S-01-23 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, December 4, 2001 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-01-20, S-01-22 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Moore, that the Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) MINUTES OF November 12, 2001 S-01-20 Prof. Harpp moved, seconded by Prof. Barrette, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business arising from the minutes. (4) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Committee on Student Standing (CSS) 404.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that there had been no meeting of the CSS. b) Academic Committee S-01-22 SECTION A: NEW PROGRAMS None SECTION B: MAJOR PROGRAM CHANGES (1) Biology - Faculty Program in Biology (AC-01-34) - Major Program in Biology (AC-01-35) - Honours Program in Biology (AC-01-36) Prof. Bell moved, seconded by Mr. Kapeluto, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. 404.2 On behalf of students, Mr. Kapeluto thanked the Department of Biology for the change to the Biology course, 177-301. (2) Science for Teachers - Major in Biology & Geography (AC-01-37) - Major in Biology & Chemistry (AC-01-38) - Major in Biology & Mathematics (AC-01-39) Prof. Moore moved, seconded by Prof. Bell, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. SECTION C: NEW COURSE Psychology 204-503A Computational Psychology (AC-01-14[Revised]) 3 credits Prof. Baker moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. SECTION D: MAJOR COURSE CHANGES Biology 177-301A/B Cell and Molecular Laboratory (AC-01-33) 4 credits Changes in credit weight & course description Prof. Bell moved, seconded by Mr. Kapeluto, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. SECTION E: MINOR PROGRAM CHANGES (1) Mathematics & Statistics - B.Sc. Joint Honours in Mathematics & Computer Science (AC-01-31) Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Drury, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (2) Psychology - Faculty Program in Psychology (AC-01-16) - Major Program in Psychology (AC-01-17) - Honours Program in Psychology (AC-01-18) Prof. Baker moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. SECTION F: Minor Course Changes & Other (For Information Only) (1) Minor Course Changes (AC-01-30) (2) Mathematics & Statistics - B.A. Joint Honours in Mathematics & Computer Science (AC-01-32) c) Other Reports or Academic Business 404.3 There were no other reports or academic business. (5) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE (Full Senate Minutes may be found at http://www.mcgill.ca/senate/agdmin.html) Senate Meeting of November 7, 2001 - Prof. M. Baines The meeting started with the obituaries of Professors Gerry Tondino and Joyce Hemlow. Vice-Principal Yalovsky responded to a student question about the distribution of revenues from Quebec and student tuition in the budget in which it was indicated that 57% of the MEQ grant and 80% of the Tuition fees came from undergraduate students. As a consequence of the changes to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, Steering Committee recommended that up to 1 June 2002, the FGSR Executive Committee replace the existing large Graduate Faculty Council with a smaller Ad Hoc Council of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. The Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies stated she would consider this recommendation. Vice-Principal Vinet presented the semi-annual report on Academic Staff Changes in which it was noted by various Senators that there has been a consistent net gain for the last two reports bringing the total to 1,321, a net increase of 1.6% over last year (the last annual increase was 3.0%). While the number of retirees declined somewhat compared to last year, almost half of the vacancies were created by resignations. The report also indicated that McGill has recruited 4 Canadian Research Chairs with 6 others expected before the end of the academic year. It was noted that the costs of external recruitment were substantial, particularly for the CRC positions. However, all the James McGill Chairs and Dawson Scholarships were allocated internally. There was a slight decline in the use of 'Special Category' appointments in many Faculties other than Medicine. At the same time the report on student registrations indicated an increase of 5.1% for Undergraduate Students and 3.5% for Graduate Studies over last year. The 338th Report of APPC was critically evaluated and (a) the Proposal for a Research Progress Report Form was sent back to Graduate Faculty for further work; (b) the proposal to extend the Principal's Prize for Teaching to Hospital staff in the Faculty of Medicine (GFT-H) was defeated; (c) the proposal the 'all course evaluations be readily available in an easily readable format' was approved; (d) the proposal to rename a department in Agriculture to Dept of Biosystems Engineering was referred back for further consultation; (e) an Institute for Advanced Materials, a Center for Research on Language, Mind and Brain and a Center for Advanced Bone and Periodontal Research were all approved, and (f) a new Minor Program in Computational Molecular Biology was approved after a vote to refer back for more consultation was defeated. Quorum was lost and the meeting adjourned. 405.1 Prof. Baines answered several questions concerning the Senate meeting. (6) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD 406.1 There were no questions. (7) OTHER BUSINESS 407.1 Dean Shaver announced that that the new Faculty of Science Web site was now online. He asked members for feedback, and he thanked Ms. R. Wiltshire and Mr. V. Chisholm for their work. 407.2 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m. 407.3 After the end of the meeting, there was some informal discussion concerning the grade of A+. Dean Shaver mentioned that since many student representatives were not able to attend the current meeting, the issue had been postponed to the next Faculty of Science meeting on January 8, 2001. FacMinsDec2001.doc