AC-01-10 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, September 25, 2001, at 3:00 p.m. in Room 409, Dawson Hall. PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Baines, Baker, Drury, Leighton, Nishioka, Silvius, Wechsler; Associate Dean Hendershot; S. Hadland, H. Walia, C. Ward; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Professor Arkani-Hamed, Brawer, Farrell, Lapointe, Panangaden, Rasmussen, Sutton; H. Waluzyniec, D. Crawford; A. Grover, G. Preston, D. Shanks, C. Wu. DOCUMENTS: AC-00-247, AC-01-1 to AC-01-9 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA - New item, Nomenclature for Arts Programs (Minute 812.2, Minutes of May 1, 2001), to be considered under Item 3, Business Arising from the Minutes. - New item, Reread Policy, to be considered under Item 11, Other Business. Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Prof. Baines, that the amended Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) MINUTES OF MAY 1, 2001 AC-00-247 Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Prof. Baker, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 803.1, Letter Grades in Banner 103.1 Associate Dean Mendelson gave some background on the issue. He said that the Faculty of Arts had passed a recommendation to Senate that the University consider implementing the grade of A+. Moreover, the Committee on Student Affairs would consider a similar recommendation, so the issue will likely be brought to Senate one way or the other. The Academic Committee agreed that it would discuss the issue of an A+ grade at a future meeting. - Minute 812.2, Nomenclature for Arts Programs 103.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said that in May 2001, the Faculty of Science had passed a resolution recommending that student transcripts distinguish between Major and Major Concentration in a Bachelor's degree. However, APPC had allowed the Faculty of Arts to drop the word "Concentration" from the B.A. degree. The issue was soon to be discussed at Senate. This was a concern for the Faculty of Science as a whole, and particularly for those four departments that offer both a B.Sc. and a B.A. (4) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-01-1 (for information) (5) AD HOC B.Sc. MAJOR PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE AC-01-2 105.1 A member said that Biology 177-202B should be added to the list of required Biology courses, since a knowledge of genetics would be needed for this program. Consequently, Biology 177-208 was moved to the list of Biology Complementary courses. 105.2 It was agreed that under Biology Complementary courses, "at least one course at the 500-level" should be changed to read "at least one course at the 400-level or above." 105.3 Associate Dean Mendelson suggested that the program be passed with the title of "ad hoc Joint Major in Biology and Psychology with an option in Neuroscience." It was agreed that, if the student wished the program to be called a Major in Neuroscience, the Academic Committee would consider the request, provided that all courses required for the existing Minor in Neuroscience be included in the ad hoc degree. 105.4 Prof. Baker moved, seconded by Prof. Nishioka, that the program be approved under the name "ad hoc Joint Major in Biology and Psychology with an option in Neuroscience," and including the above other changes. The motion carried. (6) AD HOC B.Sc. JOINT MAJOR PROGRAM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE & MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AC-01-3 106.1 Associate Dean Hendershot moved, seconded by Prof. Leighton, that the ad hoc program be approved, provided that 12 credits of Complementary 300+ Science courses be completed. The motion carried. (7) MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS Program Changes: - Faculty Program in Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science AC-01-4 Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. Leighton, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. Program Changes: - Honours in Applied Mathematics AC-01-5 Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. Silvius, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (8) PSYCHOLOGY 204-482A Advanced Honours Seminar 1 AC-01-6 3 credits Split of "D" course, 204-480 204-483B Advanced Honours Seminar 2 AC-01-7 3 credits Split of "D" course, 204-480 108.1 It was pointed out that the course proposal forms should have properly described these courses as resulting from the split of 204-480D. Prof. Baker moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the above changes be approved. The motion carried. (9) INTERFACULTY TRANSFERS: GPA AC-01-8 (REVISED) 109.1 Associate Dean Mendelson introduced the above document. After some discussion, Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the recommendations described in Document AC-01-8 (Revised) be adopted. The motion carried. (10) ADMITTING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS TO FACULTY AND HONOURS PROGRAMS 110.1 Associate Dean Mendelson introduced the topic. He said that the time of admission to Faculty and Honours programs varies from department to department - in some departments, students are admitted to such programs in their U1 year; in others, students are admitted after completing their U1 year. Under Banner, applicants to McGill would see a Web display of all programs for which they are potentially admissible. This could lead to a number of problems, including students applying for inappropriate programs, and students erroneously believing their department of choice does not have, for example, an Honours program. 110.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said the process was under development, and he would like to get members' feedback. 110.3 During the course of a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that the goal would be to somehow direct students into a general stream for each individual department, while at the same time alerting students to the diversity of choice available at McGill. Ideally, students would consult with an advisor and/or carefully read the Calendar; however, not all do so. It was suggested that perhaps McGill's diversity of choice could be indicated in the letter of acceptance to students. (11) OTHER BUSINESS - Reread Policy AC-01-9 111.1 As time was running out, Associate Dean Mendelson merely briefly introduced the topic. He said that the current Faculty of Science regulations concerning reassessments and rereads were not in accordance with the Charter of Student Rights, and suggested that it might be possible to adopt the policy of the Faculty of Arts. Discussion of the topic was postponed to a future meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. josie\academic\acminsept25.doc