S-99-12 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, October 5, 1999 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-99-2 to S-99-11 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. (1) CANDIDATES FOR DEGREES a) Bachelor of Science S-99-3 201.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that members could address any comments concerning the degree list to himself, after the meeting. Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Barrette, that the above candidates be recommended to the Senate Steering Committee for the Bachelor of Science degree. The motion carried. Prof. GowriSankaran further moved, seconded by Prof. ThÇrien, 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. 201.2 Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, 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 Environment S-99-4 There were no students recommended for this diploma. c) Diploma in Meteorology S-99-5 There were no students recommended for this diploma. (2) MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 S-99-2 Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Harpp, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business arising from the minutes. (4) SEATING OF STUDENT MEMBERS S-99-6 204.1 Dean Shaver pointed out Document S-99-6, which listed student representatives to various Faculty committees. He said student representatives had been nominated by the SUS, and Faculty accepted the nominations. Dean Shaver welcomed the Faculty of Science student representatives, and asked the students to introduce themselves. He said he hoped that student representatives would enjoy serving on the various Faculty committees. (5) ANNOUNCEMENTS 205.1 Dean Shaver mentioned that Faculty announcements were traditionally sent out by e-mail from the Faculty office. He asked if members had any announcements to make. 205.2 Prof. Bell announced that Prof. Amanda Vincent from the Department of Biology had been named by Time Magazine as one of the "Leaders for 21st Century." He suggested that the Faculty send Prof. Vincent a congratulatory note. 205.3 Dean Shaver announced that McGill's Millenium Lecture Series on Evolution would be presenting three lectures. He said these were sponsored by the Beatty Memorial Lectures Committee, the Mossman Endowment and the Maxwell Cummings Distinguished Lectureship. Dean Shaver said the lecturers chosen were international scholars. The lectures will be held on Wednesdays, October 6, 13,20, 1999, at 8:00 p.m. in Leacock 132. 205.4 Dean Shaver thanked Prof. Graham Bell, Director of the Redpath Museum, for coordinating the lectures. (6) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Committee on Student Standing(CSS) S-99-7 206.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said there had been one CSS meeting, and that one request had been submitted; the committee had refused the appeal. b) Academic Committee S-99-8 ADMISSIONS CRITERIA FOR THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE (AC-99-1) 206.2 Dean Shaver introduced Ms. Robin Geller, Registrar and Director of Admissions, Recruitment and Registrar's Office. 206.3 Ms. Geller gave some of the underlying principles of the proposal. She said the ARR, the Dean and the Associate Dean had developed the proposal in consultation, and the Academic Committee had approved it. Ms. Geller said the proposal had been initiated by the ARR in an effort to streamline the admissions process. She said the primary purpose of admissions criteria was to ensure and to continue to ensure the quality of incoming students; the proposal achieves this goal. 206.4 After some discussion, Prof. Barrette moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that the proposed changes in admissions criteria (Document AC-99-1[Revised]) be adopted with the following amendments: - Page 1, Section A, Item #1, should include "Mathematics 105." - Page 1, Section B, Item #1, should include "Mathematics 105." - Page 2, Section D, Item #3, Second sentence, "A minimum average.." should read "A minimum grade..". The motion carried. 206.5 Dean Shaver thanked Ms. Geller for her presentation to Faculty. AD HOC MINOR IN BIOLOGY (AC-99-2) Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Kramer, that the ad hoc program for Ms. Susanne Cote, an Arts student, be approved. The motion carried. GEOGRAPHY 183-301A Geography of Nunavut (AC-99-4) 3 credits Changes in Course Title and Description Prof. Ewing moved, seconded by Prof. Lewis, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. ATMOSPHERIC & OCEANIC SCIENCES/GEOGRAPHY 195-308A(New Course)/183-308A Principles of Remote Sensing 3 credits AC-99-5(Revised)/ AC-99- 5A(Revised) Prof. Ewing moved, seconded by Prof. Yau, that the courses be adopted. The motion carried. ATMOSPHERIC & OCEANIC SCIENCES New Course: 195-315A Water in the Atmosphere (AC-99-6) 3 credits Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Lin, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 195-402A Atmosphere-Ocean Transports (AC-99-7) 3 credits Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Lin, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 195-414B Applications of Remote Sensing (AC-99-8) 3 credits Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Lin, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. MSC DEGREE IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING (AC-99-9) (for information) c) Other i. Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) S-99-9 206.6 Mr. Andrew Kovacs, President of SUS, described the above report. 206.7 Mr. Kovacs said the reason for bringing this issue to Faculty was that there was a lot of potential for posting various material on the SUS Web site. He asked members for comments. 206.8 In response to a question concerning password protection for old examinations and course outlines on the SUS Web site, Mr. Kovacs said he would look into the issue. 206.9 Dean Shaver asked members to draw students' attention to the book exchange on the SUS Web site. ii. Committee on Materials Science S-99-10 - Prof. P. GrÅtter 206.10 Dean Shaver said that since Prof. GrÅtter, Chair of the Committee on Materials Science, was not present at the current Faculty meeting, members should direct comments or questions to Prof. GrÅtter at some other time. iii. Ad hoc Constitution Review Committee - Prof. M.J. Mendelson 206.11 Associate Dean Mendelson, Chair of the committee, said the aim of the committee was to bring the constitution of the Faculty of Science into line with current Faculty practice. He said the committee had met on September 23, 1999, and would be meeting again on October 7, 1999. After the next meeting, a document would be discussed at a Chairs' meeting, and then be brought forward for ratification by Faculty in early 2000. iv. Ad hoc Graduate Studies Committee S-99-11 - Prof. B. Lennox 206.12 Prof. Lennox, Chair of the Ad hoc Graduate Studies Committee, said the committee must still complete one more aspect of its mandate. When this is done, the report would be brought to the Academic Committee. (7) DEAN'S BUSINESS 207.1 Dean Shaver said it would appear that the total number of entering undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science in Fall 1999 was 1156. He said the Faculty aims for approximately 1000 students, but recently more attention had been paid to recruitment of students. He said enrolment figures would be closely monitored, and that it was not the policy of the Faculty to increase student numbers. 207.2 In response to a question concerning whether the implications for professor/student ratios had been considered, Dean Shaver said that this had been considered, and was the reason for the Faculty attempting to maintain standard enrolment numbers. 207.3 Associate Dean Mendelson pointed out the possible role of the MSE in attracting additional students. 207.4 Dean Shaver said the graduate enrolment would not be available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research until November 1999. (8) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. (9) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE Senate Meeting of September 22, 1999 - Report by Prof. M. Baines In the report of the Steering Committee, the Principal discussed the university submission to the Ministry of Education. French and English copies are available at the Secretariat or they can be viewed on the web at: http://www.mcgill.ca/documents/innovation/einnovation.pdf (English) http://www.mcgill.ca/documents/innovation/frinnovation.pdf (French) During the discussion, it became clear that this was an initiative in response to a request from the Minister of Education for some information to use for an argument for more funding. There are three funding areas of importance to McGill: (a) general investment in university core programs, (b) alterations to the funding formula and, (c) developmental or targeted projects. As the document primarily addressed the last of these areas, the priorities identified in the document were selected to be attractive new initiatives in line with general public and governmental desires. As to the possibility of success, there would be none if McGill had not submitted a proposal. On the other hand, the Principal was dubious about (a) the ministers understanding of the magnitude of the problem, (b) the ministers general credibility and clout, and (c) the ministers ability to succeed in this initiative. Particularly when the government is facing major labour problems and also wants to offer a tax break in the next budget. The Principal estimated that if Quebec were to match the funding per FTE student with Ontario that it would require an increase in the expenditures of post-secondary education of about $600 million. McGill's share would be about $100 million. Professor Noumoff asked about the Principal's statements on the international character of the University with particular concern about the growing gap between our claim to an international profile while increasing the financial burden on foreign students. The Principal replied that McGill is not as good as we should be in regard to the international background of the students and the internationalization of the academic program. The Principal added that his goal would be to have 25 per cent of our student body come from outside Canada. The report of the Bookstore Committee elicited a lot of adverse commentary on the quality of service. While the facility is much improved, there were comments about untrained staff, no advisory when orders must be placed, long delays in acquisition of text orders, poor responses to phone inquiries, no advice when texts are not available, few books in French and few academic books. It was stated that this was, in part, due to (1) late submissions by the Profs, (2) delays in shelving and notifying the Profs, (3) the merger of Prentice Hall and Addison-Wesley and, (4) the merger of Chapters with Barnes and Noble (Canada). Kerry McSweeney stated that he had only three written complaints and he requested that all staff communicate their problems with the Bookstore. There were also some questions about Chapters mark-up for students and academic discounts as is offered by Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com The report of the Senate Committee on Student Grievances identified significant delays in hearings but otherwise no major problems. The report of the Appeal Committee on Student Discipline and Grievances identified two cases in which the original penalties were over-turned. In one, students found to be cheating on an exam were exonerated because they had not been warned that the Anti-cheat program would be used to detect cheating. 209.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said it should be noted that Prof. Farrell had proposed a motion specifying that students would be informed that the Harpp-Hogan Program may be used on multiple-choice exams. He said this would be published in the McGill Undergraduate Calendar and various other places. 209.2 Prof. Baines said a suggestion had been made that professors could include a one-line statement on the front cover of their examination stating that cheating would not be tolerated, and that a computer-based anti- cheating program may be used. 209.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that a reminder of the statement would be sent along with the information concerning submission of examinations. 209.4 Dean Shaver said that in response to a request from the Minister of Education, McGill had submitted a statement of its priorities and plans. This document was entitled "Tradition and Innovation: An International University in a City of Knowledge," and was available on the Web at: http://www.mcgill.ca/documents/innovation/einnovation.pdf (English) http://www.mcgill.ca/documents/innovation/frinnovation.pdf (French) Dean Shaver recommended that this document be read. He said that it was mostly Science, which was gratifying. 209.5 Dean Shaver reminded members of the importance of having a well-planned direction and priorities. 209.6 The university community will have an opportunity to discuss this document and provide input. (10) OTHER BUSINESS 210.1 Prof. Farrell reminded members that Fall convocation would be held on October 28,1999 at the Molson Centre, and that Chancellor Richard Pound would be installed at this ceremony. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m. Fmn1999Oct.doc