AC-04-92 FACULTY OF SCIENCE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, December 14, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. in the Arts Building, Room 385. PRESENT: Associate Dean Mendelson (Chair in the absence of Dean Shaver), Associate Dean Leighton; Professors Baines, Cline, Fabry, Kakkar, Kemme, Mandato, Meredith, Nilson, Schmidt, Shultz, Wechsler, Yau; E. Gibb; R. Friedlander, C. Lee, C. Walsh; J. DÂ’Amico. REGRETS: Dean Shaver; Professors Arkani-Hamed; Silvius, Associate Dean Hendershot; E. Bensoussan, L. Bondy, A. Malone, A. Patel. DOCUMENTS: AC-04-51 AC-04-72 to AC-04-91 In the absence of Dean Shaver, Associate Dean Mendelson called the meeting to order at 2:40 p.m. (1) ADOPTION OF AGENDA Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the Agenda be adopted. The motion carried. (2) MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 23, 2004 AC-04-72 Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the Minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 403.1 In reply to a member, Associate Dean Mendelson said that the Faculty Review Group (FRG) would be meeting on Wednesday, December 15, 2004, and he would keep the Academic Committee informed. (4) BIOLOGY New Course: BIOL 469D1/D2 Independent Studies 2 AC-04-73 9 credits 404.1 There was some discussion concerning why BIOL 479 was restricted to Honours students, and the difference between BIOL 479 and BIOL 469. Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Prof. Nilson, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. B.Sc. Program Changes: - Faculty in Biology & Mathematics AC-04-74 Prof. Schmidt moved, seconded by Prof. Nilson, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. B.A. & Sc. New Minor Programs: - Minor Concentration in Biology; Organismal Option AC-04-75 - Minor Concentration in Biology; Cell/Molecular Option AC-04-76 404.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said that the B.A. & Sc. Programs should go to the Program Administration Committee (PAC) before being considered by the Academic Committee. However, since the PAC would not be meeting until January 2005, the programs could be approved by the Academic Committee, subject to PAC approval. Prof. Schmidt moved, seconded by Associate Dean Leighton, that the programs be adopted, subject to PAC approval. The motion carried. - M.Sc.; Biology; Bioinformatics Option AC-04-77 - Ph.D.; Biology; Bioinformatics Option AC-04-78 404.3 Associate Dean Mendelson mentioned that PHGY 603 had not been approved by the Faculty of Medicine. 404.4 A member was concerned that there was no reference to the general document on Bioinformatics Options (Description of the Bioinformatics Option) that had been produced when the School of Computer Science had devised its Bioinformatics Option. The document Description of the Bioinformatics Option had been the result of much consultation among the relevant units. Secretary's Note: The document Description of the Bioinformatics Option will be posted on the Web along with other Academic Committee documents prior to the next Faculty of Science meeting. Prof. Nilson moved, seconded by Prof. Fabry, that the programs be adopted. The motion carried. (5) REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES AC-04-79(REVISED) (for information) 405.1 Associate Dean Mendelson drew members' attention to the revised the Report on Minor Course Changes which included the split of PHGY 212D1/D2 to PHGY 212 and PHGY 213. 405.2 Associate Dean Mendelson mentioned that Banner had difficulty dealing with spanned courses. Consequently, he had requested that units consider splitting spanned courses into one-term courses. Many units in the Faculty, however, were retaining their spanned courses, with good academic reason. (6) MINOR IN EDUCATION FOR SCIENCE STUDENTS AC-04-80 (REVISED) 406.1 It was pointed out that some Complementary Courses were missing from the proposal. Associate Dean Leighton moved, seconded by Prof. Wechsler, that the program changes be approved, with all Complementary Courses to be included in the proposal. The motion carried. (7) PSYCHOLOGY New Course: PSYC 499 Reading Project AC-04-81 1 credit Prof. Shultz moved, seconded by Associate Dean Leighton, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. B.Sc. Program Changes: Major in Psychology AC-04-82 Prof. Shultz moved, seconded by Associate Dean Leighton, that the program changes be approved. The motion carried. B.A. & Sc. Program Changes: - Joint Honours Component in Psychology AC-04-83 - Major Concentration in Psychology AC-04-84 Prof. Shultz moved, seconded by Associate Dean Leighton, that the above program changes be approved. The motion carried. B.A. Program Changes (For Information): - Minor Concentration in Behavioural Science (8) CALENDAR ENTRY - 3.6.2 PROJECT COURSES AC-04-51 408.1 Associate Dean Mendelson pointed out the Calendar entry, which specifies that students may receive no more than 12 credits for individual project or independent-study courses. He said that in some cases students do research-project courses which also entail seminars attended by all the students taking the course. This leads to the question of the precise definition of a project course. 408.2 Associate Dean Mendelson said he was bringing the question to the Academic Committee for a general discussion, and to see whether further action need be taken. 408.3 There was a wide-ranging discussion of the issue. The possibility of exempting courses that involve seminars from the 12-credit limit was raised. Some members felt that increasing the limit to 15 credits was the simplest solution, but other members felt that the 12-credit limit allowed for a reasonable balance between project courses and lecture-type courses. It was pointed out that perhaps the issue should be examined under the context of the Faculty-wide Program Review. No consensus was evident among members. 408.4 Associate Dean Mendelson suggested that the issue be shelved for the present. Units should examine the issue internally. Associate Dean Mendelson said he would bring a proposal to the Academic Committee, possibly after consultation with units. (9) STREAM DEFINITION AC-04-85 409.1 Associate Dean Mendelson said he was bringing the above document to the Academic Committee to see if members felt there were any concerns that should be communicated to SCTP. 409.2 In reply to a member, Associate Dean Mendelson said that it was important to find out the status of the word "option," which was not mentioned in the document. 409.3 There were no objections to the use of the word "stream" as defined in the document. (10) OTHER BUSINESS PHYSIOLOGY B.Sc. Program Changes: Faculty in Physiology AC-04-86 Major in Physiology AC-04-87 Honours in Physiology AC-04-88 Joint Major in Physiology and Physics AC-04-89 Joint Major in Physiology and Mathematics AC-04-90 B.A. & Sc. Program Changes: Major Concentration in Biomedical Sciences AC-04-91 Prof. Wechsler moved, seconded by Associate Dean Leighton, that the above program changes be approved. The motion carried. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. 1 4 ACMinutesDec14.doc ACMinutesDec14.doc