SPEAKER/DEPUTY SPEAKER:
On September 25, 2014 at the first meeting of the 2014/2015 Senate year the annual election for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Senate resulted in Mark Rust (Faculty of Business) acclaimed as Speaker of Senate and Mozammel Khan (Faculty of Applied Science and Technology) acclaimed as Deputy Speaker of Senate.
At the November meeting Senate was notified that Mark Rust (Speaker of Senate) would be retiring from Sheridan in December. Senate voted to hold an election for the position of Speaker at the January 2015 meeting to elect a Speaker for the remainder of the 2014/15 Academic Year (January to June 2015). Monica Lysack was elected as Speaker of Senate for the remainder of the 2014/15 Senate year.
MEMBERSHIP:
In September 2014, fourteen new members joined Senate replacing those who retired in June as well as one leave replacement. The new members are:
Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design – Mark Melymick, Sherine Mansour, Zoe Dirse, Catharine Tamas, Tony Tarantini, and Associate Dean Donna Braggins;
Faculty of Applied Health and Community Studies – Alison Gaston, Lisa Phyllis, and Associate Dean Mardy Frazer.
Faculty of Applied Science and Technology – Kevin Forest;
Pilon School of Business – Doug Greenwood and Associate Dean Cindy Gillett;
Faculty of Continuing and Professional Studies – Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone; since replaced by Michael Cassidy
Centre for Teaching and Learning – Michael Evans;
Our student Senators are:
FAAD: Karla Rivera, Matt Wilkshire
FAHCS: Kyungjoo Lee, Eileen Liu
FAST: Gregory McClement
FHASS: Manu Grewal, Rujing Wang
PSB: Timothy Magbitang, Aleksandra Nabywaniec
At the end of June, 2015 the Senate membership will see 11 Senators retiring from Senate, with 10 newly elected Senators joining for a 3 year term in September 2015.
| FACULTY | RETIRING JUNE 2015 | ELECTED to SENATE – Sept. 2015 |
| FAAD | Leslie Sasaki | Chris Somerville |
| FAHCS | Kristina Arena, Dasha Shalimo | Kelly Bramwell |
| FAST | Lewis Mununga, Alex Chernysh | Brian Pham, Katherine Rankin |
| FHASS | Terry Kostiw, Stephanie Samboo | Jaime Ginter, Sean Saunders |
| PSB | Maureen Garbutt, Carol Ann Waite, (Mark Rust) | Ginger Grant, Anne-Liisa Longmore, Carol Tuck-Riggs |
| Library & Learning Services | Shelley Woods | Claire Wollen |
MOTIONS/DECISIONS:
Senate recommended for approval to the Board of Governors:
- The proposed Bachelor of Architectural Studies Degree program
- The proposed Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) Degree program
- The proposed Music Applied to Stage, Screen, and Interactive Visual Environments (M.A.S.S.I.V.E.) Ontario College Graduate Certificate program.
- The proposed Welding and Fabrication Technician Ontario College Diploma program
- The proposed Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL Plus) Ontario College Graduate Certificate program
- The proposed Student Assessment and Evaluation Policy
- The proposed Advanced Standing Policy
- The proposed Admission Policy
- The proposed (new) Academic Standing Policy (implementation date Sept 2016
The Student Assessment and Evaluation Policy previously recommended for approval (by a small margin) at the September 25th, 2014 Senate meeting was brought back to Senate by the Academic Policy Committee after discussing the vote results and wording concerns raised in the Policy. Two motions were presented to amend the Policy as previously adopted; both amendments were approved by a solid margin and the revised policy proceeded to the Board of Governors for approval.
All new programs and all policies, both new and revised, were approved as recommended, by the Board of Governors.
Senate voted to revise the Senate Terms of Reference regular Senate membership term from a 2 year term to a 3 year term with one renewable term for a total maximum membership term of 6 consecutive years.
WHITE PAPERS/DISCUSSION:
Two White Papers were introduced: the first from the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Standing Committee of Senate, and the second from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Engagement Team.
Senate heard updates and information related to: the Universities Canada (formerly AUCC) Self-Study, the Sheridan Board of Governors internal position election, the Sheridan program mix, and the Sheridan Senate elections process.
Senate learned of a project initiated by Senate Executive and Sheridan Executive to evaluate the current state of academic governance through focus groups with Senators and those on Local Academic Councils within the Faculties. Academica Group was retained to carry out this project and the results will be brought to Senate in the fall of 2015 for discussion.
With just one more meeting to go, on Thursday, June 18th, 2015 Senate will come to the end of the third year of operation. The learning, growth and work accomplished has been extensive!