Unconfirmed
SCHOOL of HUMANITIES
MINUTES of the THIRD meeting of 2006/2007 of the School Board
held on Wednesday 7 February 2007, at 2.15pm in QA063, Maritime Greenwich Campus
Items marked with
are to be put before the Academic Council
Present:
Jane Longmore (Chair)
Kirsten Guindi (Secretary)
Thomas Acton
Alessandro Benati
Margaret Cannon
Sandra Clarke
Rosamund Davies
Andrew Dawson
Sue Edwards
June Ernstzen
Sue Golding
Selina Goulbourne
Rebecca Harrison
Suzanne Healey
Caroline Hull
Peter Humm
Maria Kaspersson
Lorraine Lacey
Michael Langan
Angela Laycock
Miranda Lundskaer-Nielson
Mairead McClean
Dev Moodley
Corinne Palmer-Brown
Steve Peacock
Zoe Pettit
Gavin Rand
Nina Rapi
Gauti Sigthorsson
Caroline Smith
Bob Tsukada Bright
Douglas Stuart
David Waterworth
Richard Wild
Michael Zell
Nandini Dasgupta
Harry Derbyshire
John Dunne
Simon Dye
Michael Fiddler
Pippa Guard
Sitheshini Jayakumar
Peter Jones
Cécile Laval
Matt Lee
Stefan Manz
John Mclean
Craig Morris
Matilde Nardelli
Sharon Norris
Mike Ottley
Xosé Rosales
Mick Ryan
Silvia Stanton
Ian Thompson
Jim Urpeth
John Williams
Paul Wingrove
Carol Withey
Apologies:
Alev Adil
Sally Alsford
June Balshaw
Louise Bell
Mick Bowles
Carolyn Brown
Noel Campbell
Terry Cannon
Anne Cormack
1.
Welcome and apologies
The Chair welcomed the Board to the third meeting of 2006/2007. Apologies were received as
above.
The Chair asked the Board to consider changing the start time of the School Board to 2.00pm.
This will be discussed at the next meeting.
2.
Chair’s announcements
 The Board wished to record their sadness at the death of Francis Duke, a former
colleague. The Chair confirmed that the collection has been donated to two charities
chosen by Francis’ family.
 The Board congratulated Kate Marshal, ILS, on the birth of her baby daughter.
 The Chair announced that Richard Wild has been appointed as the new Postgraduate
Senior Tutor.
3.
Minutes of the last meeting (6 December 2006)
The minutes were recorded as an accurate record.
Page 1 of 5
4.
5.
Matters arising
4.1
National Student Survey (Ref: 5)
The Chair reminded the Board that the National Student Survey for 2007 is now in
progress and highlighted the importance of encouraging all their final year students to
participate. Christine Cooper from Planning and Statistics has confirmed that the
returns for Humanities are currently lower than the University average. The Chair
confirmed that Students will be contacted over the coming weeks but they will still need
further encouragement from academic staff.
4.2
Crowded Seminar Rooms (Ref: 7.3)
The School Management Group (SMG) discussed this issue at their meeting on Monday
5 February and agreed that they will support the proposal to limit seminar sizes to 20
students in the first year. The SMG agreed that this would help student support and
retention.
4.3
Disclosure of exam marks to students (Ref: 7.4)
The Chair reported that this matter was highlighted at Academic Council and it was
agreed to no longer publish exam marks before they have been finalised.
4.4
Taught Postgraduate Students (Ref: 8)
To be discussed further by the School Research and Enterprise Committee.
Approval of External Examiners
The Chair announced that the External Examiner for Creative Writing sadly passed away last
month. She has written a letter of condolence on behalf of the School to his family.
6.
Annual Reporting and Planning Document (ARPD)
 The Chair pointed out that the current document is a draft and staff are welcome to
make suggestions or comments (the final ARPD will be handed to the Vice Chancellor
Group on Friday 16 February).
 This is the final ARPD before the Humanities Review takes place in the autumn.
 The report has been written in line with the Corporate Plan (copies of which are
available from the School Office).
 The Board were asked to look at the sections on Student Support, Retention and
Employability, in particular the second bullet point regarding the falling progression
and completion rates for black and minority ethnic students. This issue was also raised
at the Board of Governors and the Chair asked the Board to consider how, as a School,
we could help struggling students.
 Several suggestions were put forward including:
i.
More time available for Student Support
ii.
Smaller seminar groups
iii. Financial advice within the School
iv. One to one tutorials
v.
Monitoring students who request withdrawal forms
vi. Departmental Support
vii. More information on the Access to Learning Fund (Hardship Fund)
 A Student Support Group has been set up and will meet every three weeks to tackle
these issues. The Board approved the ARPD.
ACTION:
The Chair agreed that the relevant statistics be sent to each department.
7.
School Learning and Quality minutes (24 Jan 2007)
7.1
Employability (Ref: 6)
The Chair thanked June Balshaw for the proposals she has introduced to improve
Employability in the School.
The Chair asked for suggestions and ideas for the
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ACTION:
8.
Employability Conference for Students due to be held in June. The Chair informed the
Committee that the newly formed Law Advisory Forum has proved that there are
employers who are willing to help in this matter. It was suggested that successful
graduates with a wide variety of backgrounds should be invited to attend.
The Learning and Quality Committee to provide more information on the
Employability Conference and any suggestions to be sent to June Balshaw.
School Research and Enterprise minutes (17 Jan 2007)
No matters arising.
9.
e-Learning, Gavin Rand
GR invited the Board to take up the e-learning workshops due to be held in the first week of the
summer term. RD expressed concern that many teaching rooms do not have up to date
equipment. MZ confirmed that although the University will be upgrading web access there
are currently no plans to increase visual equipment due to a lack of resources. SC pointed out
that every student has access to WebCT and staff can use this as an extra teaching tool.
ACTION:
Staff to email GR with suggestions or comments.
10.
Marketing

SE reported that the School now has a small budget for Marketing. A School Marketing
Group has been set up and they are looking for two more Reps (for Law and SCCS).

CH has been working on the marketing for Drama, Journalism and Creative Industries
which has involved updating the programme information and designing new A5
leaflets. The Committee noted that the official School of Humanities colour is red.

The next Humanities Open Day is on Saturday 24 February. Red t-shirts have been
organised for the Ambassadors as well as key rings and pens (displaying our telephone
number) as free gifts for potential students.

CH is continuing to update the website and is happy to advise staff on how their web
pages could be filled. SE asked staff to send information for their web pages directly to
CH.
ACTION:
Law and SCCS to choose a Rep for the Marketing Group.
SE to email all staff with the list of Marketing Group members.
Staff to email web information to CH.
11.
University Prizes Group
The Chair informed the Board that two Humanities prizes will be given this year to the
Undergraduate and the (Taught) Postgraduate students with the highest overall level of
assessment marks. The prizes will be presented at the graduation ceremony and they are
intended to celebrate the achievement of our students. Some members of the Board suggested
that students may benefit more from a department prize. The Chair agreed that this could be
possible if the department prize was linked to an Employer, such as the Law Prize. The Board
agreed that this should be reviewed in one year.
12.
Health & Safety, Steve Peacock

SP confirmed that the office inspections will be starting again next week and asked staff
to email him if they think they have been missed.

The draft Health and Safety report will be emailed to staff shortly and SP asked for any
comments to be emailed.

SE and LL will be finishing the Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessments over the
coming weeks (for new staff or existing staff with new equipment).

SP asked for two volunteers to be Fire Wardens (based in King William Court 2nd and 3rd
Floors). The Chair reported that the reason we keep having fire drills is because we
keep failing them by not evacuating the building quickly enough. SP asked staff to
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ACTION:
13.
ensure that everyone leaves as quickly as possible by the nearest exit to avoid
congestion.
Two volunteers to be Fire Wardens in King William Court.
Any Other Business
13.1
Postgraduate Meeting Room
SG informed the Board about the new Postgraduate Meeting Room in Queen Mary 015,
which is equipped with computers and tea and coffee making facilities and can be used
by staff as well as postgraduate students.
13.2
Prince Phillip Cafeteria
The Chair confirmed that this will be opening shortly.
The meeting finished at 3.30pm
Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday 18 April 2007
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SCHOOL of HUMANITIES
Action notes from a Meeting of the SCHOOL BOARD
Wednesday 7 February 2007, at 2.15pm in QA063
Item
Description
Action
Name
Date
4.4
ND to take this back to the R&E Committee
ND
March
6
Taught Postgraduate
Students
ARPD
Statistics to be sent to each department
PJ
ASAP
7
Employability
L&Q to provide more information on the Employability
Conference for Students.
Staff to email JB with suggestion for Employability.
PJ
JB
ALL
ASAP
9
e-Learning
Staff to email GR with suggestions for the seminars.
ALL
ASAP
10
Marketing
Law & SCCS to choose Reps for the Marketing Group
SE to email staff with a list of the Members of the
Marketing Group Members.
Staff to email web information to CH.
12
Health and Safety
Two volunteers to be Fire Wardens in KW
Page 5 of 5
ASAP
ASAP
SE
ASAP
ALL
ASAP
ASAP
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