Report of the Planning Committee
to University Council
March 15, 2001
Items for Action
1. Merger of Classics and History (Appendix One).
The Planning Committee recommends that Council approve the following motion:
That the merger of the departments of Classics and History be approved.
The College of Arts and Science has requested approval for the merger of the departments of Classics
and History. The department will remain under the name of the Department of History. The Planning
Committee forwarded this request to the Academic Programs Committee to review its impact, if any, on
academic programs. The Academic Programs Committee expressed concern about the future of the Classical
and Near Eastern Archaeology program. The Planning Committee received assurances from the Dean of Arts
and Science that resources would continue to be provided to this program, as described in Dean Coates’ memo
of Feb. 16, 2001. Documentation for this merger is in Appendix One.
Please note that approval of the merger by Council does not imply approval of the proposed new
program or the program deletions which are also referred to in the documentation. A new program in Classical,
Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) and deletion of most of the existing Classics programs was
approved by Arts and Science faculty at its meeting in December. This proposal is now under review by the
committees of Council.
2. College of Agriculture – revisions to the Diploma in Agriculture program (Appendix Two).
The Planning Committee recommends that Council approve the following motion:
That the revisions to the Diploma in Agriculture program, as described in Appendix Two, be approved.
This proposal was supported by both the Budget Committee and the Academic Programs Committee.
The Budget Committee also considered the APC position on transition costs but recommended to the university
administration that transition costs be funded to implement these changes.
Items for Information
Systematic Program Review
The procedures for Systematic Program Review require that the Planning Committee reports to Council about
SPR outcomes. We have now received the category outcomes from the Vice-President Academic and the Dean
of Graduate Studies and Research for the 1999-2000 round, and will be reviewing them over the next month..
We intend to report to the April meeting of Council if possible
Other issues
The Planning Committee said in January that it expected to bring a motion to this Council meeting to
finalize the Priority Determination Process. This motion has been delayed until the final report on the program
is completed. The Committee is also working on a number of other reports which we expect will be presented
to Council over the next few months, including the development of a process for Program Termination,
discussion of additional strategies to achieve the goals of Council, and nursing quotas.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Committee,
_______________________________________
Jene Porter, Chair
Committee members:
R.P. MacKinnon, President
M. Atkinson, Vice-President (Academic)
A.J. Whitworth, Vice-President (Finance
and Administration)
M. Corcoran, Vice-President (Research)
J. Wallace (USSU academic vice-president)
N. Hipkin (GSA president)
R. Thompson (Sessional Lecturer)
R.E. Bilson
S. Fowler-Kerry
D. Harris
G. Khachatourians
F. Leighton
P. Li
W.W.E. Slights
E.B. Waygood
B.L. Dubray, University Studies Group
P.M. Melis, Office of the Vice-President
(Academic)
C. Fornssler, Committee Coordinator, Office
of the University Secretary