Board of Governors - APPENDIX VI - October 29, 1998
Effective September 1, 1999, a Four-Year Honors Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) program will be introduced in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Reasons for moving to a four-year honors program from the current four-year general program include:
Graduate-Level Entry Health Professional Access
A 4-year Honors program will allow students to consider graduate-level health professional programs offered at UWO and other Canadian universities (e.g. Social Work, Public Health, Public Administration, Communication Sciences & Disorders, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy [which is moving to Masters-level only], etc.)
Student Demand
The opportunity to pursue Honors-level studies in the Health Sciences is attractive, and challenging to exceptional students with long-term career goals which are more readily facilitated with an Honors designation. Part of the impetus for an Honors Program came from the BHSc Student Advisory Committee.
Access to Joint Programs
Discussions are ongoing with the Constituent University Departments of Statistical & Actuarial Sciences and Sociology, and the Department of Human Ecology at Brescia College regarding possible joint programs. Each potential partner has expressed an interest in programs at the Honors level.
Graduate Programs
An Honors-level program will allow the Faculty to build on the foundation courses towards the future development of graduate-level programs in Health Sciences. There is also the possibility that joint programs with Science, Social Science, and the Affiliated Colleges will open doors for students to access graduate programs in both Health Sciences and elsewhere.
2. Rural Health Stream in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program
Effective September 1, 1999, a Rural Health stream will be introduced into the Four-Year Honors Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) program in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Studies have documented the widespread, systemic disadvantages that rural residents generally experience when it comes to receiving quality health care in a timely fashion within their communities. The Rural Health stream of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program (three half-credit courses and a six-week practicum) will introduce students to the administrative, political, financial, and service obstacles faced by rural residents and their communities, and offer them insight (through both theory and practice) into effective strategies for improvement.
The following annual reports are provided for information:
Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure I - Annex 1
Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure II - Annex 2
Senate Committee on Appeals - Annex 3
[All shown below.]
4. Order of Convocation Spring 1999
Starting in 1999, Spring Convocation will consist of eight ceremonies, rather than seven as in the past. The order of Convocation for Spring 1999 shall be:
Tuesday, June 8, 1999 10:00 a.m.
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Music
Tuesday, June 8, 1999 at 3:30 p.m.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (DDS)
Richard Ivey School of Business (HBA)
Wednesday, June 9, 1999 at 10:00 a.m.
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Information and Media Studies
Wednesday, June 9, 1999 at 3:30 p.m.
Brescia College
Huron College
King's College
Thursday, June 10, 1999 at 10:00 a.m.
Faculty of Social Science (Honors and ACS)
Thursday, June 10, 1999 at 3:30 p.m.
Faculty of Science
Friday, June 11, 1999 at 10:00 a.m.
Faculty of Social Science (3-year programs)
Friday, June 11, 1999 at 3:30 p.m.
Faculty of Graduate Studies
Faculty of Engineering Science
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Engineering Science
G.S. Castle, Acting Chair, Dept.of Electrical and Computer Engineering, July 1, 1998 - Dec. 31, 1998
R.V. Patel, Chair, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, January 1, 1999 - June 30, 2003
Faculty of Health Sciences
H. Laschinger, Assistant Dean (Interdisciplinary Studies), July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2000
Report of the Senate Committee on Promotion & Tenure - SCPT-I
ANNUAL REPORT TO SENATE September 1998
The membership of the Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure I (SCPT-I) for 1997-98 was: C. Thomson (Chair), M. Usselman (Vice-Chair), S. Clark, C. Crealock, J. Dickinson (student member), C. Iwasiw, and A. Weedon (ex-officio as Dean of Graduate Studies).
During the 1997-98 academic year, SCPT-I reviewed the files of twenty-seven faculty members recommended by the various faculties for promotion to Professor, six of which also included the recommendation for the renewal of sequential term - continuing status under B.20 Conditions of Appointment: Clinical Departments and Clinical Appointees in Basic Science Departments. SCPT-I recommended that all twenty-seven faculty members be promoted and endorsed the recommendation for the renewal of sequential term - continuing status in all six cases.
Documentation on two candidates for initial appointment at the rank of Professor with tenure and one candidate for initial appointment as Professor under Appointment and Promotion Procedures: Faculty Employed by Robarts Research Institute Affiliated with The University of Western Ontario was also reviewed; all three were recommended.
Signed by: C. Thomson, Chair
Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure I
Report of the Senate Committee on Promotion & Tenure - SCPT-II
ANNUAL REPORT TO SENATE
SCPT-II [Tenure Division] September 1998
The membership of the Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure II (SCPT-II) for 1997-98 was: P. Haase (Chair), S. Majhanovich (Vice-Chair), K. Baines, J. Cook, L. Falkenstein, R. Hardie (student member) and R. Harris (ex officio as Vice-Provost & Registrar).
During the 1997-98 academic year, SCPT-II reviewed the cases of twenty-five faculty members recommended for the granting of tenure, twenty-three of which also included the recommendation for promotion to the rank of Associate Professor. SCPT-II voted to endorse the recommendations for tenure in all twenty-five cases, and to endorse the recommendation for promotion in all twenty-three cases. The Committee also reviewed three files for promotion to Associate Professor not in conjunction with the granting of tenure and recommended promotion in two of the three cases.
Under Conditions of Appointment: Clinical Departments and Clinical Appointees in Basic Science Departments, the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry submitted seven cases for promotion in conjunction with the granting of sequential term - continuing appointments. The Committee endorsed the recommendation for promotion and sequential term - continuing status in all seven cases. As well, one case recommended by the Faculty for the granting of sequential term - continuing status, not in conjunction with promotion, was reviewed and recommended by the Committee.
The Committee reviewed and endorsed the recommendation for renewal of sequential term - continuing for one faculty member appointed under Faculty of Dentistry: Sequential Term Appointments.
Under Faculty of Applied Health Sciences: Sequential Term Appointments and Faculty of Nursing: Sequential Term Appointments, the Faculty of Health Sciences submitted a total of four cases for promotion in conjunction with the granting of sequential term - continuing appointments. The Committee endorsed the recommendation for promotion and sequential term - continuing status in all four cases.
The Committee reviewed the file of one candidate for initial appointment with tenure at the rank of Associate Professor and one candidate for initial appointment at the rank of Associate Professor under Appointment and Promotion Procedures: Faculty Employed by Robarts Research Institute Affiliated with The University of Western Ontario; both were recommended.
The Committee received one appeal of a Faculty decision to deny promotion and the granting of tenure. The appeal was subsequently withdrawn.
Signed by:
P. Haase, Chair
Senate Committee on Promotion and Tenure II
Report of the Senate Committee on Appeals
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPEALS
Annual Report to Senate
1997-1998
The membership of the Committee for the 1997-98 membership year was:
Members:
D. Bentley (Chair), D. Allison (Vice-Chair), D. Baer, A. Oosterhoff, A. Pearson, R. Shivers, S. Tse.
Alternates:
J. Good, N. Huner*, H. Laschinger, L. Murison, C. Neable, M. Spence, M. J. Toswell
N. Huner resigned as of June 30, 1998. His seat will be filled in November 1998.
The Senate Committee on Appeals (SCA) heard one appeal in 1997-98. This was against the decision of a Dean and a Faculty Promotion and Tenure Committee in a departmentalized Faculty not to recommend promotion to the rank of Associate Professor. The appeal was denied.
In its statement of Reasons for Decision, the SCA affirmed three principles that it wishes to reiterate here:
(1) the deference of the SCA to the disciplinary standards established and applied by a candidate's department and/or faculty unless the SCA is persuaded that the department and/or faculty has held the candidate to criteria that are unfair or unreasonable;
(2) the sole responsibility of the Faculty Committee for determining the relative significance accorded to performance in teaching and performance in research for the purposes of tenure and/or promotion; and
(3) the dispensability of neither performance in teaching nor performance in research and scholarly activity for purposes of tenure and/or promotion.
These principles are based on a judicious and holistic reading of sections B.2 and B.3 of Conditions of Appointment, which state:
(1) that "[p]romotion and the granting of tenure by the University shall be on the basis of the record of performance established by the candidate in teaching, in research, in scholarly activities and in other contributions";
(2) that the candidate's "performance shall be considered with reference to the national and international standards within the candidate's discipline";
(3) that "[e]ach candidate for promotion and/or the granting of tenure is expected to establish a record of performance" in "teaching and associated activities," in "research...scholarly activity, and...where appropriate,...the fine and performing arts" and in "general contributions to the University, the academic profession, and the community"; and
(4) that, although "the significance accorded" to performance in teaching and performance in research "relative to each other should be approximately equal and individually greater than that for" general contributions, the "relative significance" of performance in teaching and performance in research "may be determined by the Faculty Committee on Promotion and Tenure as long as neither...is excluded."
The final sentence of Section B.3(a) -- "[a]n outstanding individual record of performance in either [teaching] or [research and scholarly activity] may be sufficient reason for promotion and/or the conferring of tenure" -- should not be read as sanctioning the dispensability of either performance in teaching or performance in research and scholarly activity in considerations of tenure and/or promotion, for the context in which the sentence occurs clearly establishes performance in both teaching and research and scholarly activity as the standard for tenure and/or promotion and prevents the exclusion of either the one or the other from consideration.
The SCA would also like to reiterate here the working definition of "performance in scholarly activity" that was articulated in the Committee's 1994-95 Report to Senate:
The words "performance in scholarly activity" in B.2(b) of Conditions of Appointment refer to the accepted conception and definition of scholarship in the University context -- namely, scholarship is research of such quality and creativity as to lead to the advancement or extension of knowledge and thus to achieve publication in peer-reviewed journals, books and other fora, including peer-reviewed conferences and proceedings. Scholarship of this calibre frequently, but not necessarily, flows from and results in competitive, peer-reviewed grants from agencies like MRC, NSERC, and SSHRC. Thus defined, scholarship is distinct from the transmission of existing information or knowledge through teaching, training, consulting, and technical reporting, as well as from pedagogical activities such as course and curriculum development. The latter activities are within the parameters of B.2(a). It is also distinct from "performance in general contributions to the University, the academic profession, and the community", the subject matter of B.2(c).
Signed by:
D. M. R. Bentley
Chair, Senate Committee on Appeals