Posted on May 12: May 10 Senate meeting highlights
McMaster's University Senate met Monday, May 10. Below are highlights from this meeting.
Origins Institute
Questions such as “how and why did the universe begin” and “how did stars, galaxies and planets form” may one day be answered with help from a proposed Origins Institute (OI) in McMaster's Faculty of Science.
Senate approved the establishment of an OI, for recommendation to the Board of Governors.
“The Origins Institute is one of the most exciting initiatives to emerge in the Faculty of Science in the past number of years,” said dean of science Peter Sutherland. “This interdisciplinary program, that involves research, education and public outreach, addresses some of the great questions of the 20th century.”
Fields involved in OI include astrophysics, physics, biology and biochemistry, mathematics, geology, chemistry, anthropology and advanced computational and visualization techniques. The OI, unique in Canada, will rest on three pillars of activity: interdisciplinary research, public outreach and undergraduate education.
Clinical research associate certificate courses
Senate approved a new clinical research associate (CRA) certificate course. The course is designed for mature students who already have clinical experience and want to participate in clinical trials at hospitals, universities and the pharmaceutical industry, as a clinical research associate.
The CRA was developed to train individuals interested in pursuing a career in managing and implementing clinical trials and to develop and strengthen their knowledge in applied research methodologies and research ethics.
The program consists of five courses, each covering about 50 hours of class time in addition to homework and applied tasks. The five small-group, problem-solving-based classes are: clinical trial research co-ordinator certificate course; research ethics and regulatory affairs; critical analysis and advancement of writing and communication skills; clinical trial methodologies in practice; and statistics, databases, and the internet in clinical research.
Forfeit of in-course awards policy
A policy related to the forfeit of in-course awards has been revised so that a student who will graduate next fall or transfer to medicine, after having been named for a donor award, would be allowed to retain both the transcript notation and any monetary benefit.
The Undergraduate Council Awards Committee specified that recipients of The Dr. Harry Lyman Hooker Scholarship and Senate Scholarships who choose to graduate before the next session will retain the transcript notation but not the monetary benefits. A student who voluntarily withdraws from the University after having been named for an award will retain the notation, but not the benefits.
Committee to Recommend a President membership
Student senator Mohanad Elshafie has been appointed the undergraduate student representative on the Committee to Recommend a President. Elshafie is replacing Sean Park, a student member of Senate, who resigned because of opportunities that took him away from the Hamilton area.
Teaching/non teaching staff election results
John Berlinsky, physics and astronomy professor, and Timothy Davidson, assistant professor of electrical and computing engineering, were elected representatives on the University Planning Committee for three-year terms beginning July 1, 2004.
Because of technical problems, results of the election of a non-teaching staff representative on UPC is being re-run. The results will be reported to the June meeting of Senate. Click here for more information.
