AC-97-25 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, October 21, 1997 at 3:00 p.m. in the Arts Council Room (160). PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean de Takacsy (Vice- Chair), Professors Baines, Brawer, Drury, Franklin, Harris (in the absence of Prof. GrÅtter), Panangaden, Paquette, Silvius, Wechsler, Yau; Associate Dean Norris; E. Gibb (in the absence of H. Waluzyniec); S. Aggarwal, E. Bales-Kogan, K. Devon and J. Lefebvre; J. D'Amico REGRETS: Professors Andrews, MÅller-Wille, Pasztor; D. Cowan; T. Samanta VISITORS: Associate Dean A. Misra and Prof. N. Roulet DOCUMENTS: AC-97-8 to AC-97-24 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. CHANGE TO THE AGENDA - Item #6, IYES, to be the first item on the Agenda. Dean Shaver welcomed Associate Dean Misra, Faculty of Engineering, and Prof. Roulet, Department of Geography. Dean Shaver welcomed the student representatives to the Academic Committee meeting. (6) IYES - ASSOCIATE DEAN ARUN MISRA (AC-97-5, AC-96-69 Previously Circulated) 206.1 Dean Shaver briefly introduced the IYES program, and asked Associate Dean Misra to explain the program. 206.2 Associate Dean Misra described the IYES program (AC-97- 5, AC-96-69), and answered members' questions. He mentioned that students must pay a $600 placement fee (to be raised to $700 next year). Associate Dean Misra said that feedback from the program was very positive. Students gain practical experience, which helps in finding jobs. 206.3 Dean Shaver said that the Faculty of Science and SUS were both interested in the IYES program, and may contribute the resources necessary to expand the IYES Office. 206.4 Prof. Panangaden summarized the mood of the Academic Committee: essentially that there should be no credit weight for the internship period, and, similarly to the Engineering model, no report and no evaluation after the internship; rather the supervision of the academic content of the internship would consist of the associate dean examining job descriptions. Prof. Panangaden said he would like to submit a proposal for the next meeting. 206.5 Dean Shaver said that he understood that there would be proposals for internship streams from the Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, Physics, and the School of Computer Science, at the November 18, 1997 Academic Committee meeting. He said that the Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, and Physics should consult with Prof. Panangaden regarding this. (1) MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 23, 1997 AC-97-8 Prof. Brawer moved, seconded by Mr. Bales-Kogan, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (2) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES Minute 105.8, Science Minors, Report on Number of Students Taking Minors (AC-97-23 Tabled) 202.1 Associate Dean de Takacsy tabled a report on the number of students who were registered for minors and second programs in Winter 1997. He gave a very brief background on the number of students taking minors, and said that the number has been increasing. Associate Dean de Takacsy said that with the new Faculty of Arts multi-track program, the numbers would increase more. There are about 3,500 Science students, with about 100 of these taking minor/second programs. Minute 105.10, Science Minors Within the BSc 202.2 Dean Shaver said that at the last Academic Committee meeting (September 23, 1997), he had asked members to discuss with their individual departments whether Science Minors should be changed to 18 credits (with no overlap) or remain at 24 credits (6 credits of overlap). He now asked representatives for feedback. 202.3 Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Prof. Panangaden, that the Faculty of Science adopt the 18-credit Minors. 202.4 During the debate that followed, opinion was divided over the issue, and some members wished to consult further with their departments. Consequently, Prof. Silvius moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, that the issue be tabled at the next Academic Committee meeting (November 18, 1997), after further consultation within departments. The motion carried. 202.5 Prof. Paquette suggested that members bring with them a list of prerequisites for their Minors. 202.6 Dean Shaver mentioned the low number of students taking Minors. He emphasized that 18-credit Minors were not necessarily the answer to encouraging students to take Minors, but said he would like the Faculty to examine the issue. Meeting of May 6, 1997 (AC-96-104), Minute 803.2 - Clarification of Sub-committee Origin 202.6 The first two sentences of Minute 803.2 should read: "Associate Dean de Takacsy said that Prof. Harpp's report had been on APPC's Agenda for a while. APPC struck a separate sub-committee (consisting of Prof. R. Harris and M. McKinnon, Don McGowan and Prof. M. Yalovsky) to examine the recommendations listed in the document." 202.7 Associate Dean de Takacsy added that the Harpp report has been adopted, and will be presented at a future Senate meeting. (3) AH HOC MINOR IN ENGLISH LITERATURE AC-97-9 Associate Dean de Takacsy moved, seconded by Mr. Aggarwal, that the ad hoc Minor in English Literature for Ms. Alison McCook be approved. The motion carried. (4) MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS - NEW PROGRAMS Prof. Drury gave a brief explanation with respect to the new B.A. programs in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. - B.A. MAJOR CONCENTRATION IN MATHEMATICS AC-97-10 (for information) - B.A. MINOR CONCENTRATION IN MATHEMATICS AC-97-11 (for information) - B.A. MINOR CONCENTRATION IN STATISTICS AC-97-12 (for information) (5) McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT (MSE)- PROF. N. ROULET NEW PROGRAMS - A MAJOR IN ENVIRONMENT, B.A. AC-97-13 (for information) - A MAJOR IN ENVIRONMENT, B.Sc. AC-97-14 Prof. Roulet, Department of Geography, introduced the new B.Sc. program. Prof. Silvius moved, seconded by Ms. Lefebvre, that the B.Sc. Major in Environment be adopted. The motion carried. - A MINOR IN ENVIRONMENT AC-97-15 205.1 Prof. Roulet pointed out the reasons for proposing an 18-credit Minor in Environment (with no overlap), instead of the current 24-credit requirement for Science Minors. The Minor was designed so that any student in the Faculty of Arts or the Faculty of Science could take it; an 18-credit Minor would be a more attractive program, considering the normal credit requirement for a Major program in Science (54 credits). 205.2 It was pointed out that passing an 18-credit minor would be pre-empting discussion of 18-credit versus 24- credit minors; this discussion had been postponed to the next Academic Committee meeting. 205.3 Prof. Roulet said that this was a three-faculty initiative, and all faculties were being asked to make concessions. 205.4 Associate Dean de Takacsy mentioned that the Faculty of Science had already agreed to accept 18-credit Minors from the Faculty of Arts at the last Academic Committee meeting (September 23, 1997). Mr. Aggarwal moved, seconded by Prof. Yau, that the Minor in Environment be adopted. The motion carried. - A DIPLOMA IN ENVIRONMENT AC-97-16 Prof. Roulet gave a synopsis of the proposed Diploma in Environment. Mr. Aggarwal moved, seconded by Associate Dean Norris, that the Diploma in Environment be adopted. The motion carried. - LIST OF APPROVED COURSES AC-97-21 205.7 After some discussion concerning the courses listed in document AC-97-21, with respect to the courses not being up to date, Prof. Roulet said that he would like the Academic Committee, as part of the approval process, to suggest or direct the MSE to work with the Environmental Studies Program Committee and the departments involved, to update the proposed list of courses. Associate Dean Norris moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that the List of Approved Courses be adopted. The motion carried. 205.8 Dean Shaver asked Prof. Roulet, Acting Director, MSE, to ensure that the List of Approved Courses be updated. New Courses: MSE-200A/B The Global Environment: A Systems Approach AC-97-17 3 credits MSE-201A/B Society and Environment AC-97-18 3 credits MSE- 202A/B The Evolving Earth AC-97-19 3 credits MSE-203A/B Knowledge, Ethics & Environment AC-97-20 3 credits 205.9 Prof. Roulet said that these courses were part of the core level of a transfaculty program, and that the design of these courses was to make them interesting to both Science and Arts students. 205.10 It was pointed out that there were no prerequisites for the proposed MSE courses, -200A and -202A, and yet they might constitute the core Science content of some programs. Would this be real Science or only about Science? However, there are in the Calendar other introductory courses that do not list prerequisites. 205.11 It was noted that -200 and -202 may be problematic for Arts students who do not have a scientific background. Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Mr. Bales-Kogan, that the above courses be adopted. The motion carried. 205.12 Dean Shaver thanked Prof. Roulet for presenting the MSE programs and courses, and thanked the Executive Committee, representing three different faculties, for its excellent work. He said that the programs and courses would be presented to the Faculty of Arts, and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, for approval. (7) SUS ACTIVITIES - Hypercalendar Project - Mr. E. Bales-Kogan & Mr. S. Aggarwal AC-97-24 (Tabled) Mr. Bales-Kogan introduced the document concerning the Hypercalendar (AC-97-24). 207.1 Concerns were raised about the multiplicity of information, with the regular Calendar, the Hypercalendar, departmental publications, and departmental and professorial websites possibly leading to a lack of consistency, and problems in maintaining information; the difficulty of professors supplying SUS with information; and possible legal and liability problems. 207.2 It was pointed out that the university would have no recourse but to hold SUS responsible for its part in this. It was suggested that creating links would be a better idea. 207.3 Dean Shaver said he had been surprised that the Calendar was not already on the Web, but the difficulties of this had been pointed out to him. He said the SUS goals were admirable, but that the university was not yet ready, and that, as in many SUS proposals, SUS had the right idea but was maybe five years ahead of its time. Dean Shaver said he would encourage SUS to work on this concept, but unlike the Infopoint project, there were some very serious problems with this particular form of activity. He said that for many professors, supplying the information was not a trivial matter. Dean Shaver said that there may be another way of making some impact so that McGill students could get information, and that the university should be encouraged to have the Calendar on the Web by the next millenium. (8) REPORT: FINAL EXAMINATION INVIGILATION, SUMMER 1997 (for information) AC-97-22 (9) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m. f:\usr\josie\academic\acmn7of.doc