UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Board of the Faculty of Arts
Minutes of the meeting of the Board of the Faculty of Arts held on Monday 19 May 2014.
Present:
Professor S Swain (Chair), Dr C Bilton, Dr J Burns, Professor K Butcher, Ms J Cooper,
Dr D Fearn, Dr P-P Fraiture, Professor E Gallafent, Dr J Garde-Hansen, Dr J Gilmore,
Professor N Hewlett, Professor N Holdsworth, Dr K Hooper, Mr M Hulse, Dr C
Jenainati, Dr R King, Professor Marie Luddy, Mrs T Mackinnon, Professor A
Menezes, Dr P Mukherjee, Professor A Reeve, Dr B Roeder, Professor P Scott, Mr
E Stewart, Mr A Thompson.
Apologies:
Dr R Bivins, Dr R Fagge, Professor S Gilson, Professor S Hand, Dr D Lambert, Dr J
Lee, Dr D Lines, Miss K Moozova, Dr H Schmitz, Professor P Smith, Dr T White.
In attendance: Mr R Ball (Item 5), Ms Y Budden (Item 5), Ms C Cadman, Ms R Cooper, Professor M
Freely, Dr J Gardner (Item 8), Ms M Khan (Secretary), Dr Lewycky, Dr D Morley, Dr
L Perrin, Professor M Philp (Item 6), Dr P Roberts, Ms J Sharp, Ms S Tuersley,
Professor L Young (Item 8).
Part 1: Items for discussion/consideration
32/13-14
Minutes
CONSIDERED:
The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 12 February 2014.
RESOLVED:
The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 12 February 2014 be approved.
33/13-14
Membership and elections
(a)
Appointment of the Chair of the Faculty of Arts
CONSIDERED:
A brief report from the Registrar to be read at the meeting as to the
recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor for the appointment of the Chair of the
Faculty.
RESOLVED:
That the recommendation from the Vice Chancellor that Professor Maureen
Freely be appointed Chair of the Faculty of Arts, for the academic year 201415, be approved.
(b)
Board of the Faculty of Arts and its sub-committees
REPORTED:
(i)
The new Deputy Chair will be agreed with the new Faculty Chair.
CONSIDERED:
(ii)
Nominations to the Board of the Faculty of Arts and its sub-committees
for the academic year 2014/15 (paper BFA.17/13-14);
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RESOLVED:
(c)
(A)
That the nominations to the Board of the Faculty of Arts and its SubCommittees for the 2014/15 academic year, as set out in paper
BFA.17/13-14, be approved;
(B)
That Departments would submit any outstanding nominations to the
Secretariat by 27 June 2014 at the latest;
(C)
That the Chair of the Board approve any outstanding appointments on
behalf of the Board.
University-level committees
CONSIDERED:
Nominations on appointments for individuals to represent the Faculty on
University committees for the academic year 2014/15 (paper BFA.18/13-14);
RESOLVED:
(d)
(i)
That the nominations University Committees for the Faculty of Arts for
the 2014/15 academic year, as set out in paper BFA.18/13-14, be
approved;
(ii)
That Departments would submit any outstanding nominations to the
Secretariat by 27 June 2014 at the latest.
Election of Board Members to the Senate
REPORTED:
(i)
That the Senate has six places for representative members of the
Board of the Faculty of Arts appointed by the Board and that continuing
representatives (with their term of appointment in brackets) are as
follows:
Dr C Constable (Film & Television Studies) (2015)
Professor
Alison
Menezes
(Hispanic
Studies)
(2016)
Professor Stephen Shapiro (English and Comparative Literary Studies)
(2016)
(ii)
That there are three vacancies on Senate for representative members
of the Board of the Faculty of Arts for the period 1 August 2014 to 31
July 2017 arising from the end of the term of office of Professor S
Gilson, Professor N Hewlett and Professor M Luddy, and that
nominations from the Board for replacement members were requested
by email on 24 April 2014 to be submitted by 12 May 2014;
(iii)
That, in accordance with University regulations, the majority of the six
Faculty representatives must be Professors and the majority must be
Heads of Departments.
CONSIDERED:
In accordance with University Regulation 2.2, the election of three members
of the Senate from the membership of the Board of the Faculty of Arts for
2013/14 to serve for the period 1 August 2014 to 31 July 2017.
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RESOLVED:
(A)
That, in accordance with University Regulation 2.2, Professor Daniel
Branch (Department of History), Professor David Morley (English and
Comparative Studies) and the new Head of the School of Modern
Languages be elected as members of the Senate to represent the
Faculty of Arts to serve for the period 1 August 2014 to 21 July 2017;
(B)
That the Chair of the Board of Faculty of Arts would communicate to
Board members the appointment of the new Head of the School of
Modern Languages.
RECOMMENDED: (to Senate)
(C)
(e)
That Professor Daniel Branch (Department of History), Professor
David Morley (English and Comparative Studies) and the new Head of
the School of Modern Languages be elected as members of the
Senate to represent the Faculty of Arts to serve for the period 1 August
2014 to 21 July 2017.
First Year Board of Examiners 2012/13
(i)
Membership of the First Year Board of Examiners
RECEIVED:
Departmental membership of the First Year Board of Examiners for the
Faculty of Arts for the academic year 2013/14 for meetings in June and
September 2014 (paper BFA.19/13-14(revised)).
RECOMMENDED: (to Senate)
That the membership of the First Year Board of Examiners for the
Faculty of Arts for the academic year 2013/14 as described in paper
BFA.19/13-14(revised) be approved.
(ii)
Examination Guidelines for the First Year Board of Examiners
RECEIVED:
The guidelines for the First Year Board of Examiners of the Faculty of
Arts (papers BFA.4/06-07 and BFA.30/13-14).
34/13-14
Matters Arising
(a)
Faculty of Arts Doctoral Training Centre (CADRE)
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the incoming Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee of
the Board of the Faculty of Arts.
REPORTED:
(i)
An administrator had been appointment and would be in post in June
2014;
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(ii)
That the Director of CADRE would be engaging with departments
during the summer months to establish what their requirements would
be from the Centre.
(by the Chair):
(b)
(iii)
That the CADRE would be very important to the Faculty and thanked
Dr P Roberts and Professor N Holdsworth for their contributions
throughout the process;
(iv)
That there would be an amalgamation of the CADRE management
board and the Arts Graduate Studies Committee of the Board of the
Faculty of Arts and this would be determined over the summer months.
The Liberal Arts Degree
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the
Board of the Faculty of Arts.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That Dr C Jenainati had been appointed Director of the Liberal Arts
degree programme with effect from 1 August 2014;
(ii)
That the degree was part of the draft goal one in the University’s
Strategy Consultation document.
(by the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee):
(c)
(iii)
That the support and feedback received from the Faculty had been
overwhelmingly positive;
(iv)
That the market research questionnaire would be formulated with the
market research company YouthSight;
(v)
That continued feedback would be sought from departments.
The School of Modern Languages
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair of the Faculty of Arts.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That the School would exist as an entity from 1 August 2014;
(ii)
That staff and students had been consulted throughout the process
and thanked everyone for their contributions;
(iii)
That the nominations process for the Head of School had been
completed and a consultation process was underway;
(iv)
That the decision on the appointment of the Head of School would be
made by the Vice-Chancellor’s Committee for the Appointment of
Heads of Department.
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35/13-14
Chair’s Business
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair on the following:
(a)
(b)
New Faculty-related appointments
(i)
That Ms Mia Khan would be the new Secretariat for the Board of the
Faculty of Arts and its Sub-Committees and would support the Chair
of the Faculty on faculty-wide projects and initiatives;
(ii)
That Ms Sharon Tuersley would provide strategic project-related
support to the Faculty in the newly created role within the University’s
Strategy & Change section;
(iii)
That Ms Claire Cadman and Ms Jennifer Sharp would be the new
Assistant Secretaries to the Arts Undergraduate Studies Committee
and Arts Graduates Studies Committee respectively;
(iv)
That Ms Zara Hooley had been appointed administrator for the CADRE
and would be in post from 23 June 2014;
(v)
That the Faculty was appreciative of the support provided from Ms R
Cooper and Mr M Mik within the Teaching Quality team during the
interim period of replacement of the new Secretariat to the Faculty and
its Sub-Committees.
An Arts Faculty end of term function (proposed date 26 June 2014, 4.30pm,
Venue to be confirmed)
RESOLVED:
That the proposed date and time of the Arts Faculty end of term function be
confirmed.
(c)
Request for names of SSLC Academic Convenors for 2014/15
REPORTED:
(i)
That the Student Engagement Working Group has discussed the
importance of early notification of names of Academic Convenors for
SSLCs;
(ii)
That the names of the Academic Convenors for 2014/15 must be sent
to the Students’ Union by Friday 27 June at the latest;
(by Dr C Jenainati):
(iii)
That the names of SSLC convenors was being communicated to the
Students’ Union and would remind departments to notify the Students’
Union of their Academic Convenors for SSLCs.
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(d)
Gender equality charter mark
REPORTED:
(i)
That the gender equality charter mark aimed to address gender
inequalities and imbalance in the arts, humanities and social sciences,
in particular the underrepresentation of women in senior roles;
(ii)
That the Warwick Business School had been involved in the trial
awards round and had submitted an application in April 2014;
(iii)
That a formal launch of the charter mark would be in October 2014.
RESOLVED:
(iv)
(e)
That the new Chair of the Faculty and the Secretariat would set up a
Faculty Working Group with representation from departments to
explore the requirements of the gender equality charter mark.
Reflection on Faculty developments
REPORTED:
(i)
That the Teaching Review and subsequent Faculty Engagement
review in 2011/ 2012 had promoted a greater sense of cohesion
across the Faculty and acted as a springboard to the development of
the BA in Liberal Arts;
(ii)
That there had been significant development of the Faculty’s teaching
and research provision in Modern Languages through the
establishment of Hispanic Studies;
(iii)
That the establishment of the Sub-Faculty of Modern Languages had
seen the inclusion of the Language Centre in the Faculty of Arts for the
first time;
(iv)
That languages would be further strengthened through the creation of
a School of Modern Languages & Cultures from 1 August 2014;
(v)
That teaching and training at doctoral level would be greatly enhanced
by the new Doctoral Training Centre for the Faculty of Arts, Centre for
Arts Doctoral Research Excellence from 1 August 2014;
(vi)
That the University, endorsed by Council, had committed in its Five
Year Plan to the building of a new Humanities Building based on
principles of community and collaboration to start 2017;
(vii)
That significant improvements had been made to the current
Humanities Building: refurbishment of H0.42 for the use of graduate
students and faculty events, renovation of H4.54 as a bookable
meeting room, faculty-funded provision of wifi throughout Humanities
and plans to ensure the same provision for Arts departments in
Millburn House;
(viii)
That significant work had been undertaken to develop public
engagement and branding activity for the Faculty including a major
revision of faculty and departmental websites to enhance recruitment
and communicate the Faculty’s high-quality research;
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36/13-14
(ix)
That two academic technologist posts had been won for the Faculty to
improve understanding and use of digital humanities tools in teaching
and research;
(x)
That the Faculty had made a highly successful submission to REF
2014;
(xi)
That the Faculty’s research income stood at a record level;
(xii)
That the Chair of the Faculty was especially grateful to the many
people who had contributed significantly to the development of the
Faculty during the past three years including Professor Catherine
Bates, Dr Chris Bilton, Professor Stuart Croft, Ms Kerry Drakeley,
Professor Rebecca Earle, Professor Simon Gilson, Professor Nadine
Holdsworth, Dr Cathia Jenainati, Ms Katie Klaassen, Dr Nadine
Lewycky, Professor Maria Luddy, Professor Jan Palmowski, Dr Liese
Perrin, Dr Penny Roberts, Ms Amber Thomas, the Teaching Quality
Team and sub-committees and board secretaries.
Open Access for REF 2020
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the University Librarian on the implications of recent
announcements from HEFCE regarding open access for REF 2020 (paper
BFA.25/13-14).
REPORTED: (by the Secretariat)
That the presentation slides from the University Librarian would be circulated to Board
members for onward distribution to their departments (paper BFA.28/13-14).
37/13-14
University Research Centres
CONSIDERED:
A proposal from the Research Committee to establish four new University Research
Centres as set out in paper BFA.26/13-14(revised):
a)
European History Research Centre;
b)
Warwick Environmental Systems Interdisciplinary Centre (WES IC)
RECEIVED:
An oral report from Professor M Philp, Department of History, on the proposal to
establish the European History Research Centre.
REPORTED: (by Professor M Philp)
(a)
That the European History Research Centre would be set up within the
Department of History to undertake interdisciplinary and collaborative
research;
(b)
That some start-up funding had been obtained and this would be used to build
collaborations, undertake research that had impact and fund workshops;
RECOMMENDED: (to the Research Committee)
7
(c)
38/13-14
That the European History Research Centre and the Warwick Environmental
Systems Interdisciplinary Centre (WES IC) proposals be approved.
WP Update
CONSIDERED:
A paper from the Administrative Officer, Widening Participation, on progress to date
in the Faculty of Arts with the Widening Participation agenda (paper BFA.20/13-14).
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That Ms L Evans, WP Link Officer, be thanked for the support provided to the Faculty.
39/13-14
The Teaching and Learning Building
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resources) and
the Senior Assistant Registrar (Space Management and Timetabling) on the Teaching
and Learning Building.
REPORTED: (by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resources))
(a)
That the proposed building would cost £15 million and be located on the Tocil
field site;
(b)
That the building would include a 500 seater lecture theatre, with the
possibility of being divided into smaller spaces;
(c)
That the building was a strategic priority for the University and would need to
be in place for use by academic year 2015/16;
(d)
That details would be sent out before plans were finalised;
RECOMMENDED: (to Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resources)
and the Senior Assistant Registrar (Space Management and Timetabling)
(e)
That the new building should encompass a mixture of large and small
teaching spaces;
(f)
That some departments within the Faculty are moving away from large
group teaching to small seminar teaching and the new building should
include multiple spaces to deliver varied teaching styles;
(g)
That technological future proofing of the building was taken into account to
ensure that the building did not become unable to support new and
innovative ways of delivery learning and teaching;
(h)
That the design of the new building should be ‘green’ and ecological;
(i)
That the building should be accessible to book for academic-related events;
(j)
That the consultation process should include all Departments;
RESOLVED:
(k)
That any further comments should be sent to the Chair for collation.
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40/13-14
Marketing Communications Update
(a)
Webpages
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Arts Impact Officer on current developments with the
Faculty of Arts and Departmental webpages.
REPORTED: (by the Arts Impact Officer)
(b)
(i)
That the Faculty webpages were almost complete;
(ii)
That the CADRE webpages would be launched in summer 2014;
(iii)
That the second phase of website developments would involve the
staff profile pages and to create a more coherent and unified layout
across all departments;
(iv)
That direction on content and layout of staff pages would be sought
from Mr J Bell (SARO) and all staff profiles would be moved to the new
layout by the end of summer 2014;
Marketing Meeting
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Arts Impact Officer.
41/13-14
(i)
That a meeting was held with the University’s marketing team to obtain
guidance on branding for the Faculty of Arts;
(ii)
That the Faculty would need to draft the key messages it wanted to
promote;
(iii)
That a meeting with the new and continuing Heads of Departments,
undergraduate directors/admissions would be held to brainstorm ideas
and themes for the Faculty;
(iv)
That a Faculty Public Engagement and Impact Working Group had
been set up to facilitate the process of creating an image, brand and
marketing the Faculty internally and externally.
Student Representatives’ Issues
RECEIVED:
Oral reports from the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate and Postgraduate student
Representatives.
REPORTED: (by the PG Student Representative)
(a)
That a new Postgraduate Employment Charter had been launched by the
NUS and UCU;
(b)
That the Students’ Union would support the Postgraduate Employment
Charter and would ask the University for open support of the Charter.
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42/13-14
Arts Undergraduate Studies Committee
REPORTED:
That the unconfirmed minutes of the meeting of the Undergraduate Studies
Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Arts held on 14 May 2014 (paper BFA.21/1314).
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Faculty.
REPORTED: (by the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Faculty)
(a)
That there would be new guidelines for the First Year Board of Examiners,
applicable to students who commenced their course of study in September
2013 or later and all departments had been informed;
(b)
That, following the QAA Institutional Review, all External Examiner reports
would need to be circulated to SSLCs from the current academic year
2013/14;
(c)
That three departments had moved to anonymised exam grids at
departmental exam board meetings and this would be discussed at the next
meeting of the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Studies Committee;
(d)
That no student representative attended any of the meetings in the academic
year 2013/14 and the representatives for the 2014/15 academic year would
be encouraged to attend the meetings.
(by the Chair)
(e)
43/13-14
That the Chair and members of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the
Board of the Faculty of Arts be thanked for their efforts during the 2013/14
academic year.
Arts Graduate Studies Committee
REPORTED:
That the unconfirmed minutes of the meeting of the Graduate Studies Committee of
the Board of the Faculty of Arts held on 13 May 2014 (paper BFA.22/13-14).
RECEIVED:
(a)
An oral report from the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee of the
Faculty.
REPORTED: (by the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee of the Faculty)
(i)
That the Warwick taught Masters scholarship scheme was open and
would close on 16 June 2014;
(ii)
That the draft University Strategy omitted reference to postgraduate
taught students;
(iii)
That, following the QAA Institutional Review, all postgraduate taught
External Examiner reports would need to be circulated to SSLCs from
the current academic year 2013/14;
10
(b)
(iv)
That there was discussion around the variety of potential models
available to allow for funding of postgraduate studies such as an
integrated 1 + 3, or a 3 + 1 model;
(v)
That there was discussion around the sustainability of MA programs
within the Faculty and consideration on rationalising / diversifying such
programmes.
A paper from the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Postgraduate and Transnational
Education) on the review of the Warwick Graduate School (paper BFA.27/1314) was tabled.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That comments from departments to the review paper should be sent to the
Chair.
44/13-14
Arts Faculty Research Committee
RECEIVED:
The minutes of the meeting of the Arts Faculty Research Committee held on 5 March
2014 (paper BFA.23/13-14).
REPORTED: (by the Research Development Manager (Arts))
45/13-14
(a)
That award values for 2013/14 for the Faculty were £4 million with notable
success in large collaborative grants;
(b)
That the Faculty Research Review Group was helpful in supporting colleagues
review applications and providing constructive feedback.
Items for Discussion at Senate
CONSIDERED:
Items for discussion at the next meeting of the Senate.
RESOLVED:
(a)
That the following items be recommended by the Board of the Faculty of Arts
in the next report for the Senate’s consideration:
(i)
The nominations of Professor Daniel Branch (Department of History),
Professor David Morley (English and Comparative Studies) and the
new Head of the School of Modern Languages be elected as members
of the Senate to represent the Faculty of Arts to serve for the period 1
August 2014 to 21 July 2017 (item 33(d)(iii)(C)/13-14 above);
(ii)
The revised FYBOE membership list for 2013/14 (paper BFA.19/1314(revised)).
(iii)
Membership of the Board of the Faculty of Arts and its SubCommittees (papers BFA.17&18/13-14) with the nominations to the
Board of the Faculty of Arts and its sub-committees, received up until
12 May 2014 from Departments. The Board resolved that all
nominations received were approved by the Board and it is
recommended to Senate that the nominations are approved for those
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committees appointed by Senate. The Board resolved that any
nominations to any outstanding vacancies would be approved by
Chair’s action on behalf of the Board.
46/13-14
(iv)
The BA in Liberal Arts.
(v)
The School of Modern Languages.
(vi)
The new Humanities Building.
Any Other Business
That Professor Jenainati thanked the Chair for his work over the last three years.
Part 2: items to report without discussion
47/13-14
University Policy on the Timing of the Provision of Feedback to Students on Assessed
Work
RECEIVED:
Headline data considered by the sub-group and the sub-committees of the Board
(paper BFA.24/13-14).
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