In a recent letter issued on May 11, 2015 the Deans of the Faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences and Science called for us to consider possible future directions for the three Faculties, driven by a desire to support student outcomes and research excellence.   In collaboration with the Deans I have agreed to establish a task force to provide guidance to the community on this matter. The Deans’ letter lays out why they feel that we should consider these issues at this time and also provides terms of reference for this task force.

The purpose of this note is to announce the establishment of this task force with the following membership:

Gary Warner (chair)

Carolyn Eyles (Science)

Bhagwati Gupta (Science)

Wayne Lewchuk (Social Sciences)

Daniel Machiela (Social Sciences)

Mary O’Connor (Humanities)

Wil Waluchow (Humanities)

I am grateful to this esteemed group of colleagues for agreeing to take on this important task. I have asked that they provide me and the deans with a report that lays out some possible future directions and approaches. In the course of their deliberations they will consider best practices and promising trends from other institutions as well as what approaches are best suited to McMaster. They will also be listening to the views and aspirations of the McMaster community. Following the presentation of their report we will engage in further consultation within the university to consider what changes might be implemented.

David Wilkinson
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
May 26, 2015