AC-05-92 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 3:00 p.m. in Arts Council Room, Arts 160. PRESENT: Dean Grant (Chair), Associate Dean Hendren (Vice-Chair), Associate Dean Leighton; Professors Baines, Chmura, Cline, Drury, Fabry, Kemme, Levine, Mandato, Martin, Shultz, Silvius, Wechsler, Yau; E. Gibb; J. D’Amico. GUEST: Prof. Marilyn Scott REGRETS: Professor Andrews; Associate Dean Hendershot; L. Das, T. Ebanks, J. Gale, M. Lagodich, Y. Lu, J. Pasternak; J. Zhai. DOCUMENTS: AC-05-69 to AC-05-91 Dean Grant called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA - McGill School of Environment, Item #7, to be considered after the Adoption of the Agenda. Prof. Cline moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the amended Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) MINUTES OF JANUARY 31, 2006 AC-05-69 Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Kemme, that the Minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 507.3, Membership of Subcommittee 603.1 Associate Dean Hendren said she would like to formally propose the members of the Subcommittee to look at restrictions on elective courses: Associate Dean (Academic) Laurie Hendren Ms. Marina Lagodich (student member) Associate Dean (Student Affairs) Henry Leighton Prof. Robert Levine (Biology) 603.2 Academic Committee members agreed on the membership of the above Subcommittee. (4) JOINT HONOURS IN MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS AC-05-70 Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (5) BIOLOGY New Course: BIOL 310 Large-scale Ecology AC-05-71 3 credits 605.1 In Box #12, Course Description, the first word, "Addresses," should be removed, and in Box 17, "Freshman Mathematics Course" should be replaced by a specific course. 605.2 After some discussion concerning possible overlap between GEOG 205 and BIOL 310, Prof. Levine moved, seconded by Prof. Mandato, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. BIOL 583 Advanced Biometry AC-05-72 3 credits Prof. Levine moved, seconded by Prof. Mandato, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. Secretary's Notes: (1) After consultation with Prof. M. Baines, it was decided that BIOL 583 would be listed in Item 2, under Course Overlap, in the front section of the Science Calendar. (2) The implementation date of 200801 was correct. (6) UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH COURSE (3 credits) COGS 396 (Cognitive Science) AC-05-32P 606.1 This course had been pre-approved by the Academic Committee and by Faculty, and hence was submitted for information only. (7) McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT - Detailed Description of Graduate Environment Option AC-05-73 607.1 Prof. Marilyn Scott, Chair, Graduate Affairs Committee of the MSE, described the Graduate Environment Option, and answered members' questions. 607.2 Dean Grant pointed out that the proposal involved a budget. This was not for approval by the Academic Committee. The Graduate Environment Option would not be presented to a Faculty of Science meeting until questions concerning the budget were resolved. Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences - M.Sc.; Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences; Environment Option (New) AC-05-74 Prof. Yau moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the program be adopted. The motion carried. Biology - M.Sc.; Biology; Environment Option (New) AC-05-75 - Ph.D.; Biology; Environment Option (New) AC-05-76 Prof. Levine moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the programs be adopted. The motion carried. Earth & Planetary Sciences - M.Sc.; Earth & Planetary Sciences; Environment Option (New) AC-05-77 - Ph.D.; Earth & Planetary Sciences; Environment Option (New) AC-05-78 607.3 There was some discussion concerning an ambiguity in the number of Complementary credits in the above programs. Prof. Martin moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the programs be approved pending clarification of the above issue. The motion carried. Geography - M.Sc.; Geography; Environment Option (New) AC-05-79 - Ph.D.; Geography; Environment Option (New) AC-05-80 607.4 There was concern that the total number of credits required for the M.Sc. Program exceeded university and Québec policies. Thus, reducing the credit weight for the thesis component should be explored, as well as changing the Complementary Course load from 12-15 to 12 credits. Prof. Chmura moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the programs be approved pending resolution of the above issue. The motion carried. Associated New Courses: Prof. Fabry briefly described each new course. ENVR 512 Sustainable Landscapes AC-05-81 3 credits 607.5 It was pointed out that the course outline did not provide a reading list, and that no reading list had been sent to the library. There was a discussion concerning the course-outline and reading-list requirements for 500-level courses, and how detailed these should be. 607.6 It was agreed that Ms. Gibb would specify the library's requirements to Josie D'Amico. "Field Trips" should be added to Box 14, Schedule Types. Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Yau, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. ENVR 519 Global Environmental Politics AC-05-82 3 credits 607.7 A member questioned whether the course pack included all the listed reading material, and mentioned that the replacement of course packs by URLs was leading to copyright concerns on the part of publishers because of large-scale downloading of the linked articles. Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. ENVR 544 Env. Measurement & Modelling AC-05-83 3 credits It was agreed that "GIS" should be spelled out as "Geographic Information Systems" in Box #12, Course Description. Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. ENVR 620 Environ and Health of Species AC-05-84 3 credits Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Yau, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. ENVR 630 Civilization and Environment 1 AC-05-85 3 credits 607.8 Since ENVR 630 is given jointly by McGill University, UQAM, and Université de Montréal, it was suggested that a note be included concerning the French language requirement for this course. Also, the total number of hours per week in Box #14, should be three. Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Levine, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. ENVR 650 Environmental Seminar 1 AC-05-86 1 credit ENVR 651 Environmental Seminar 2 AC-05-87 1 credit ENVR 652 Environmental Seminar 3 AC-05-88 1 credit Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Mandato, that the above courses be adopted. The motion carried. Non-Associated New Course ENVR 631 Civilization and Environment 2 AC-05-89 3 credits 607.9 As with ENVR 630, a note should be provided concerning the French language requirement for the course, and the total number of hours per week in Box #14, should be three. Prof. Fabry moved, seconded by Prof. Yau, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. (8) MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS CALENDAR NOTE AC-05-90 (for information) Prof. Drury briefly explained the Calendar note. (9) BACHELOR OF ARTS AND SCIENCE FRESHMAN PROGRAM AC-05-91 609.1 Associate Dean Hendren introduced the proposed new B.A. & Sc. Freshman Program. 609.2 Concerns were expressed that the proposed Freshman Program did not require students intending to take the Major Concentration in Biomedical Sciences, to take a Physics course. However, it was pointed out that there was an urgent need to fix the Freshman Program, and that any problems with the Biomedical Sciences Major Concentration could be dealt with at a later date. 609.3 A straw vote was held. The Academic Committee was in favour of presenting the proposed B.A. & Sc. Freshman Program to the B.A. & Sc. Program Administration Committee. (10) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m. 5 ACMinutesFebruary28.doc