S-98-34 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, March 9, 1999 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-98-29 to S-98-33 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA - Items 5(a), McGill Machine Project and 5(b), Information Technology in the Classroom, to be considered after Item 7, Report on Actions of Senate. (1) MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 9, 1999 S-98-29 701.1 In response to a member who asked about the brevity of the minutes, Dean Shaver said that it was a question of judgement as to how far the minutes should go in recording debates. He said that the tendency was towards less rather than more. He said that if members felt that particular discussions or points should be recorded in the minutes, then they could make a motion or an amendment to that effect. 701.2 Dean Shaver said that the Dean's Office had recently discussed the length of the minutes, with the aim of trying to keep them as brief as possible. Prof. Harpp moved, seconded by Prof. Lin, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (2) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business arising from the minutes. (3) ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements. (4) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Academic Committee S-98-30 MINOR COURSE CHANGES (AC-98-93) (for information) AD HOC JOINT MAJOR PROGRAM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY (AC- 98-94) Prof. Franklin moved, seconded by Prof. ThÇrien, that the ad hoc program for Mr. Jonathan I. Mitchell be approved. The motion carried. AD HOC HONOURS PROGRAM IN COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE (AC-98-95) Prof. Brawer moved, seconded by Prof. Mucci, that the ad hoc program for Ms. Pauline Hwang be approved. The motion carried. COMPUTER SCIENCE New Course: 308-435B Introduction to Computer Networks (AC-98-97) 3 credits Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 308-547A Cryptography and Data Security (AC-98-98) 3 credits Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. 308-647B Advanced Cryptography (AC-98-99) 4 credits Changes in course title, prerequisite, course description Prof. ThÇrien moved, seconded by Prof. Franklin, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. GEOGRAPHY 183-199A FYS: People, Place and Environment (AC-98-100) 3 credits Changes in course title and course description Prof. Paquette moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. COURSES OUTSIDE ARTS & SCIENCE (AC-98-101) (for information) 704.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that normally these types of changes were not brought to the Academic Committee or to Faculty, but he had recently reviewed the list of courses outside the Faculties of Arts and Science, and, because there had been a number of inconsistencies requiring fairly extensive changes, he felt it was necessary to report them. He said that many of the courses on the list were considered "how to" courses in other faculties. The changes were made to ensure that Faculty regulations were consistently applied. B.SC./B.MUS. CONCURRENT DEGREES (for information) 704.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said that he has been consulting with the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Music, attempting to create a concurrent degree program for a B.Sc./B.Mus. He said that they were trying to produce a program that would accommodate virtually all the Major programs in the Faculty of Science in terms of the number of credits, to be completed in four and a half years. The impetus for this initiative was a program at Marianopolis CEGEP that allows students to complete a "double DEC," in Music and in Science. He said that although this program would not likely have a huge enrolment, it may attract a small number of very good students. (5) DEAN'S BUSINESS (c) The Ad hoc Constitutional Review Committee S-98-33 705.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said the current Constitution did not reflect current practices in the Faculty of Science. He said that he had consulted with a number of people concerning changes that might be made, and it was generally agreed that there were issues that should be addressed. Associate Dean Mendelson suggested that Faculty invite the Nominating Committee to strike an ad hoc Constitutional Review Committee to review the Constitution and to propose amendments by the end of the next academic year, 1999-2000. 705.2 Prof. Harpp moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, that an ad hoc Constitutional Review Committee be created with a view to amending the Constitution by the end of the 1999-2000 academic year, and that Faculty direct the Nominating Committee to recommend to Faculty, by its May meeting, the mandate and membership of the Constitutional Review Committee. The motion carried. 705.3 Dean Shaver said he had raised this issue with some members of the Nominating Committee and had expressed his own personal opinion that such housekeeping was needed. He said that traditionally the Faculty of Science was loath to establish many Faculty committees and that he wished to preserve this tradition, in order to ensure that the administrative burden on professors did not increase unduly. He said that changes to the Constitution should be considered within that context. (6) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD There were no questions. (7) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE* Prof. M. Baines read the report of the Senate Meeting of March 3, 1999: This report will only address issues of relevance to the academic members of the Faculty of Science which include the following:II"A"(a) Prof. Frankman submitted a motion to reconsider a motion passed at the previous meeting of Senate in which the VP Academic proposed the removal of the clauses concerning Adoption Leave (Chapter 3, section V, subsection 2) from the Academic Handbook of Regulations because they awarded a benefit to adoptive fathers not available to natural fathers. The motion to reconsider passed by the required 2/3 majority. A substitute motion was then passed, retaining the old policy, which will be revised imminently to address these equity issues and other revisions. III"B"(b) Part of the 309th report of APPC proposed a new set of guidelines for cyclical reviews. While streamlining a number of processes, there was an extensive list of items to be included in the report, which identified performance indicators on resources and output. Whereas the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research will collect comparative information from Quebec and Canadian universities on teaching and research performance, there would be no collection of comparative data on resources (budgets, staffing, space, enrolments). As the cyclical report data will be used in the allocation of resources to units, this flaw could well undermine the fairness and structural utility of the process. In spite of these reservations, the guidelines were adopted, and all units will be evaluated within the next 18 months. III"B"(f) The semi-annual report on academic staffing revealed yet another decline in the numbers of academic staff. As of 1 January 1999, there were a total of 1339 full-time university academic Professors and Librarians (897 plus 442 in Medicine excluding hospital staff). Since 1993, there has been a total decline of 230, comprised of 213 Professors and 17 Librarians. While recruitments increased in the first term of 1998-99, it was still exceeded by departures for a net loss of 15.5 positions. In response to a question, Dean Fuks replied that all Assistant Professor Special Category appointments did not appear in the tenure stream. 707.1 Dean Shaver said that the Faculty has had very few Cyclical Reviews over the last three years and that this was due largely to a moratorium that the Dean had declared in view of the budget cuts. He said that all Science units would be going through the cyclical review process in partnership with the Dean's office and the Vice-Principal (Research). (5) DEAN'S BUSINESS (Continued) 705.4 Dean Shaver said that in the last six months issues involving computers, particularly as they relate to instruction, had come up on a number of occasions. At a meeting of the Faculty of Science Computing Committee it had been decided to have two computer-related presentations at the current meeting, and two more presentations (with Vice-Principal Bruce Pennycook - Information Systems and Technology, and Prof. Gerald Ratzer - School of Computer Science) at the Faculty of Science meeting on April 6,1999. (a) McGill Machine Project - Prof. T. Shultz S-98-31 705.5 Prof. Shultz gave a presentation and answered members' questions. An abstract of the presentation follows. ABSTRACT The McGill Machine Project makes recommendations to students on their computer purchases, taking into account educational needs and preferences expressed by professors and students. This report covers last year's University-wide survey, the Project's recommendations and their impact, and a preview of this year's survey. The Project raises a number of issues that are likely to be relevant to current Faculty of Science concerns. More details may be found at the following Web address: http://www.mcgill.ca/documents/survey.htm (b) Information Technology in the Classroom - Mr. M. Head S-98-32 705.6 Mr. Head gave a presentation and answered members' questions. An abstract of the presentation follows. ABSTRACT By equipping some of the larger lecture rooms with network connections, computer projectors and hopefully computers, the university has made it possible to place lecture notes, graphical images, programs, etc. in digital form on the "net" and then access these digital materials in the classroom. When students begin to use these materials outside of the scheduled lecture times strange things start to happen. I will talk about my experiences in teaching an entirely web-based course during the past six semesters and where Information Technology might be leading us. A key component in where we are headed is the student owned computer. More details may be found at the following Web address: http://ulla.mcgill.ca/fscc/technolo.htm 705.7 Dean Shaver thanked Prof. Shultz and Mr. Head for the interesting and informative presentations. (8) OTHER BUSINESS There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:55p.m. Josie\facsci\fmn1998mf.doc