AC-01-77 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, January 22, 2002, at 3:00 p.m. in Room 409, Dawson Hall. PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Arkani-Hamed, Baines, Brawer, Drury, Farrell, Lapointe, Leighton, Nishioka, Panangaden, Rasmussen, Silvius, Sutton, Wechsler; Associate Dean Hendershot; H. Waluzyniec; A. Wong (replacing G. Preston once approved by Faculty on February 12, 2002), D. Shanks, C. Ward; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Prof. Baker; S. Hadland, S. Merani, H. Walia, C. Wu; D. Crawford. DOCUMENTS: AC-01-9(Rev4), AC-01-41(Rev2) AC-01-60 to AC-01-76 Since Dean Shaver was at a meeting, Associate Dean Mendelson took the chair for the first part of the Academic Committee meeting. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA Prof. Drury moved, seconded by Prof. Arkani-Hamed, that the revised Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) GEOGRAPHY New Course: 183-202A Statistics & Spatial Analysis AC-01-69 3 credits 502.1 Prof. Ewing answered members' questions. 502.2 Associate Dean Mendelson asked Prof. Baines and Prof. Ewing to determine whether the above course contained sufficient overlap with any other existing statistics course to warrant the prohibiting of both courses being taken for credit. Prof. Lapointe moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 183-503B Methods of Regional Analysis AC-01-70 502.3 The course description was modified to read: "Advanced methods of regional economic analysis, including analytical, general equilibrium...." Prof. Lapointe moved, seconded by Associate Dean Hendershot, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. (3) MINUTES OF DECEMBER 11, 2001 AC-01- 60 503.1 It was decided that a proposed correction to Minute 404.3 be dealt with under Business Arising from the Minutes. Prof. Brawer moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (4) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - Minute 407.1 to 407.3 Reassessment/Reread Policy & Guidelines AC-01-9(Rev4),AC-01-41(Rev2) Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Associate Dean Hendershot, that the revised policy and guidelines be adopted. 504.1 Prof. Baines proposed an amendment, seconded by Ms. Ward, that the word "fairness" be replaced by "accuracy" in both documents. 504.2 It was suggested that "accuracy" be replaced by "appropriateness" in the above amendment. Prof. Baines and Ms. Ward accepted this modification as friendly. The modified amendment passed. 504.3 It was suggested that at the bottom of document AC-01- 9(Rev4), the reference to the Faculty of Arts be removed. This was accepted as a friendly amendment. 504.4 It was proposed that Item #6 be modified to read "...communicated to the student and the course instructor, as soon as..." and that Item #7 be deleted. This was accepted as friendly amendment. A vote was held on the original motion. The motion carried. Dean Shaver took over the chair. - Minute 404.3, MSE Students - Courses Outside Arts & Science 504.5 Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Farrell, that the policy adopted by the Academic Committee be amended to read "that MSE students be permitted to take up to 18 credits of approved courses outside the Faculties of Arts and Science beyond the requirements of their MSE programs." The motion carried. Academic Committee Meeting, November 20, 2001 - Minute 306.1, Psychology B.A. Program Changes (For Information): Major Concentration in Psychology AC-01-72 Honours in Psychology AC-01-73 Minor Concentration in Behavioural Science AC-01-74 Minor Concentration in Psychology AC-01-75 (5) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-01-61 (for information) (6) BIOLOGY New Course: 177-435B Ecological Energetics AC-01-62 3 credits 506.1 It was pointed out that the hours per week should read "three hours of lecture." 506.2 The restricted enrolment was specified as "first-come, first-served." 506.3 It was pointed out that there was an apparent discrepancy between the prerequisites on the course proposal form and those on the course outline. Prof. Nishioka moved, seconded by Prof. Lapointe, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 177-635B Ecology Energetics Research AC-01-63 3 credits 506.4 It was pointed out that the hours per week should read "three hours of lecture." 506.5 The restricted enrolment was specified as "first-come, first-served." Prof. Nishioka moved, seconded by Prof. Arkani-Hamed, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. (7) SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE Program Changes: - Major in Computer Science AC-01-64 - Honours in Computer Science AC-01-65 - Minor in Computer Science AC-01-66 B.A. Program Changes (For Information): - Minor Concentration in Computer Science, Stream II AC-01-67 Prof. Panangaden moved, seconded by Prof. Sutton, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (8) MINOR PROGRAM IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE AC-01-68 508.1 It was pointed out that a rationale should be included in the proposal. After some discussion concerning the accessibility of the prerequisites for the Computer Science courses in the Minor, Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Panangaden, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. (9) CENTRE DE RECHERCHES MATHêMATIQUES (CRM) AC-01-76 509.1 Prof. Drury gave some background information on the CRM. 509.2 Associate Dean Mendelson pointed out that the Academic Committee was to consider only the academic issues involved, not funding issues. He said that the proposal did not meet McGill's guidelines for research centres, so any approval would be in principle only. 509.3 Dean Shaver said that approval would really involve formalizing a current structure, rather than actually creating a research centre. 509.4 A member suggested that the document was too short on specifics to allow informed approval, even in principle. Other members agreed with this. Prof. Sutton moved, seconded by Associate Dean Hendershot, that the document be referred back to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The motion carried. 509.5 Dean Shaver asked Associate Dean Mendelson and Prof. Drury to communicate the concerns of the Academic Committee to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. (10) REVIEW OF THE FRESHMAN SCIENCE PROGRAM (FSP) AC-01-71 510.1 Associate Dean Mendelson went over the above document. 510.2 A member suggested that the U2/U3 student representative on the proposed subcommittee, should have been through the freshman program. 510.3 During discussion of the item, members were in agreement as to the thrust of document AC-01-71. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Ms. Ward, that the proposal in document AC-01-71 be approved. The motion carried. (11) OTHER BUSINESS There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m. josie\academic\acminjan22.doc