions on Senate committees that

are elected by Senate.

7.

Other Business

There was no other business.

8.

i)

Date of the next regular meeting – Monday, November 5, 2012.

Kate Ross

Registrar & Executive Director Student Enrolment