Highlights from Senate, Board of Governors meetings

Geoffrey Rockwell, associate professor in McMaster's School of the Arts, provided an overview on the McMaster Burlington campus project.

Rockwell described the campus as three academical villages, comprised of 1,500 to 2,000 students in each, with a 20 per cent graduate component. The villages will be small, intimate communities, he said, adding he expects the first class will enroll in 2007 and graduate in 2011.

The villages will be embedded in the City of Burlington and programs will extend into the community, with students bringing issues back in to the classroom and making it part of their learning, he explained. “The lines between the community and the University will be hard to see.”

“We want to offer a different kind of first-year experience. One of the things we offer here on campus is breadth. In Burlington we want to create a more intimate environment,” he said, adding this type of learning experience will help ease the transition from high school to university.

“When I imagine the graduating class of 2011, I don't imagine students who have just come off a grueling set of exams, but have come off a celebration and festival of interactive projects,” he said.

He said the Burlington campus will not be a “mini McMaster”, but something that will complement the main campus.

“We're in the stage where we're planning the planning process,” said Rockwell, who added a draft business plan will be presented to Senate and the Board of Governors in February. As well, a planning charter will require in principal approval from McMaster and Burlington to enter the next stage of the planning process.

Burlington mayor Rob MacIsaac was invited to the Board of Governors meeting. He said: “Burlington is really energized about this corporately in the community. This is a priority for us and we are really trying to make this happen.”

Said President Peter George: “This is a very exciting project and I know there are a lot of detailed issues that need to be addressed but the concept is very exciting and it fits well with our strategic vision for McMaster.”

More information on this project will be published on the Daily News in the New Year.

McMaster released its final graduate and undergraduate enrolment numbers.

Final enrolment figures for the 2004-2005 academic year show full-time undergraduate enrolment is 17,691, with 4,935 students enrolled in level 1. In total, 3,050 students are enrolled part-time. These figures include students in the collaborative Mohawk nursing program.
Last year, total full-time enrolment was 16,703, with 5,574 enrolled in first year and 2,809 part-time students.

At the graduate level, 2,298 full-time students and 370 part-time students are enrolled. Last year, McMaster enrolled 2,263 full-time and 367 part-time graduate students.

Of the 4,935 first-year students who came to McMaster this year, 77 per cent received an Honour Awards scholarship, given to entering students who earn at least 80 per cent in their final year of secondary school. Last year, 81 per cent of the first-year class received the award, up from 52 per cent in 2000-01, when the award program was introduced.

“It is difficult to imagine a financial planning environment with greater uncertainty than the one that Ontario universities now face,” begins a summary on McMaster's three-year financial plan.

Three financial scenarios have been modeled, including a conservative, a mid-level and an optimistic approach. Each scenario is based on government funding commitments.

There are a number of unknowns in preparing financial plans, specifically with regard to the level of government funding, says the report. “The level of uncertainty is even greater this year, with the promise of heightened awareness of the need for additional funding and tuition flexibility. The report from the Rae Commission, due in January 2005, is expected to influence the 2005/06 budget and to support increases in operating funding and tuition flexibility that will enable Ontario universities to enhance quality.”

A business plan for a new student residence was approved and University management was authorized to negotiate an external source of financing for the new building for up to $20 million.

The new student residence will be located on the north end of central campus near Hedden Hall. It will be constructed to accommodate approximately 400 students on campus in time for the fall 2006 school term. Construction is scheduled to begin by March 2005.

Construction of a new residence meets the goals of Refining Directions, by offering a residence bed to all new first-year students, instead of those who meet a particular admission average. This is currently the policy of several universities, such as Waterloo, Guelph and Western. The second driver for building the new residence is so that McMaster can house more of its students on campus.

Academic Integrity (AI) Officer Andrea Thyret-Kidd provided a report of activity since the AI Office was created in September 2002.

The total number of dishonesty cases dealt with during the 2003-04 academic year totaled 250, involving 247 students from undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs. This represents about 1 per cent of the student population. Fifty-six per cent of cases involved plagiarism and 26 per cent involved cheating on a test or exam. Ninety-three per cent are first-time offenders, resulting in a grade reduction or mark of zero, 79 per cent of the time. Six suspensions and four expulsions were levied this year.

“The number of cases is higher than in previous years, which is not unexpected,” says the report. “As instructors were given guidance on issues of integrity and prevention ideas were implemented, it was expected that more students would be found cheating.”

The report notes that this trend may continue, but increased educational efforts for students and improved prevention techniques should reduce the incidence of academic dishonesty.

A report from the Ombuds Office notes that from August 1, 2003 to April 30, 2004, 319 cases were reported, an increase of 12 per cent from the same nine-month period last year.

Eighty per cent of the cases involved students, and of these, 19 per cent involved academic misconduct; 15 per cent were grade appeals and 10 per cent involved examinations. The most common non-academic cases were fees (27 per cent), other (21 per cent, ie. safety, costs of books, etc) and residence (14 per cent).

The Unit for Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences will be re-classified as a department, effective July 2005.

Since it's establishment in 1999, the unit has grown academically and administratively into a distinct identity within the context of the academic mission of the Faculty of Science. It is now comprised of 11 faculty members and 3.8 administrative staff members. It administers undergraduate program in medical and health physics, and in collaboration with Mohawk College, a new undergraduate program in medical radiation sciences. It also administers graduate programs in health and radiation physics and medical physics.

A policy for postdoctoral fellows has been approved. The policy aims to treat postdoctoral fellows at McMaster as a coherent group, regardless of the source of their funding and enhance McMaster's appeal as a location at which to hold a fellowship. As well, the policy includes an expansion to major medical and dental insurance benefits.

Components of the document were adapted from policies at the University of Ottawa.

Senate approved the establishment of a “Salim Yusuf Chair in Cardiology”, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. As the academic head of cardiology, the five-year chair position will focus on the field of cardiology, and address scientific uncertainty and advancement.

A joint masters program in transatlantic public policy and the global economy, offered in conjunction with the University of Toronto, has been closed.

The program, launched in the mid 1990s, was initially well funded by Canadian and European governments, with the hope that it would become a self-sustaining collaborative program. Despite initial success, the program became difficult to sustain when the funding ended.

While this program is ending, another is being established within the Department of Economics. A new MA in economic policy will provide graduate-level training in economics with an applied, policy orientation. Requiring one year to complete, the program will have interdisciplinary elements, but will lead to an economics degree. It is expected to attract individuals interested in working in public service, a non-governmental agency or a similar organization.

Because of an increased number of students graduating, spring convocation will be scheduled during the sixth full week following the completion of April examinations and one additional day will be added to convocation. This is to ensure the Office of the Registrar has more time to prepare and check student academic requirements, publish convocation materials and accommodate an increased number of graduating nursing students.

As well, procedures have been established for the hooding of graduating students. For graduate students, only doctoral supervisors, master's thesis advisors and individuals holding academic rank at McMaster or members of the Chancellors procession will be permitted to hood candidates. For undergraduate students, only individuals holding an academic rank at McMaster or members of the Chancellors procession will be permitted to hood candidates. Requests to hood candidates are required, in writing, to the Office of the Registrar at least 48 hours before the first convocation ceremony.