AC-00-54 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, October 24, 2000, at 3:00 p.m. in the Arts Council Room (160). PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Baker, Brawer, Cline, Klemes, Leighton, Panangaden, Paquette, Pasztor, Rasmussen, Silvius, Wechsler; Associate Dean Hendershot; S. Baptista, P. Charbonneau, Andrew Organek, M. Sanagan, D. Selvadurai, S. Waterston; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Professors Baines, Farrell and MÅller-Wille; H. Waluzyniec and D. Crawford; Alison Organek. DOCUMENTS: AC-99-173(Rev), AC-00-7(Rev), AC-00-8(Rev), AC-00- 17(Rev) AC-00-27 to AC-00-53 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Prof. Paquette moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 26, 2000 AC-00- 28 Prof. Klemes moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 107.1,2, Joint Major in Physiology & Mathematics (AC-00-7[REV]) 203.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the above item had been tabled at the Academic Committee meeting of September 26, 2000, because no written consultation report from the Department of Mathematics & Statistics had been available, and that 189-319B had been removed from the proposed program. 203.2 Associate Dean Mendelson further mentioned that the proposed changes were not accurately reflected in the rationale of the revised Program Proposal Form. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. - Minute 107.3 Jt. Major Physiology & Physics (AC-00- 8[REV]) 203.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the above item had been tabled at the Academic Committee meeting of September 26, 2000, because the Department of Physics had not been consulted about the proposed changes. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. - Minute 110.1 Minor in Education (AC-00-17[REV]) 203.4 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the prerequisite to 416-300 is stated as being "student-teaching or equivalent experience." Concerns had been raised at the September 26, 2000 meeting that this might cause a problem for Science students. Associate Dean Mendelson said he had received a letter from the Faculty of Education assuring him that this requirement was interpreted very liberally, and that it would be easy for Science students to meet the requirement. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Pasztor, that the program be adopted. 203.5 After a short discussion, Associate Dean Mendelson amended his motion to include the condition that a statement be placed in the Calendar indicating that students should consult the program advisor for clarification on the prerequisite. The amended motion carried. (4) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-00- 29 (for information) (5) PSYCHOLOGY New Course: 204-528A/L Vulnerability to Depression AC-00-30 3 credits Prof. Baker moved, seconded by Prof. Brawer, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. (6) SCIENCE MINOR IN TECHNOLOGICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AC-00-31 Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Cline, that the program be adopted. 206.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said he would like to amend his motion to include the recommendation that the name of the Minor be changed to "Minor in Technological Entrepreneurship for Science Students." The amended motion carried. New Course (For Information): 271-210 Accounting for Managers AC-00- 32 3 credits New Course (For Information): 270-466 Technological Entrepreneurship Project AC-00- 33 3 credits (7) BIOLOGY Prof. Pasztor explained the reasons for the number changes. 177-465A Conservation Biology AC-00- 34 3 credits Number change from 177-365A 177-516B Genetics of Development AC-00- 35 3 credits Number change from 177-416B 177-520B Gene Activity in Development AC-00- 36 3 credits Number change from 177-420B 177-530B Neural Basis of Behaviour AC-00- 37 3 credits Number change from 177-430B 177-531A Neurobiology Learning Memory AC-00- 38 3 credits Number change from 177-431A 177-542B Marine Biology AC-00-39 3 credits Number change from 177-442B 177-544A Genetic Basis of Life Span AC-00- 40 3 credits Number change from 177-444A 177-551A Biology: Cell Cycle AC-00-41 3 credits Number change from 177-451A 177-553B Neotropical Environments AC-00-42 3 credits Number change from 177-453B 177-560A Aquatic Conservation AC-00- 43 3 credits Number change from 177-460A 177-562B Evolution of Life Cycles AC-00-44 3 credits Number change from 177-462B 177-572A Molecular Evolution AC-00-45 3 credits Number change from 177-472A 207.1 Associate Dean Mendelson pointed out that program change forms should be submitted for the Departments of Biology, and Anatomy & Cell Biology, and for the BSc/BEd and the Faculty Program in Biology and Mathematics. Prof. Pasztor moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that the above course changes be approved. The motion carried. Program Changes: - M.Sc. Program AC-00- 46 - Ph.D. Program AC-00- 47 Prof. Pasztor moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that the above program changes be approved. The motion carried. (8) MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS - Program Changes: - Joint Major in Mathematics and Computer Science AC-00- 48 - Joint Honours in Mathematics and Computer Science AC-00-49 - Faculty Program in Mathematics and Computer Science AC-00-50 - Faculty Program in Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science AC-00-51 Prof. Panangaden moved, seconded by Prof. Klemes, that the above program changes be approved. The motion carried. (9) ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR CEGEP STUDENTS AC-00-52 209.1 Associate Dean Mendelson introduced the above topic. In addition to changes to accommodate the revised CEGEP curriculum, some changes were necessary to provide a level of flexibility and discretion to the admission requirements, because under current requirements some very good students would not qualify for admission. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Paquette, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. (10) CREDIT WEIGHT/WORKLOAD FOR LABORATORY COURSES AC-99- 173(Rev)/AC-00-27 210.1 Associate Dean Mendelson gave some background information concerning the above documents, and said that some issues had been raised at the Faculty of Science meeting on May 23, 2000. 210.2 Associate Dean Mendelson expanded on the five points raised in Minute 808.2, Document AC-00-27, and gave some of his feelings on the issues. 210.3 Associate Dean Mendelson said that in Document AC-00- 27, Minute 808.2, the first issue raised at the Faculty meeting was that students be asked directly how much time was involved in a particular course. Associate Dean Mendelson said that students were routinely asked this question in course evaluations. He said that the real issue was that the Faculty have a standard for generating credit weight, and he said that he would not want to delay implementation of the standard by surveying students. Departments concerned about specific courses would be well advised to ask students about the workload in the courses. 210.4 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the second issue raised by Faculty was that project courses be exempted from the proposal. The feeling held by some members at the Faculty meeting was that project courses were a special kind of course. A counter argument was that the Faculty of Engineering had a policy for all its courses. 210.5 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the third and fourth issues raised were whether or not the policy should be printed in the Calendar, and, if so, what should be the precise wording. He said some members of Faculty felt that having the policy in the Calendar would be inviting student grievances. He said that he had spoken to the Associate Dean (Academic) and the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) of Engineering, who could not recall any instances of their policy having led to problems with students. 210.6 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the fifth issue raised was that departments should be given sufficient time to modify their courses before printing the policy in the Calendar, and he said this was a very legitimate issue, and that the policy would be printed in the 2002- 2003 Calendar. 210.7 Dean Shaver asked for comments on each point raised at the Faculty of Science meeting. 210.8 Regarding the first issue, members felt that a survey was not necessary prior to implementation of the policy. 210.9 Dean Shaver mentioned that the Faculty expected departments to continue with course evaluations, and that it would certainly be reasonable to review students' comments on workload when the time came for departments to review lab courses. 210.10 Dean Shaver asked members for feedback on the second issue - whether or not project courses should be exempted from the proposal. 210.11 Members differed on this issue. 210.12 A straw vote was taken, and the results were: - project courses should be exempt from the proposal - 5 - project courses should be included in the proposal - 14 210.13 The third issue was whether or not the policy should be printed in the Calendar. 210.14 Members had no objections to printing the policy in the Calendar. 210.15 The fourth issue was the exact wording of the policy for the Calendar entry. 210.16 After some discussion, it was suggested that the wording of the policy under recommendation #1 (Document AC-99-173[Rev]) be modified to read: 210.17 The credit assigned to a particular course should reflect the amount of effort it demands of the student. For the average student, one credit will represent an average of three hours total work per week over one semester - including a combination of lecture hours, other contact hours, such as laboratory periods, tutorials, and problem periods, as well as personal study time. 210.18 The fifth issue was that departments should be given sufficient time to modify their courses before printing the policy in the Calendar. 210.19 Associate Dean Mendelson recommended that the policy be printed in the 2002-2003 Calendar. Prof. Cline moved, seconded by Ms. Waterston, that the recommendations in document AC-99-173(Rev) be adopted. The motion to approve the policy with the above modifications to the wording, and with the above timeframe, carried. (11) COURSES IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AC-00- 53 211.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said that currently students in the Faculty of Science are restricted on the number of credits in courses in `English as a Second Language (ESL),' and if students wished to exceed six credits of ESL courses, they would have to appeal to the Associate Dean. Associate Dean Mendelson proposed to remove the limitation on the number of credits. After a short discussion, Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Mr. Charbonneau, that Document AC-00- 53, Section 2.6.5, Courses in English as a Second Language, should contain only the following sentence: 211.2 ESL courses are open to students whose primary language is not English and who have studied for fewer than five years in English language secondary institutions. The motion carried. (12) OTHER BUSINESS 212.1 Dean Shaver, on behalf of the Faculty of Science Academic Committee, expressed congratulations to Prof. Anne Wechsler of the Department of Physiology, for having received the Principal's Prize for Excellence in Teaching. The award will be conferred at the Fall Convocation. There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. josie\academic\.doc