UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
PLANNING AND PRIORITIES COMMITTEE
REQUEST FOR DECISION
PRESENTED BY:
John Rigby, Chair, Planning and Priorities Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
June 19, 2008
SUBJECT:
Approval of Department Name Changes in the College of
Arts and Science
DECISION REQUESTED:
It is recommended:
Motion #1
That Council approve the change of name of the
Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology to the
Department of Religion and Culture, effective July 1, 2008.
Motion #2
That Council approve the change of name of the
Department of Archaeology to the Department of
Archaeology and Anthropology, effective July 1, 2008.
Motion #3
That Council approve the change of name of the
Department of Geography to the Department of Geography
and Planning, effective July 1, 2008.
PURPOSE:
Council approval is requested based upon the rationale of the new names more closely
reflecting the academic interests of the departments.
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND:
The proposed name changes for the Departments of Religious Studies and Anthropology,
Archaeology, and Geography are reflective of recent structural and programming changes
within the College of Arts and Science. The name changes were approved by the
Division of Humanities and Fine Arts and Division of Social Sciences, respectively, as
well as by the Faculty Council of the College of Arts and Science.
IMPLICATIONS:
The names of the academic programs presently offered by the Departments and course
labels are not being changed at this time.
CONSULTATION:
The College of Arts and Science consulted with related Departments regarding the
proposed name changes.
FURTHER ACTION REQUIRED:
Communication of the name change will be coordinated by the College and Departments.
ATTACHMENTS:
Memo from Associate Deans Stoicheff and Dickinson dated May 6, 2008
MEMORANDUM
TO:
The Planning and Priorities Committee of Council
FROM: Peter Stoicheff, Associate Dean, Humanities and Fine Arts
Harley Dickinson, Acting Associate Dean, Social Sciences
RE:
Three Departmental Name Changes
DATE: May 6, 2008
The College of Arts and Science, at its most recent Faculty Meeting of April 28th, passed
the following three motions, the first two of which are closely related to one another:
1. the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology be renamed the Department of
Religion and Culture;
2. the Department of Archaeology be renamed the Department of Archaeology and
Anthropology;
3. the Department of Geography be renamed the Department of Geography and Planning.
We are writing now to request that the Planning and Priorities Committee review the
reasons for these three motions and recommend to Council that the name changes
contained in them be approved.
Motions 1 & 2:
The APC requested on March 8th that the Anthropology program be strengthened and
well resourced in order to continue. To achieve these goals, a revised program was
designed, presented to the APC and approved by that committee on May 1st. A crucial
aspect of the revised program’s vision and purpose involves it moving from its current
home in the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology and merging with the
current Department of Archaeology. This move will allow the revised Anthropology
program to share a departmental home with the program it is academically and
pedagogically connected with (Archaeology) and whose courses are frequent
prerequisites for Anthropology students. Too, and very importantly, the move will allow
the participation of many other Anthropologists at the University, currently in other
Departments in Arts and Science and in other Colleges, who are crucial to the program’s
delivery. Finally, through their participation, a strong research profile is likely to be
achieved in the near future, and a graduate program in Medical Anthropology that will be
unique in the country and attractive to potential graduate students in this significant field
will be an immediate possibility.
The transfer of the Anthropology program to the current Department of Archaeology has
consequences for the Religious Studies program in the current Department of Religious
Studies and Anthropology. Essentially, the Religious Studies program will expand in the
following four ways as a result. First, it will rebuild its teaching and research
relationships with the Saskatoon Theological Union (STU) colleges with whom it had
strong ties in the past, thus enlarging its course offerings and increasing its expertise at
the undergraduate level in the area of Western religions. Second, its relationships with the
STU colleges will allow it to design and carry a graduate program in the near future in
that area. Third, the current Religious Studies program will hire a tenure-track position in
Chinese Religions, thus building its strength in the area of Eastern Religions. Fourth, and
most significantly for the name-change proposal to Religion and Culture, it will expand
its curriculum and its research in the secular study of the religion’s global impact by
forging curricular connections with a number of related Departments such as History,
Sociology, Political Studies, Art and Art History, Drama, English and so on.
For these reasons, the Faculty of the College of Arts and Science approved the motions to
rename the two Departments concerned.
Motion 3
The addition of “Planning” to the departmental name is motivated by the integration of
Geography and the Regional & Urban Development (RUD) program. The RUD program
is professionally accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). In its most recent
accreditation review, CIP indicated that giving the RUD program a departmental home is
one of the conditions for retaining accreditation. Given the strong presence of Geography
faculty on the RUD Administration Committee, the number of planning-related courses
offered by the Department, and the Department’s long history of involvement in the RUD
program, the Department of Geography is a natural home for the RUD program. To
provide visibility of the RUD program within and outside of the University, to provide an
unequivocal indication that the program is integrated into a department, and to address
accreditation requirements, the department decided to add “Planning” to the departmental
name, thereby creating the Department of Geography & Planning.
This took place at a meeting of the Department faculty members on Friday October 26,
2007. Following discussion a motion to change the name of the Department of
Geography to Geography and Planning was moved, seconded and passed with no
negative votes.
Following the departmental meeting of October 26, 2007, the following programs,
departments and colleges were consulted regarding the proposed name change: Regional
and Urban Planning, Biology, Geological Sciences, Soil Science, Toxicology, and
Agriculture and Bioresources. All comments received supported the name change.
The Faculty of the College of Arts & Science subsequently also approved the name
change.