AC-98-92 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, January 19, 1999, at 3:00 p.m. in the Arts Council Room (160). PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Baines, Brawer, Drury, Franklin, Buchinger (in the absence of Prof. GrÅtter), Lapointe, Paquette, Pasztor, Rasmussen, Silvius, Yau; Ms. E. Gibb (in the absence of Ms. H. Waluzyniec); J. Lefebvre, J. Liao, T. Samanta, G. Tsimiklis; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Professors Kakkar, Panangaden and Wechsler; Associate Dean Norris; Mr. A. Chaudhry; Ms. D. Cowan. GUEST: Associate Vice-Principal (Academic) Nick de Takacsy DOCUMENTS: AC-98-53, AC-98-76(Revised) AC-98-78 to AC-98-91 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. (1) MINUTES OF DECEMBER 8, 1999 AC-98-78 Prof. Franklin moved, seconded by Prof. Brawer, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (2) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 407.1, MSE, Domain in Earth Sciences and Economics (AC-98-64) 502.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the above domain had been submitted to the Academic Committee at the same time as it had been submitted to the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He said that the Curriculum Committee of FAES had approved the domain, provided that a Biology course was added to the required courses. Associate Dean Mendelson said that Prof. J. Fyles, Chair, MSE Curriculum Committee, had agreed to bring the proposal back to the domain originators and ask them if they would be willing to add a course; they had agreed to this. Associate Dean Mendelson said that Prof. Fyles, as Chair of the MSE Curriculum Committee, had the authority to accept the change recommended by FAES. Associate Dean Mendelson added that the revised domain had been approved at the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999. - Minute 409.3, Residency Requirement for McGill Students on Approved Exchange Programs (AC-98-66) 502.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the change in residency requirement had been approved at the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999. - Minute 410.2, Credit Limit on Project Courses (AC-98-67) 502.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that, at the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999, the above item had been amended to read: "Students may normally receive no more than 12 credits for individual project or independent study courses toward a B.Sc. degree." - Minute 413.2, Designating Minor Concentrations for Science Students (AC-98-75) 502.4 Associate Dean Mendelson reported that the designation of Minor Concentrations on Science students' records had been approved at the Faculty of Science meeting of January 12, 1999. (3) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-98-79 (for information) (4) IB PROPOSAL - Associate Vice-Principal N. de Takacsy AC-98-53 504.1 Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy gave some background history and explained the structure of the IB program. He said that the question was whether the Faculty of Science could accommodate IB students from Quebec CEGEP's. 504.2 After a lengthy discussion of the issue, during which Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy answered questions from members, Prof. Paquette moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, 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. 504.3 Following further discussion of the IB, Prof. Paquette moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, 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. The motion carried. 504.4 Dean Shaver said that despite these motions having been passed by the Academic Committee, it was not definite that the Faculty of Science would approve them. He said it was the responsibility of members of the Academic Committee to discuss the issue with their colleagues and to attend the Faculty of Science meeting. 504.5 Dean Shaver said that the MEQ document entitled "Sciences de la Nature" should be circulated to the Academic Committee members. 504.6 Dean Shaver thanked Associate Vice-Principal de Takacsy for appearing at the meeting. (5) 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. Silvius moved, seconded by Prof. Pasztor, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (6) ANATOMY & CELL BIOLOGY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Honours, Major & Faculty AC-98-76(Revised) 506.1 In response to Mr. Tsimiklis concerning the elimination of Psychology courses from the above programs, Prof. Brawer said that the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology would like to orient its students more towards cell biology. 506.2 Associate Dean Mendelson cautioned that the biological courses listed in document AC-98-76 should be reviewed from time to time to ensure they remain appropriate. Prof. Brawer moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (7) MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Faculty, Major & Honours AC-98-83 Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Mr. Tsimiklis, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (8) GEOGRAPHY Program Changes: - B.Sc. Major in Geography AC-98-84 - B.Sc. Honours in Geography AC-98-85 Prof. Lapointe moved, seconded by Prof. Silvius, 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. Baines, that the change be approved. The motion carried. 183-351 Quantitative Methods in Geography AC-98-88 3 credits Change in course description Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Lapointe, that the change be approved. The motion carried. New Course Tabled to the Next Academic Committee Meeting: 183-501 Modelling Environmental Systems AC-98-89 3 credits 508.1 The questions raised concerned (1) the absence of a computer programming prerequisite course for 183-501; (2) the appropriateness of the Stella graphic modelling software package; (3) the academic goals of the use of the Stella program; (4) the sources of data; (5) the listing of a minimum grade requirement under "Restrictions," and (6) the wording in the course description. 508.2 With regard to the number of restrictions listed for the course, Dean Shaver suggested that if the Department of Geography wished to limit the enrolment, it could cap the course. 508.3 Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. Rasmussen, that the above course be tabled to the next Academic Committee Meeting scheduled for February 23, 1999. The motion carried. (9) B.SC. MINOR IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AC-98-90 509.1 Dean Shaver informed members that the changes to the B.Sc. Minor in Music Technology had already been approved by SCTP. 509.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said he had written to the Chair of the Department of Theory and to the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Music concerning the appropriate approval path. Prof. Franklin moved, seconded by Prof. Silvius, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. (10) POSTING OF GRADES ON THE WEB 510.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that while some professors post grades on the WEB with password protected files (only students in the course have access to the grades), other professors post grades without password protection. He asked whether or not this was an issue that the Academic Committee should be concerned with, and if so, should a policy be considered. 510.2 After a short discussion, it was agreed that a policy for posting students' grades on the WEB was unnecessary; however, the grades must be listed in numerical order by student number. 510.3 Dean Shaver said the issue would be brought to the Faculty of Science meeting of February 9, 1999, for information only. (11) STATISTICS COURSE EQUIVALENTS AC-98-91 511.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the list of statistics course equivalents (document AC-98-91) should be reviewed because some of the listings were no longer valid. He recommended that the entire list be reviewed and suggested that a working group of the Academic Committee be set up. Associate Dean Mendelson said that the group would collect course descriptions and outlines of all the statistics courses in the list, distribute these to the instructors of the courses, and ask the instructors to review them and to identify the course equivalents. The working group would then bring back recommendations to the Academic Committee. Associate Dean Mendelson said that the review process should be completed in time for inclusion in the 2000- 2001 Calendar. 511.2 Dean Shaver suggested that the working group be composed of those Academic Committee members whose statistics courses were listed in document AC-98-91. He said that it was appropriate for departments offering this type of course to generate the equivalencies. The relevant members were: Professors Drury, Franklin, GrÅtter, Lapointe, Paquette, and Pasztor; a student member would also be present on the working group. Dean Shaver asked that Prof. Baines chair the working group. 511.3 In response to a question concerning Arts statistics course equivalents, Associate Dean Mendelson said that once the working group had finished, the Associate Dean of Arts would bring the issue to the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Arts. (12) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. josie\academic\acmn1998janf.doc