AC-02-130 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, March 18, 2003, at 3:00 p.m. in Room 409, Dawson Hall. PRESENT: Dean Shaver (Chair), Associate Dean Mendelson (Vice- Chair), Professors Bennett, Drury, Kakkar, Kramer, Leighton, Panangaden, Silvius; E. Gibb; K. Smith; L. Bondy, C. Caserly, I. Halperin, C. Kim, E. Lewis; Y. Moolani; J. D'Amico. REGRETS: Professors Arkani-Hamed, Baines, Baker, Lapointe, Sutton, Wechsler; Associate Dean Hendershot; J. Capling. DOCUMENTS: AC-02-117 AC-02-123 to AC-02-129 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:08 p.m. 1. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Prof. Bennett moved, seconded by Prof. Drury, that the Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. 2. MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 25, 2003 AC-02- 123 Prof. Kakkar moved, seconded by Prof. Kramer, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. 3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES There was no business arising from the minutes. 4. MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-02- 124 (for information) 704.1 On request from Associate Dean Mendelson, Prof. Drury said that the change in restriction was to prevent students who had received a high-level pass in a CEGEP statistics course, from taking MATH 203. This change in restriction paralleled the restriction applying to PSYC 204. Prof. Drury said that it was to be hoped that other relevant statistics courses would also adopt the restriction. 5. AD HOC JOINT HONOURS PROGRAM IN PHYSICS AND NEUROSCIENCE AC-02-125 705.1 It was pointed out that all Core Courses in both List A and List B of the Physics component were required courses, and that the four Math courses should be included in the total program credits. It was also pointed out that MATH 248 was a more appropriate prerequisite than MATH 314. In addition, ANAT 214 should be replaced by ANAT 321. The Committee agreed that it would be helpful if course titles were included in ad hoc proposals. Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Bennett, that the ad hoc program be adopted. The motion carried. 6. AD HOC B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.) DOUBLE MAJOR IN PSYCHOLOGY AND IN ENVIRONMENT AC-02-126 706.1 Associate Dean Mendelson explained the ad hoc program. For Environment Major under Complementary Courses for Domain (a) 18 credits of Fundamentals ADD: BIOL 200 (3) or BIOL 201 (3) or FDSC 211 (3) Prof. Leighton moved, seconded by Prof. Bennett, that the ad hoc program be adopted. The motion carried. 7. MINOR IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE (PROGRAM CHANGES) AC-02- 127 Associate Dean Mendelson moved, seconded by Prof. Leighton, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. 8. COURSE EVALUATIONS AC-02-117 708.1 Mr. Lewis highlighted aspects of Document AC-02-117. 708.2 Dean Shaver said that course evaluations had been mandated by Senate, that their purpose was to improve the quality of teaching, and that it was the responsibility of chairs to ensure that departments complied. He also said that course evaluations should be either web-based or paper-based, but not both, to avoid "double evaluations." 708.3 After a lengthy discussion, Dean Shaver suggested that the Faculty gather a set of "best practices" that could be circulated to departments. Student input into this would be welcomed. Dean Shaver also said that it would be a good idea for course evaluations to contain a cover sheet giving general information concerning course evaluations. The Faculty was in the process of examining the web-based evaluation system. 9. UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AC-02- 128 709.1 Dean Shaver said that Document AC-02-128, a questionnaire for a Psychology undergraduate research course, was being presented to members for their information. He said that he would be providing a survey questionnaire concerning undergraduate research in the Faculty of Science, to the Academic Committee in the near future. 10. PEER TUTORING PRESENTATION AC-02- 129 710.1 Ms. Kim and Ms. Bondy gave a presentation on Peer Tutoring. 710.2 On behalf of the Committee, Associate Dean Mendelson congratulated the SUS for its Peer Tutoring Program. He said that the program provided a valuable service for students encountering difficulties, and that he was very impressed with the quality of the program and its professionalism. 11. OTHER BUSINESS There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:29 p.m.