Senate highlights – April 9, 2018

Following each meeting of the Dalhousie University Senate, Dal News highlights some of the presentations and decisions made.

Senate is the university’s senior academic governing body, with membership consisting of elected representatives from Dal’s Faculties and the University Libraries, elected student representatives, a representative from the University of King’s College and Dal’s senior academic administrators. Senate is responsible for approving new programs; granting degrees/diplomas; managing the reviews of Faculties, centres and institutes; and setting academic regulations and the academic calendar.

Senate meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, from September through June. Learn more about Senate and its business at the Senate website.

Appointment of Vice-Chair (Academic)

Senators voted to approve Faculty of Health professor Katherine Harman (Acting Vice-Provost, Student Affairs) as its new Vice-Chair (Academic) for a three-year term commencing July 1, 2018.

Dr. Harman, currently seconded as the acting vice-provost, Student Affairs, has been a faculty member in the School of Physiotherapy since 1998. She has been involved with Senate since 2007 in a variety of roles, including serving on multiple committees (Academic Appeals, Academic Administrative and Nominations) and as Vice-Chair (Student Affairs).

The Vice-Chair (Academic) provides oversight of matters related to academic programs, including the consideration of proposals for new, modified, suspended and terminated programs and reviews of interdisciplinary academic and research centres and institutes. They sit as chair of Senate’s Academic Programs and Research Committee and serve as an ex-officio member on the Planning and Governance Committee and Honorary Degrees Committee.

Sexualized Violence Policy

Dr. Harman presented the current draft of the proposed Sexualized Violence Policy for discussion, which was then explained by Isabelle French, associate legal counsel. The new Dalhousie policy, co-sponsored by the Senate and the Board, has three goals:

·      To prevent sexualized violence by indicating the seriousness with which the university views and responds to the issue.

·      To be educational, in that its existence will increase awareness of the impacts of sexualized violence and of options, resources and services available to those who have experienced sexualized violence and members of the university community generally.

·      To provide timely, coordinated, consistent and fair response to disclosures and reports of sexualized violence. 


The policy has been in development since mid-2016, with extensive engagement across the university over the past two years.

Senators were also provided with a detailed outline of related policies that will be modified in light of the new Sexualized Violence Policy. Senators discussed the policy, asking questions and offering feedback, and were encouraged to submit further feedback to the policy working group. The policy is schedule to return to Senate for its approval at its May 14 meeting.

Consultation on candidate profile for the position of Provost and Vice-President Academic

Senate Chair Kevin Hewitt and search committee member Duncan MacIntosh (Department of Philosophy) invited senators to contribute to the candidate profile as part of the search for Dal’s new Provost and Vice-President Academic. The current Provost, Carolyn Watters, is planning to return to the Faculty of Computer Science as of June 30, 2018 to pursue her academic and research interests.

Like other groups across the university, Senators were invited to share thoughts around challenges/opportunities for the role; experience, knowledge, and qualities that should be mandatory for the role; possible interview questions; and names of potential candidates. Senators were also asked specifically for creative ideas as to how candidate meetings with the university community could be undertaken without compromising any confidentiality requirements, sparking considerable debate about the requirement itself. Senators were encouraged to submit further feedback to the committee.

Steps to make diversity and inclusion a reality

Aaron Prosper, student senator and DSU president-elect, shared thoughts and recommendations around various topics related to diversity and inclusion emerging from conversations with his fellow student senators. These included: making the campus Ma’wiomi more accessible to students (avoiding class conflicts); ensuring academic accommodations related to varied religious observations; ensuring that different epistemologies are acknowledged and supported in the classroom; and communicating with students about how to access and use smudging services on campus.

Steps to increase student retention

A new addition to the standing Senate agenda, at each meeting a different presenter will speak about their faculty/department’s initiatives to support student retention.

Vivian Howard, associate dean academic in the Faculty of Management, presented on how Dal’s Bachelor of Management and Bachelor of Commerce programs have modified their first-year courses in two ways: instructors keep attendance for weeks one-to-six (at a minimum) and commit to giving formal feedback to students before week six. The initiative seems well received by both faculty and students, and the Faculty will be measuring the impact on overall retention as well as on students’ grades.

Learn more about the Dalhousie Senate at its website. Minutes for past Senate meetings are available on DalSpace. Minutes for this meeting will be posted once approved by Senate.