Senate Meeting Synopsis for November 25, 2019

The second Senate meeting of the 2019-20 session was held on November 25, 2019 and was chaired by President Franco Vaccarino.

David Said, President & CEO of the Graduate Student Association, commenced the meeting with a land acknowledgment. 

Leadership Updates

The President offered oral remarks, highlighting an eleven-million-dollar gift to the Ontario Veterinary College from Kim and Stu Lang in aid of the Community Healthcare Partnership Program; celebrating the launch of the Guelph Institute for Environmental Research; and noting that construction on major renovations to the MacKinnon Building has begun. The President also provided updates on the impressive exhibit hosted by the University at the Royal Winter Fair, and on our engagement with students at the Ontario Universities Fair. The President remarked on the University’s growing reputation and how this is translating into growth in graduate and international student enrolment. Senior administration is closely following the recent Divisional Court decision that struck down the Student Choice Initiative (regarding student fees) and awaiting government response to the court’s decision. Congratulations were extended to the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics for their work in promoting sustainability in the MBA program, resulting in its top 20 ranking on the Corporate Knights Better World MBA list. Additional congratulations went to Brandon Raco, Sustainability Manager in Physical Resources, whom Corporate Knights recognized as one of its Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders.

The Provost provided a presentation primarily focused on the Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA3), contextualizing our focus over the next few months, and emphasizing the importance of planning. Building on the presentation from the last Senate meeting, the Provost shared data and principles used for metric selection in SMA3. 

Key Business Items and Approvals

Other key items of business at the meeting included:

• Approval of the University of Guelph’s 5-year strategic teaching and learning plan.

• Approval of the Policy on the Establishment of the Schedule of Dates.

• Approval of a new collaborative specialization in One Health.

• Presentation of the quality review report for the School of Environmental Sciences, Environmental Management Major in the Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management program.

• Presentation of the quality review report for the University of Guelph-Humber, Bachelor of Business Administration-Diploma in Business Administration program.

• Presentation of the University of Guelph-Humber, Bachelor of Applied Arts in Media Studies-Diploma in Media Communications program.

• Presentation of the One-Year Follow-up report for the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture program.

• Presentation of the Committee on Student Petitions Annual Report 2018-19.

• Presentation of the Animal Care Committee Annual Report 2018-19.

• Items presented for information, including: update from the COU Academic Colleague, update from the Presidential Selection Committee, graduate curriculum changes, graduate faculty appointments, undergraduate curriculum changes, gender-neutral revisions to the academic calendars, Board of Undergraduate Studies sub-committee memberships, updates to the University of Guelph and University of Guelph-Humber Winter 2021 Schedule of Dates, and non-degree program changes.
   

More Information

The complete meeting agenda package is available on the University Secretariat’s Governance Portal and includes detailed information on the items listed above.  The official record of the meeting are the meeting minutes, which will be available following their approval at the next regularly scheduled Senate meeting.

2019-20 Senate Meetings

The remaining meeting dates for the 2019-20 Senate Session are as follows:

• Monday, February 10, 2020

• Monday, March 30, 2020

• Monday, June 1, 2020

Meetings are open to the public and visitors who wish to attend should contact the University Secretariat at univsec@uoguelph.ca