Senate
Minutes
as amended
Three Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Meeting of the
Senate of Trent University
2:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2005
A.J.M. Smith Conference Room, Bata Library
MINUTES
Present were:
Senators Colin Taylor (Acting Chair), Abdella, Andriewsky,
Aubrey, Bleasdale, Dockstator, Drewes, Eadie, Evans, Garcia-Sanchez,
Genoe, Hagman, Hickie, Holdsworth, Jamieson, Jones, Kennett, Lowe,
Lynch, Malandrino, Muldoon, Nefstead, Neufeld, Newhouse, Parker,
Pearce, Poole, Preston, Slingerland, Smith, Sproule, Stauffer, Storey,
Urquhart, and S. Bartsch (Acting Secretary). Official guests:
Best, Casserly, French, Glover, McIntosh, Ramsay, Salusbury, Stover,
Wear.
Regrets:
Senators Apostle-Clark, Bondar, Buttle, Edwards, Gorman, Hurley, Law,
Noriega, McPake, Patterson, Ponce-Hernandez, Hoegy, Stapleton,
Thompson, Torgerson, Wickson, and Ms. Choate. Official guests:
Kinzl, O’Leary, Warren.
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CLOSED SESSION
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1. |
Eminent Service Award.
Senate considered and approved a recommendation from the University
Honours Sub-committee endorsed by the Senate Executive Committee that
the 2005 Eminent Service Award be presented to Mr. Ken Fowler.
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OPEN SESSION
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1. |
Agenda.
A motion to revise and reorder the agenda to insert a motion on the
Stewardship Plan for the Trent University Nature Areas as item #12 was
defeated.
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2. |
Minutes.
The minutes of the 367th meeting of Senate were approved with one
amendment substituting the word “submitted” for “indicated his
intention to submit” on page four.
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3. |
Chair’s Remarks.
Acting Chair Colin Taylor conveyed the regrets of President Patterson
and Vice-President Apostle Clark. Senator Parker was pleased to
announce that Professor Leonard Conolly would be the recipient of the
2005 Distinguished Research Award.
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4. |
Undergraduate Studies Committee Report. The Undergraduate Studies Committee Fourth Report to Senate
(Appendix A to the master copy of these Minutes) was presented by
Senator Genoe. Following discussion, Senate considered and
approved the addition of a “conditional probation” category of academic
standing that would apply to students accepted into the Fresh Start
Program. Senate also approved changes in Anthropology course
prerequisites and degree requirements, and two policies setting out
conditions that would result in the withdrawal of students from the
Trent-Fleming BSCN program. These included a second failed grade in a
nursing practice course or a second grade under 60% in a nursing theory
course.
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5. |
Graduate Studies Committee Report.
Senator Evans presented the report of the Graduate Studies Committee
which highlighted recent work of the Curriculum and Policy
Subcommittee, the Graduate Research Annual Forum, prize winners and
application statistics for fall 2005. He noted that the
University had made 99 offers, was expecting a possible modest increase
in the number of graduate students next year and would be trying to
expand the program further in the future. He discussed increased
competition for OGS, NSERC and SSHRC awards and it was suggested that
the University should publicize and celebrate the achievements of
Trent’s graduate scholarship winners each year. Senator Evans
described the intense scrutiny and appraisal process for new graduate
programs in Ontario and outlined a Draft Procedure for the Approval of New Graduate Programs
that would guide the preparation and approval of proposals for
submission to the OCGS. This procedure, attached as Appendix B to
the master copy of these Minutes, was approved by Senate.
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6. |
Faculty Board Nominating Committee Report. Senator
Taylor called attention to the precirculated report of the Nominating
Committee which set out the proposed appointments of Faculty Council
representatives to Senate and various University committees for
2005-2006. As this work was still ongoing, the Nominating
Committee had requested permission to continue to fill vacancies and
make changes to committee memberships as required.
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7. |
Election of 2005-2006 Senate Executive and Official Board Visitors. The
proposed slate of Senators to serve on the Senate Executive Committee
in 2005-2006 was approved. Senator Lynch was appointed as Senate
visitor to the Board of Governors.
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8. |
Degree Certificates. Ms.
Salusbury reported on recent meetings held with Ms. Keneisha Gardiner
and Student Senate Caucus to discuss issues related to the University’s
degree certificates including certificate design and the inclusion of
major/minor information and security features. She called
attention to her latest report on degree certificate issues which
recommended that major/minor information not be included but that a
supplementary letter containing this information be provided to
international students with their degree certificates. Although
redesign of the certificate was not recommended by the Registrar, the
report did support further investigation into degree security features
and the use of degree certificate folders imprinted with contact
information for verifying the authenticity of the degree. There
followed a wide-ranging discussion on issues related to the degree
certificate including the use of the new logo, the feasibility of
hand-signed diplomas, international job market requirements, use of the
supplementary letter and the need to consult more widely. Senate
resolved to defer this item to the next meeting of Senate pending
further consultation among students and alumni.
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9. |
Student Recruitment. Ms. Salusbury presented a report from the Office of the Registrar on recruitment and conversion activities for Fall 2006.
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10. |
2004-2005 Senate Budget Committee Report. The
Chair of the Senate Budget Committee reported on the Committee’s work
to date in reviewing financial issues affecting the operating
budget. He recalled the previous year’s Senate Budget Committee
report which had highlighted an ongoing structural deficit and the
University’s dependence on enrolment and government funding levels to
achieve a balanced budget. It was explained that the current
year’s enrolment level, which had fallen short of the budget target by
240 students, had resulted in an operating budget loss of $1.75
million. The University was also seeing a decrease in the number of
applications for 2005-06 and was implementing freezes and cutbacks to
avoid a projected $3.5 million operating deficit that would have an
alarming impact on the cumulative deficit. In recognition of the
critical relationship between enrolment and the budget, the Senate
Budget Committee had agreed to consider and provide administration with
advice on enrolment management and conversion issues. The
Committee had found that Trent’s enrolment predicament and decline in
applications have some unique aspects that are not fully understood;
for example, the recent decline in high-demand, high BIU programs. The
Chair recommended that if any additional resources become available to
the University, it should make some investment in research and analysis
to find out more about its enrolment issues and challenges.
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11. |
Research Report. Noting
that the announcements regarding NSERC and SSHRC awards were embargoed
until at least May, Senator Parker reported that the University’s
overall success rates for 2005 could be as high as 70% for NSERC and
52% for SSHRC, with funding from these agencies totaling approximately
$3.3 million. He gave a presentation showing research funding
received from the three granting councils, CFI/OIT, ICOR and other
sources since 1999. Senator Parker indicated that the research
committees would be meeting over the summer to review all existing and
new research organizations, centres and institutes and would report
back to Senate in the fall term.
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12. |
Senate Executive Committee Report. Senator
Evans reported on the March 29 meeting of the Senate Executive
Committee. In addition to matters already considered by Senate
earlier in the meeting, Senate Executive had discussed the need to
notify students clearly about compressed courses and the importance of
adhering to the published timetable. Administration had been
asked to follow up on these items as appropriate. The Committee
had also discussed a notice of motion from an official visitor
proposing that Senate receive and approve the Nature Areas Stewardship
Plan. Following extensive discussion it was considered that
formal approval of the plan in its entirety was not within Senate’s
educational policy mandate and should therefore not be included on the
agenda. Senate Executive had acknowledged the need for a meaningful
discussion of the educational aspects of the Stewardship Plan, but
thought it necessary to separate any educational policy issues from the
budget, personnel, property and other issues/options contained in the
report.
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13. |
Nature Areas Stewardship Plan. Senator Evans reported that at its meeting of March 29, the Senate Executive Committee had recommended to Senate:
THAT Senate receive the Nature Areas Stewardship Plan,
and that the Nature Areas Sub-Committee be asked to identify specific
educational policy issues in the Plan for discussion by Senate in the
fall of 2005.
This
motion was proposed on behalf of the Senate Executive Committee.
An amendment to approve (rather than receive) the Stewardship Plan was
proposed, discussed and defeated. An amendment that would have
required discussion of the Plan to take place at the next regular
meeting was proposed and defeated. The main motion carried.
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14. |
Question Period. Nil.
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15. |
Other Business. Nil.
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16. |
Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
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B.M.Patterson,Chair
S.L. Bartsch, Acting Secretary
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