Senate Highlights – October 28, 2019

Following meetings 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.

New Program proposal: PhD in Psychiatry Research, Faculty of Medicine

Senate approved the creation of a new PhD in Psychiatry Research program in the Department of Psychiatry that will focus on research into understanding and treating psychiatric disorders. Professor Sherry Stewart said the three-to-five-year program is a “natural extension” of the successful Master’s in Psychiatry Research launched a few years ago.

A high rate of interest is expected for the program, which will be one of only a few of its kind in the country and offer some areas of specialization that are distinct from competitors’ offerings. Dr. Stewart said a number of students in the master’s stream already want to move on.

New Program proposal: Masters of Digital Innovation, Faculty of Computer Science

Another new program, a Masters of Digital Innovation, was approved by Senate. The program is built on a 20-year collaboration between the Faculties of Law, Management and Computer Science, which resulted in programs such as the Master’s of Electronic Commerce and Master’s of Health Informatics.

Andrew Rau-Chaplin, dean of the Faculty of Computer Science (the program’s administrative hub), said this new program refreshes the academic vision of this interdisciplinary collaboration and responds to changing needs. “Mass digitization is transforming one industry after another. Whether you are in health care or fisheries, banking or entertainment, what’s happening in the digital sphere is fundamentally affecting how decisions are made in terms of the use of data, analytics, how we connect to customers, suppliers, patients, family,” said Dr. Rau-Chaplin.

The program will help train individuals to build experience with digital technology, analytics, artificial intelligence, social, media technologies, and to apply both technical and management skills to advance digital initiatives, said Dr. Rau-Chaplin.

Classroom Recording Protocol

After some discussion, Senate voted to postpone a motion to approve a new Classroom Recording Protocol that was designed to govern the use of recorded lectures by instructors and students. The protocol was developed amid a growing body of research showing the benefits of recording lectures to student success.

Donna Bourne-Tyson, University Librarian, presented the Protocol, which lays out the parameters of recording as it relates to protecting intellectual property rights of instructors and maintaining the privacy rights of students. Originally brought to the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee for approval in early 2019, the protocol was later revised  to clarify the relationship of the protocol vis-à-vis the University’s Accommodation Policy.

Presentation of Lloyd Fraser Award

Senate awarded Faculty of Management faculty member and former Senator Mike Smit the second-annual Lloyd Fraser Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the university academic governing body. Lloyd Fraser himself, who served as chair of Dalhousie Senate between 2007-2014, presented the award to Dr. Smit. “What a wonderful opportunity we all have for leadership within Senate,” said Dr. Fraser in his opening remarks. Dr. Smit said he feels “incredibly fortunate” and “proud” to work at Dalhousie. “I believe as long as people are willing to get up in the morning and come in and frankly point out the things that we are not doing well, but also roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty and fix the things they want to fix, I think that we can all be proud of what we do here. And thanks to you as Senators for rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty doing all the work that you do.”

Senate Reports

Senate Chair Kevin Hewitt noted that Senators were going to be asked to engage in the university’s strategic planning process through upcoming think-tank sessions and in the university budget process through the Senate Planning and Governance Committee (SPGC). He said consultation with SPGC would inform the academic priorities from Senate’s perspective and be fed into the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) process, which determines the deployment of resources through the annual operating budget.

Katherine Harman, Senate vice-chair, academic affairs, noted that registration for the Forum on Embedding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning on Nov. 13 filled up within 24 hours, leading organizers to offer livestream and recorded version of the morning session.  She said the forum should be seen as a starting point for discussions around embedding EDI efforts into academic programs.

Senator Angela Siegel, Senate vice-chair, student affairs, said Senators were being asked to chair teaching award committees. She said the position is heavily supported by the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and is an opportunity to learn about the many great things taking place across campus.

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.