S-96-27 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Meeting of Faculty Tuesday, February 18, 1997 Leacock Council Room - L232 ATTENDANCE: As recorded in the Faculty Appendix Book. DOCUMENTS: S-96-21 to S-96-26 Dean Shaver called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. (1) CANDIDATES FOR DEGREES a) Bachelor of Science S-96-22 501.1 Dean Shaver reported that there were 82 candidates recommended for the Bachelor of Science Degree for February graduands. Prof. Butler moved, seconded by Prof. Derome, that the above candidates be recommended to the Senate Steering Committee for the Bachelor of Science degree. Prof. GowriSankaran further moved, seconded by Prof. Butler, that the Dean be given discretionary power to make such changes in the degree list as would be necessary to prevent injustice. The motion carried. b) Diploma in Environmental Studies S-96-23 501.2 There were no students recommended for this diploma. c) Diploma in Meteorology S-96-24 501.3 There were no students recommended for this diploma. (2) MINUTES OF JANUARY 7, 1997 S-96-21 Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Derome, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried. (3) BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES Minute 403.1 503.1 In response to Prof. Farrell, Dean Shaver said that Senate had approved the transfer of Computer Science to the Faculty of Science as a 'school,' despite the references to Computer Science as a 'department' in all the documentation. He said that the name change issue had not been raised before, at APPC or at Senate. Therefore, it was felt that it would be unreasonable to make a name change at this time since the question apparently had not received any examination by APPC or Senate. This issue was left open for future consideration. 503.2 In reply to Prof. Farrell, Dean Shaver said that Computer Science had already proposed to become a 'department' in the Faculty, and that it would be up to Computer Science to make such a motion at a Faculty meeting. Computer Science and the Faculty would have to consider the issue. 503.3 In response to Prof. GowriSankaran, Dean Shaver said that the effective administrative date of Computer Science's becoming part of the Faculty of Science was the Senate meeting of December 4, 1996, but with regard to budget, the date would be June 1, 1997. (4) ANNOUNCEMENTS Dean Shaver made the following announcements: 504.1 Prof. L. Mysak, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, has been made a Member of the Order of Canada. 504.2 Prof. B.C. Eu, Department of Chemistry, has been elected a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. 504.3 Prof. L. Jeffrey, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has been selected as an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. On behalf of the Faculty of Science, Dean Shaver congratulated Professors Mysak, Eu and Jeffrey. He said it was important to acknowledge achievements of faculty members, and that he would appreciate being informed so he could announce them at Faculty. (5) REPORTS OF COMMITTEES a) Committee on Student Standing S-96-25 Due to lack of business, the meeting of the Committee on Student Standing had been cancelled. b) Academic Committee S-96-26 REPORT ON MINOR COURSE CHANGES (AC-96-43) (for information) MINOR PROGRAM IN PHARMACOLOGY (AC-96-44) Prof. Marley moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the Minor program be adopted. 505.1 Concerns were raised regarding the list of additional courses (not required for the Minor) in Document AC-96- 44; such a listing is not standard Minor program procedure. Prof. Farrell proposed an amendment. Prof. Farrell moved, seconded by Prof. Butler, that the list of additional courses be removed from the bottom of page 2 in Document AC- 96-44. The amendment carried. After a short discussion, the amended motion carried. EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE New Course: 516-512D Recent Progress in AIDS Research (AC-96-39A) 6 credits Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Prof. Farrell, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. BIOLOGY New Course: 177-413A/B/C/L/T Reading Project (AC-96-45) 1 credit Prof. Sittmann moved, seconded by Prof. Bell, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. New Course: 177-505B Diversity and Systematics Seminar (AC-96-46) 3 credits Prof. Sittmann moved, seconded by Prof. Bell, that the course be adopted. The motion carried. MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY - Majors and Honours Programs (AC-96-48) Prof. Baines moved, seconded by Prof. Sittmann, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. PHYSIOLOGY New Courses: 552-702A/B Ph.D. Proposal Seminar (AC-96-49) 1 credit 552-703A/B Ph.D. Progress Seminar I (AC-96-50) 1 credit 552-704A/B Ph.D. Progress Seminar II (AC-96-51) 1 credit Prof. Brawer moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the courses be adopted. The motion carried. 552-601A/B M.Sc. Proposal Seminar (AC-96-52) 1 credit Changes: course title; credit weight. Prof. Franklin moved, seconded by Prof. GowriSankaran, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. COMPUTER SCIENCE 308-350A Numerical Computing (AC-96-54) 3 credits Changes: course title; course description; administering faculty. Prof. GowriSankaran moved, seconded by Prof. Butler, that the changes be approved. The motion carried. (6) DEAN'S BUSINESS 506.1 Dean Shaver mentioned that he has been working on the Faculty budget, and he added that the current year's budget exercise was much more complicated than last year's. (7) REPORT: McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT(MSE) - Prof. Ingram 507.1 Prof. Ingram reported that the Science MSE committee had drafted a new text incorporating some of the input from the MSE Workshop held in December, 1996. He said that the draft text had been circulated to the chairs of the Faculty of Science, as well as to the chairs of the committees of the Faculties of Arts and of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He said that it was the intention of the committee to submit the document to the next Faculty of Science meeting on March 11, 1997. At that meeting, it would be proposed to create a tri-faculty executive committee which would implement the actual creation of the MSE. 507.2 In response to Prof. Marley, Prof. Ingram said that it was proposed in the document that an executive committee draft a description of what the role of the MSE director would be, and that the three deans in combination with that committee actually appoint someone around June 1, 1997. (8) MEMBERS' QUESTION PERIOD 508.1 Prof. Baines informed members that the deadline to submit comments to the Statutory Committee to Review Principal Shapiro's Stewardship, was February 26, 1997. He said that any information would be welcome, and that it could be submitted to either the Science Senators or the committee. The members of the committee are: Professors R. MacKenzie, M. Smith, P. Glenn, and M. Baines. 508.4 Regarding the 1997 Spring Convocation, Prof. Farrell informed members that the Science (including Computer Science) and Engineering convocations will not be held at the same time. Graduate degrees in Computer Science will be awarded this year at the Engineering Convocation. Members may contact Prof. Farrell for more information. (9) REPORT ON ACTIONS OF SENATE* Prof. Baines - Senate Meeting of January 29, 1997. The Senate meeting started with a question from Prof. Ratzer concerning the policies which guided the recent sale of software developed by McGill and Polarsoft to a private company for $8.5M. Vice-Principal Belanger revealed that there were no policies, but that they were being developed. The proceeds were divided $5.4M to McGill and $3.1M to the developers. Vice-Principal Heaphy reported on administration and support staff departures which included 101 early retirements and 10 others for a total of 111. There was to be no let-up on the hiring freeze. APPC forwarded to Senate for approval the Policy and Planning Report titled "Academic Directions and Budget Strategies for the next Five Years," appending the APPC comments on priorities. The 24 recommendations were approved with some modifications to improve clarity and feasibility and others were withdrawn for revision (recommendations #4 - to increase graduate enrollments, #9 - to implement a third trimester, and #11 - to increase continuing education). The report was accepted and their implementation will be reported on at a later time. The report proposed general principles which will guide the university evolution in terms of goal setting, budget allocation, 5 year budgeting, student recruitment, staff hiring and competitive salary structures, staff performance and performance evaluation, program efficiency, and increased university efficiency through cooperation, collaborations and revenue generation. The remainder of the agenda was deferred to the next meeting of Senate. Prof. Butler - Senate Meeting of February 12, 1997. 1. Question from Professor Noumoff: "Notwithstanding the recent agreement between the Estate of the late Dr. Justine Sergent and the University, is the Administration considering any measures aimed at a remedy of McGill internal process with a view to assuring that this tragic situation not be repeated?" Principal Shapiro responded that it cannot be assumed, as might be suggested from the question, that the tragedy resulted from University procedures; unfortunately, there can be no assurance that in human processes tragedy can be avoided. The answer to the question is NO. 2. Question from Professor de Takacsy: "Will the Principal, or the Vice-Principal (Academic), give his assurance that Senate will be given the opportunity formally to advise the Board of Governors on the academic implications of all changes in the tuition fees for degree programs?" Vice-Principal Chan responded that the established procedures for changes in tuition fees, which is to proceed through the Budget Planning Group for advice and then to the Board of Governors for approval, will be followed. 3. Budget Considerations for 1997-98 (Committee of the Whole; (Chair, Professor Farrell) There was an extensive discussion (about 2 hours) on the various points presented by Vice-Principal (Finance) Heaphy in her memo. On motion, two student senators proposed that the revised budget document should be reviewed by Senate before being sent to the Board of Governors for approval. This motion was supported strongly and passed. Another motion, proposed by two student senators, was defeated. This motion was "Be it resolved that the McGill Senate is opposed to increasing additional sessional fees as outlined in Vice-Principal Heaphy's memo." 4. Proposed Student Services Fee Schedule A new student services fee schedule was recommended by Senate for approval by the Board of Governors. 5. 286th Report of the Academic Planning Committee Because of the lateness of the hour, a consideration of the proposed New Student Information System was postponed until the next meeting of Senate. This is the second time this particular piece of business has been postponed. 6. 287th Report of the Academic Planning Committee A diploma in Accounting was approved. 7. Changes to Regulations Relating to the Employment of Academic Staff, Regulations Relating to the Employment of Librarian Staff After some discussion, the document describing these proposed changes was withdrawn by Vice-Principal (Academic) Chan for revision. 8. Committee on Student Discipline Annual Report This report was received by Senate. 9. Report of the Principal The latest report of the Principal was received by Senate. This was the report referring to the change in fees introduced by the Quebec Education Minister Marois. *Senate documents are available in the Dean's Secretariat for consultation. (10) OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.