Senate Meeting Synopsis for February 6, 2023

The third Senate meeting of the 2022-23 session was held on February 6, 2023, and was chaired by President Charlotte Yates.

Dr. Ian Newby-Clark, Chair of the Senate Committee on Quality Assurance, commenced the meeting with a territorial land acknowledgment.

Leadership Updates

The President, Dr. Charlotte Yates, offered oral remarks and began by welcoming Senators including Dr. Uwafiokun Idemudia, the new Dean of the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Dr. Byron Sheldrick, newly filling the Associate Vice-President Academic role, and the new Chief of Staff, Leslie Muñoz. Dr. Yates also thanked those who have recently left the University including Ray Darling, former University Registrar and Dave Whittle, former Associate Vice-President & Chief Information Officer (CIO), as well as Martha Harley, Associate Vice-President Human Resources who will be retiring in the spring of 2023.

Dr. Yates highlighted activities taking place for Black History Month, and provided updates on government relations, next steps for implementation of the Strategic Plan, efforts underway for improving mental health and wellness at the University, and efforts toward internationalization.

The Provost & Vice-President (Academic), Dr. Gwen Chapman, provided an update on enrolment, announced a graduate pre-arrival support team for international students, and described how the University is working to build a multi-pronged international strategy for recruitment and retention of international students.

The Vice-President (Research), Dr. Malcolm Campbell, provided ranking and research updates. Dr. Campbell discussed the Strategic Research Plan, Equity Diversity Inclusion (EDI) in research, the renewal agreement between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph as well as the Research Commercialization Policy.

Key Business Items and Approvals

Other key items of business at the meeting included:

• Approval of a new Master of Wildlife Biology program
• Approval of major modification to the PhD in Literary Studies/Theatre Studies in English program
• Items presented for information: Synopsis of the January 25, 2023 Board of Governors Meeting, update from the COU Academic Colleague, revised 2022-23 Schedules of Dates (diploma and Guelph-Humber), graduate curriculum changes, graduate faculty appointments, Annual Report on Quality Assurance: 2021-22, cyclical program review and follow-up reports.

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 is the meeting minutes, which will be available following their approval at the next regularly scheduled Senate meeting.

Upcoming Senate Meeting

The next regular meeting of Senate is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 3, 2023.

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