S-98-29 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, February 9, 1999 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-98-24 to S-98-28 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m. (1) CANDIDATES FOR DEGREES a) Bachelor of Science S-98-26 Prof. Ewing moved, seconded by Prof. Harpp, that the above candidates be recommended to the Senate Steering Committee for the Bachelor of Science degree. The motion carried. Prof. Kramer further moved, seconded by Prof. Harpp, that the Dean be given discretionary power to make such changes in the degree list as would be necessary to prevent injustice. The motion carried. 601.1 Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy, that Faculty thank the Student Affairs Office for the work of its staff in preparing the degree list. The resolution of thanks was unanimous. b) Diploma in Environmental Studies S-98-27 There were no students recommended for this diploma. c) Diploma in Meteorology S-98-28 There were no students recommended for this diploma. (2) MINUTES OF JANUARY 12, 1999 S-98-24 Prof. Ewing moved, seconded by Prof. Harpp, that the minutes be approved. Correction: Minute 504.9, Page 6, line 10, should read: 602.1 "..Administrative issue concerned the duplication of tables..." The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES Minute 504.3, Page 4, Domain in Earth Sciences and Economics (AC-98-64) 603.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that after the above domain had been approved by the Academic Committee, but before it was presented at the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999, the domain proposal had been submitted to the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He said that the domain had been approved by the Curriculum Committee of FAES with one change. At the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999, it was questioned whether the MSE Curriculum Committee had approved this change. Associate Dean Mendelson said that the Chair of the MSE Curriculum Committee had approved the change; it was the right of the Chair of the MSE Curriculum Committee to approve such minor changes. (4) ANNOUNCEMENTS Dean Shaver made the following announcements: 604.1 Professors Paul Lasko (Department of Biology) and Debbie Moskowitz (Department of Psychology) had been promoted to full professorship. 604.2 Professor Mark Sutton from the Department of Physics had been awarded a Killam Research Fellowship. 604.3 Professor David Zuroff had received re-affirmation of the accreditation status of the Clinical Psychology Programme at McGill. Dean Shaver noted that these announcements had been tabled and circulated by e-mail. 604.4 Dean Shaver also announced that the rank of Emeritus Professor had been conferred on the following three faculty members: Professor Sarah Gibbs (Department of Biology); Professor Albert Bregman (Department of Psychology); and Professor Ronald Melzack (Department of Psychology). Dean Shaver said that these announcements would be circulated by e-mail. All the above announcements would be included in Appendix A, to be attached to the permanent copy of the minutes of the current meeting. 604.5 On behalf of the Faculty of Science, Dean Shaver congratulated all the above members. (5) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Academic Committee S-98-25 MINOR COURSE CHANGES (AC-98-79) (for information) BIOCHEMISTRY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Faculty in Biochemistry (AC-98-80) - B.Sc. Honours in Biochemistry (AC-98-81) - B.Sc. Major in Biochemistry (AC-98-82) Prof. Pasztor moved, seconded by Prof. Kramer, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. ANATOMY & CELL BIOLOGY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Honours, Major & Faculty (AC-98-76[Revised]) 605.1 In reply to a question concerning the equivalency of the statistics courses 189-203A, 204-204A,B and 177- 373A (page 2, Document AC-98-76, under Required Courses), Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy said that he thought that the word equivalence should not be used in the context of these programs. He said that instead it should be specified that only one of the three statistics courses could count for credit towards the program requirements; two of these, suitably chosen, could count for credits towards the B.Sc. degree. Prof. Kramer moved, seconded by Prof. Brawer, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Faculty, Major & Honours (AC-98-83) Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Prof. Acheson, that the program changes be approved. 605.2 The following points were noted: (1) that 180-203A and 180-204A,B (document AC-98-83, page 1, Faculty Program) cannot both be taken for credit and (2) that the Department of Microbiology and Immunology should justify the changes in academic terms before submitting the documents to SCTP. The motion carried. GEOGRAPHY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Major in Geography (AC-98-84) - B.Sc. Honours in Geography (AC-98-85) Prof. Ewing moved, seconded by Prof. Lapointe, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. - B.A. Minor Concentration in Geography (Urban Systems)(AC-98-86) (for information) 183-203 Environmental Systems (AC-98-87) 3 credits Change in course description Prof. Lapointe moved, seconded by Prof. Ewing, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. 183-351 Quantitative Methods in Geography (AC-98-88) 3 credits Change in course description Prof. Lapointe moved, seconded by Prof. Ewing, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. B.SC. MINOR IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY (AC-98-90) 605.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said the changes to the above program had already been submitted to, and approved by, SCTP. He assured Faculty that he had written to both the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Music and the Chair of the Department of Theory telling them that these changes should have been approved by the Faculty of Science prior to submission to SCTP. He said he had been reassured that this procedure would be followed in the future. Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. ThÇrien, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. POSTING OF GRADES ON THE WEB (for information) 605.4 Associate Dean Mendelson said that some professors post grades on the WEB with password-protected files (thus allowing only those students in the course to have access to the grades), whereas other professors post grades without password protection. He said that at the Academic Committee meeting of January 19, 1999, the issue of whether or not grades should be posted in password-protected files had been discussed. The general consensus at that meeting was that there was no need to adopt a policy about this, but that grades must be posted in numerical order by student number, and not in alphabetical order. 605.5 Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy noted that with the new electronic mark submission system the transfer of grades to the mainframe computer was very fast and that within 24 hours the grades were available to students over the WEB through the Saturn system. 605.6 Following a short discussion, Faculty agreed that no formal policy was necessary, but that grades must be posted in numerical order by student number only, and not by student name. STATISTICS COURSE EQUIVALENTS 605.7 Associate Dean Mendelson said that there was a list of statistics courses in the Faculty of Science section (2.6.1, Course Overlap) of the Calendar which specifies statistics courses in the university that are deemed to be equivalent. He said that a number of entries on the list were outdated and that it had been agreed that this list would be reviewed by the Academic Committee in time for the 2000-2001 Calendar. INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROPOSAL (AC-98-53) - Associate Vice-Principal N. de Takacsy 605.8 Dean Shaver noted that document AC-98-53 described the International Baccalaureate program in CEGEP's and the proposed changes to it. He said that the Academic Committee had approved two motions on January 19, 1999. First Motion Approved by the Academic Committee 605.9 ... that McGill admit to the B.Sc. program, students who have completed the modified Health Science profile of the IB in Quebec CEGEP's. Second Motion Approved by the Academic Committee 605.10 ... that McGill admit to the B.Sc. program, students who have completed the modified Pure and Applied Science profile of the IB in Quebec CEGEP's. These students would be required to take a Biology course once they are at McGill as a "required complementary" course within the 90 credits. 605.11 Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy gave some history and background information concerning the International Baccalaureate program. 605.12 Concerning the first motion, Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that McGill admit to the B.Sc. program, students who have completed the modified Health Science profile of the IB in Quebec CEGEP's. The motion carried. 605.13 After some discussion, Prof. Kramer moved, seconded by Prof. ThÇrien, that McGill admit to the B.Sc. program, students who have completed the modified Pure and Applied Science profile of the IB in Quebec CEGEP's. These students would be required to take a Biology course once they are at McGill as a "required complementary" course within the 90 credits. 605.14 Concerning the absence of a biology course in the proposed IB program, Prof. Farrell suggested a friendly amendment that these students be required to take either Biology 177-111 or 177-112 once they are at McGill as a "required complementary" course within the 90 credits. The amended motion carried. (6) DEAN'S BUSINESS There was no Dean's business. (7) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. (8) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE* Prof. N. de Takacsy read the report of the Senate Meeting of January 20, 1999: (1) Notice of house keeping motion regarding a change to the statutes to reflect the redefinition of the three administrative and support staff constituencies that elect six senators. (2) Question from Prof. Noumoff regarding salary anomaly correction mechanisms. (3) Question from Prof. Pare regarding part-time instructors replacing tenure track staff. (4) A series of questions from "MAUT senators" (Profs. Frankman, Hales, Meighen, Vera) regarding the new software policy recently approved by the BoG. Concern was expressed that there had been no prior consultation of Senate or MAUT although this was clearly an important matter. Vice-Principal BÇlanger said that there was some urgency to having even a bare bones and temporary policy in writing which asserted the shared interest of the University and the developer. Reference was made to the complexity of this issue and a long history of bouncing it from one vice- principalship to another. (5) A motion was approved recommending particular attention to the university's security infrastructure in the light of computer thefts in November and December. (6) On the recommendation of APPC Senate approved the following: - new MSc, Applied (Nutrition); - new stream in the Master of Management for voluntary sector managers - this programme is funded by the McConell Foundation; - Centre interuniversitaire de physique subatomique - McGill, UdeM, UQAM; - Groupe de recherche sur l'inadaptation psychosociale chez l'enfant (GRIP) UdeM, Laval, McGill; - the Derick award for graduate teaching and supervision. (7) APPC presented to Senate a report on the work of the Commission des universitÇs sur les programmes (CUP) and what has been done so far as follow up. The CUP philosophy has been to identify areas where the QuÇbec university system could be strengthened through improved cooperation or integration and to propose action as appropriate. The recommendations therefore fall into two broad categories: - General recommendations aimed at university policies, regulations, and procedures to make cooperation practical. APPC acted primarily in this area by adopting four resolutions. - Specific recommendations in the various disciplines that have been reviewed to date. As far as Science is concerned, these are linked to the following departments, which have all received a copy of the relevant Report: Anatomy and Cell Biology, Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics, Physiology. The next step is to remind departments of the need for a response. (8) Senate received a report from the Board of Governors. Selected items, and/or comments thereon: Interim software policy. - Budget issues: the Principal will recommend a 1999- 2000 budget with a deficit -- question is how big. - A revised and more predictable calculation of revenue from endowments. - Incorporation of "McGill Management International" for educational programs in management and related fields in foreign countries. - New fees for international students in BCom., MBA , and MSc(A) Occupational Health, Distance Format. (9) Administrative and support staff counts as at Nov. 1999. (10) The annual report of the Committee on Student Affairs was received. (11) The annual report of the Committee on Student Discipline was received. Prof. G. Brown read the report of the Senate Meeting of February 3, 1999: This was a relatively brief meeting that dealt primarily with questions from members and a resolution from the floor. The first question, posed by Prof. GowriSankaran, asked how individuals were affected by the recently announced increases in the minimum salaries for academic staff. In response it was stated a total of 13 individuals were affected. A second question, posed by Prof. Noumoff, asked what measures the University has taken, if any, to deal with the increased financial burden that recently announced fee increases will place on international Ph.D. students. VP BÇlanger responded to this by first explaining that McGill has been charging full fees for international Ph.D. students for two fewer semesters than the other Quebec Universities. The new policy comes about as a result of a request by the Quebec government that McGill bring its fee policy in line with those of the other Universities. This new policy only affects Ph.D. 4 students, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies has held back a number of fee waivers in order to deal with problems that might be created by the new policy. The VP Research felt that this measure should be adequate to deal with the situation. Prof. Noumoff then presented a resolution that addressed the recent action of the Executive of the Board of Governors in which a software policy was adopted "in the absence of consultation with and approval by the Senate". In the resolution, the Senate "expressed its profound disappointment in the Executive of the Board of Governors and urged it to return to a policy which respects the tradition of seeking consultation with and approval by the Senate on issues within the Senate's purview". One clause of the resolution dealt with a previous statement of the VP Research in which he indicated that there was no imminent crisis that precipitated the adoption of this new software policy. In Senate, VP BÇlanger addressed this clause by stating that although there had been no imminent crisis there had been a need, and that the process of seeking an agreement on this issue had dragged on. The VP agreed that a new software policy will be brought to Senate for approval in the future. The resolution was voted on and adopted. A complaint has been filed with the Quebec Human Rights Commission against the University's parental leave policy. The current leave policy allows a 20 week paid parental leave for adoptive parents but does not grant paid leave for natural fathers. It was moved that adoptive leave regulations be modified so that paid adoptive leave will not be provided, but that adoptive parents will be covered by the leave regulations governing natural parents. This motion was approved. Discussions are underway with MAUT regarding a revised parental leave policy. A recommendation from the nominating committee that Prof. Michael Smith of Sociology be appointed to a four year term as University Marshall was enthusiastically seconded by Prof. Farrell and accepted. Senate had previously approved a redefinition of the constituencies that elect representatives of non- unionized administrative and support staff; amendments to the Statutes that reflect this redefinition were also approved. *Senate documents are available in the Dean's Secretariat for consultation. 608.1 Dean Shaver said he would like to extend thanks and appreciation to Prof. Farrell for having been the University Marshal for so many years. He said that Convocation was an event with which most professors were not involved, but was one which many students and parents found to be one of the most important experiences they shared together. Dean Shaver said it was extremely important to the university that this ritual be conducted with a certain sense of style. This event tends to bind students and their parents to the university. He said that the more he was involved with Convocation, the more he realized how important the ritual was, and how important it was that the ritual be sustained. He said that Prof. Farrell had an almost unfailing sense of propriety as to the level of ritual required. Prof. Farrell had, year after year, overseen Convocation with a sense of style. 608.2 On behalf of the Faculty of Science, Dean Shaver extended sincere appreciation to Prof. Farrell, and to the deputy Marshals he had directed over the years. 608.3 Prof. Farrell said he was grateful for the kind words. He said he would like to emphasize that the deputy Marshals had unfailingly turned up to assist at Convocation. He said it was important that these people be recognized as well. (9) OTHER BUSINESS There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m. Facsci\Fm1998fF.doc