AC-99-110 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, December 14, 1999, at 2:30 p.m. in the Arts Council Room (160). PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Baines, Baker, Cline, Damha, Klemes, Merrett, Paquette, Pasztor, Rasmussen, Wechsler, Yau; Associate Dean Norris; A. Kovacs; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Professors Brawer, MÅller-Wille and Silvius; W. Maricar, T. Samanta, J. Tsang, G. Tsimiklis; Ms. H. Waluzyniec; Mr. D. Crawford. GUEST: Dr. C. Snow DOCUMENTS: AC-99-55 AC-99-99 to AC-99-108 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 2:35 p.m. ADDITIONS/CHANGES TO THE AGENDA - Corrections to the Agenda, 308-421, 308-422, and 308- 423 should read 304-421, 304-422 and 304-423 - Statistics Course Equivalents to be considered under Business Arising from the Minutes of the Academic Committee meeting of January 19,1999, Minute 511.1- 511.3. (1) MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 23, 1999 AC-99-99 Prof. Damha moved, seconded by Prof. Merrett, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (2) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 304.3, McGill College International (MCI) 402.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that at the Faculty of Science meeting held on December 7, 1999, the motion to establish an ad hoc committee to consider a private liberal arts college within McGill had been defeated. 402.2 Dean Shaver said that the general sense of the meeting was that many people were interested in a liberal arts program, but were not interested in private funding within McGill. - Minute 308.6, Biology 177-301A/B 402.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that at the last Academic Committee meeting (November 23, 1999) a motion to increase the credit weight for Biology 177-301A/B from 3 credits to 4 had been tabled to the current meeting. However, the Department of Biology withdrew the motion, pending the recommendations of the working group on credit weight/workload for laboratory courses. - Minute 308.8, Working Group on Credit Weight/Workload 402.4 Associate Dean Mendelson said the working group on credit weight/workload for laboratory courses had been established. He said the members were: Associate Dean Mendelson (Chair) Prof. J. Cline Prof. J. Rasmussen Prof. A. Wechsler Students: Mr. Andrew Kovacs Ms. Margaret Atter - Double-Prefix Courses 402.5 Dean Shaver said he had again raised the issue of double-prefix courses with Vice-Principal (Academic) Vinet and with Principal Shapiro. He said the issue would possibly have to be brought up at a future Senate meeting. 402.6 Associate Dean Mendelson said that SCTP would be discussing the issue of double-prefix courses in general on January 6, 2000. The issue would then be brought to APPC on January 13, 2000. MEETING OF OCTOBER 19, 1999 - Minute 214.4, Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship AC-99-55 402.7 Associate Dean Mendelson said he had spoken with Prof. A. Duff, Associate Dean, Faculty of Management, who had thought it would be a good idea to have a Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship for Science students. The question was whether the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Management would administer it. One issue to be addressed would be the type of project course for the Minor. 402.8 There was a brief discussion concerning the possibility of creating such a program at the graduate level. 402.9 Dean Shaver asked members for a straw vote on the desirability of such a program at the undergraduate level. 402.10 The majority of members felt that it would be welcome. Associate Dean Mendelson said he would canvass departments for an appropriate project course for such a program, or look into the possibility of mounting such a course. It was agreed that an 18-credit Minor (as opposed to 24-credits) would be appropriate. MEETING OF JANUARY 19, 1999 - Minutes 511.1-511.3, Statistics Course Equivalents 402.11 Prof. Baines said the committee was in the process of data collection, and that he hoped this would be completed in time for the 2001-2002 Calendar. (3) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-99-100 (for information) 403.1 Prof. Klemes said that 189-211A, MCC-99-31, should be withdrawn from the list of Minor Course Changes (AC-99- 100), because the Faculty of Education had asked that the course be bulleted instead of retired. (4) SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE Program Changes: - B.Sc. Major in Computer Science AC-99-101 Prof. Merrett moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. Program Changes (For Information Only): - B.A. Minor Concentration (Stream II) in Computer Science (5) SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING Prof. Merrett proposed, seconded by Prof. Cline, that Dr. Charles Snow be given speaking rights. The motion carried. PROGRAM TABLED TO THE NEXT MEETING New Program (B.Sc. and/or B.Eng. Degree): - Joint Bachelors Program in Software Engineering AC-99-102 405.1 Prof. Merrett moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the program be adopted. 405.2 Prof. Merrett introduced the program and highlighted the main points. 405.3 Dean Shaver said that software engineering, as such, was not yet an accredited profession. He said the program would open the opportunity for cross- fertilization between Science and Engineering. Dean Shaver said it was quite remarkable that the two departments had relatively easily proposed a joint program. He asked members for comments and questions. 405.4 The main concerns were university regulations requiring 60 credits for a second degree; a debate over whether the main purpose of the proposal was to provide engineering background to Science students or to provide a B.Sc./B.Eng. degree; the difficulty for Science students to obtain the B.Eng. degree (having to take Engineering courses as electives in order to do so) and possible problems with accreditation; and that the B.Sc./B.Eng. degree should not be so complicated as to discourage students from taking it. 405.5 Associate Dean Mendelson suggested that the proposal map out the exact requirements for a B.Sc. and for a B.Eng., as well as exactly what each type of student would have to do in order to obtain the joint degree. Many members had found this a little confusing, and he thought it needed to be better specified. 405.6 After a lengthy discussion, Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, to table the proposal to the next Academic Committee meeting, January 18, 2000. Course outlines should be submitted for the new courses. The motion to table the program passed. COURSES NOT CONSIDERED AT THE CURRENT MEETING New Course: 308-206 Intro to Software Systems AC-99-103 3 credits Changes: credit weight [from 1 to 3], course description & title) New Course: 308-361 Systems Programming Project AC-99-104 3 credits New Course: 308-409 Concurrent Programming AC-99-105 3 credits New Course: 308-410 Mobile Computing AC-99-106 3 credits New Course: 308-412 Software for e-commerce AC-99-107 3 credits For Information Only: 304-421 (New) 304-422 (New) 304-423 (New) 304-424 (Addition of prerequisite) 304-427B(Addition of prerequisite) 304-429B(New) 304-495A/B/C(New) (6) CHEMISTRY New Course: 180-462A Green Chemistry AC-99-108 3 credits (Originally numbered AC-99-115) Prof. Damha moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. (7) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m. josie\academic\acmn1999decf.doc