Report: Committee on Academic Policy and Programs - October 24, 2023

Report Number 221 Of The Committee On Academic Policy And Programs

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2023

To the Academic Board,
University of Toronto,

Your Committee reports that it held a meeting on Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 3:10 p.m. in the Council Chamber, Simcoe Hall with the following members present:

PRESENT:  Catherine Amara (Chair), Susan McCahan (Vice-Provost, Academic Programs and Innovations in Undergraduate Education, Joshua Barker (Vice-Provost, Graduate Research & Education and Dean, School of Graduate Studies), Pier Bryden, David Dubins, Joseph Flessa, Jason Harlow, Walid A. Houry, Shone Joos, Robert Kyle, Renee Mahal*, Nicole Novroski, Michael Ratcliffe, Rosa Saverino, Suzanne Wood, Colleen Zimmerman

REGRETS: Nhung Tran (Vice-Chair), Sharleen Ahmed, Yu Xuan Huang, Jeannie Kim, Marcus Law, Irene Morra, Sacha Samouk, Laina Southgate, David Zingg

NON-VOTING ASSESSORS: Leah Cowen (Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives), Angelique Saweczko (University Registrar)

SECRETARIAT: Joanne Chou, Timothy Harlick

IN ATTENDANCE:
Melanie Woodin, Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science
Poppy Lockwood, Vice-Dean, Academic Planning
Tom Coyle, Vice-Dean, Undergraduate, FASE
Lisa Robinson, Vice-Dean, Strategy and Operations*
Bill Gough, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean
Suzanne Sicchia, Acting Vice-Dean, Teaching, Learning & Undergraduate Programs, UTSC
Tracey Bowen, Vice-Dean, Teaching & Learning, UTM
Marsha Chechik, former Chair, Department of Computer Science
Luis Seco, Director, MMF program*
Robert Jerrard, Chair, Department of Mathematics
Stefan Soldovieri, Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
Peter Loewen, Director, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Ali Salahpour, Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Markus Bussmann, Chair Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Phil Goodman, Chair, Department of Sociology
Michelle Silver, Chair, Department of Health and Society
Thy Phu, Chair of the Department of Arts, Culture and Media
Amanda Pullan, Office of the Dean, UTM
Yen Du, Office of the Vice-Principal Academic and Dean, UTM
Daniella Mallinick, Director, Academic Programs, Planning and Quality Assurance, Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs
Emma del Junco, Coordinator, Academic Planning & Reviews, Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs
Alexandra Varela, Special Projects Officer, Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs

(*attended remotely)

OPEN SESSION
 

1. Chair’s Remarks
   
   The Chair welcomed members and guests to the meeting. The Chair, on behalf of the Vice-Chair and herself, expressed appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Daniella Mallinick for her exemplary service to governance over the last several years, and for her wisdom, integrity, and sound judgement. She noted that Dr. Mallinick was a key source of oversight, and prudence, and was invaluable to the work of the Committee and wished her well in her new role at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Professor Susan McCahan announced that Daniella Mallinick, Director, Academic Programs, Planning & Quality Assurance in the Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs (VPAP) had recently accepted the position of Assistant Dean in the Office of the Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her career in the Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs and within the Provost’s division had spanned over 10 years, of which she had served as Director, Academic Programs, Planning & Quality Assurance since 2015. Daniella had made extraordinary contributions to the office in areas such as the enhancement of the University of Toronto Quality Assurance Process (UTQAP), securing Ontario government student financial support (OSAP) for over 200 microcredential programs at the University, and advising numerous institutional committees on policies, program and unit structures and precedents. She also played a critical role in the University’s academic continuity response during the pandemic.  She noted that Dr. Mallinick was an invaluable member of the VPAP staff, and had led her team with collegiality and kindness, and managed processes with a high-level of forethought and sound judgement. Professor McCahan concluded her remarks by acknowledging that while Dr. Mallinick will be missed, she was delighted that Dr. Mallinick would remain in the U of T community, and congratulated her on her new position.
    
2. Reports of the Administrative Assessors
   
   Professor Susan McCahan did not have anything to report due to the full agenda.
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Professor Joshua Barker began his report by updating the committee on several developments related to the various working groups within the School of Graduate Studies (SGS). He noted that:

• In the last academic cycle, two major working groups were established at SGS that emerged out of the results of student experience surveys, which were run on a periodic basis.
• From the surveys, two key issues were prevalent – graduate student funding and acknowledging that students from the humanities disciplines often reported less satisfaction in certain areas than other SGS divisions.
• In fall 2022, the Graduate Funding Working Group was established to understand the graduate funding landscape and identify a series of funding considerations and strategic recommendations divisions and graduate units could employ to maximize funding for students.
• The working group had concluded its work and is currently conducting a final review. There were two outputs, the first being a context and recommendations report, and the second was an educational report.
• There was a lack of clarity and understanding about how graduate funding functioned at U of T, and that the documentation would help with the communication about how it operates.
• The recommendations would help the coordination, and further support academic divisions and graduate units to understand how to adopt changes on the funding packages and improve communication to students. The recommendations would be rolled out shortly and communicated to the various constituencies.
• The Humanities Working Group that proceeded last year brought together a diverse group of Humanities Chairs, Associate Chairs, and students to review student experience data and current policies, to share best practices, and identify concrete solutions to improve student experience.
• Two key outputs were developed:  A context report that provided a background information and data from the working group, as well as an overview report of the culture and challenges in the humanities programs.
• A separate document was developed to provide recommendations and companion mechanisms that graduate chairs could source and that this would be rolled out shortly.
• Currently two new working groups underway:
  • Postdoctoral review working group: an in-depth review of services and supports for our 1000+ postdocs, who are key contributors to the research mission to the University.
  • Professional doctorate graduate faculty membership working group: Due to an increase of student enrollment into these programs, the group would assess whether students were optimally supported with the current supervision models in place. These programs include nursing, education, law, public health, and so forth. This working group included members from graduate leadership from various faculties and divisions that offered these programs, senior staff from Vice-Provost of Faculty and Academic life, and Vice-Provost Academic Programs, and postdocs. It would review the rules for graduate faculty memberships and supervision in those programs.
• The working groups plan to conclude towards the end of the academic year and would present the results to the committee at that time.
  
  Members had no questions.
   

3. Reviews of Academic Programs and Units 
   1. Semi-Annual Report on the Reviews of Academic Units and Programs
      
      The Chair noted that the Committee had received 11 reviews of units and/or programs, all of which were Decanal. All were brought forward for information and discussion. The submissions included the signed administrative responses from each Dean, which highlighted action plans in response to reviewer recommendations.
      
      The Chair reported that members had been broken into four reading groups and that each group had been assigned up to three reviews to consider. To guide their work, members of these groups were asked to consider four questions:
      
       
      1. Does the summary accurately tell the story of the full review?
          
      2. Does the administrative response address all issues identified?
          
      3. Are there any questions, comments or substantive issues that the Committee should consider? Is there a need to ask that the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs bring forward a follow-up report?
          

The Chair also noted that, as part of their review, each of the Reading groups had submitted comments to the appropriate Deans’ Offices for their consideration in advance of the meeting.

The Chair invited Professor McCahan to make general remarks about the reviews.

Professor McCahan noted that the Committee played a critical role in the reviews of all academic programs and units at the University. The goals of these reviews were to:

• to obtain expert advice of leaders in the field concerning academic and administrative issues,
• to measure performance against leading international programs, and
• to obtain guidance and input from peers on key strategic decisions.
  
  She confirmed that 11 reviews were being brought forward for the Committee’s consideration;  recurring and new themes were identified in the reviews: the talent and high calibre of students and the impressive body of scholarship produced by faculty, as well as the academic units’ strong and productive connections with surrounding communities, and the many initiatives undertaken by the academic units to enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion.
  
  Professor McCahan noted that as always, the reviews noted areas for development. The reviews identified opportunities for units to strengthen coordination and leverage interdisciplinary strengths, and suggested ways to augment supports and mentorship for both students and faculty. The reviews also highlighted the need to ensure that diversity was reflected in faculty complement and in curriculum.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Department of Computer Science      
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary had accurately reflected the full review and that the administrative response fully addressed the issues identified. The reviewers suggested that the consideration of cross disciplinary collaborations outside of the Faculty of Arts & Science, especially with the School of Computational, Mathematical, and Data Science would be weaker if it excluded Engineering, and that a brief follow-up report on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in one year would be useful for showing how the short-term plans were unfolding.
  
  Poppy Lockwood, Vice-Dean, Academic Planning responded that the Faculty would be happy to provide a follow-up report on EDI, but noted that they would be submitting an interim monitoring report in 3 years, which presented a realistic time frame that would allow the Faculty to provide a fulsome response on EDI issues. She reported that they had also hired a new director of EDI in the Faculty of Arts and Science.
  
  No follow-up report was requested as the reading group was satisfied with the 3-year interim monitoring report.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Master of Mathematical Finance (MMF) program
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary had accurately reflected the full review and that the administrative response fully addressed the issues identified and no further questions or issues needed to be considered.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Department of Mathematics
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that review summary had accurately reflected the full review and that the administrative response fully addressed the issues identified. The reviewers highlighted the consideration of unacknowledged potential of cross-disciplinary collaborations outside of the Faculty of Arts & Science, and that a brief follow-up report on EDI in one year would be useful for illustrating how the short-term plans were unfolding.
  
  Poppy Lockwood, Vice-Dean, Academic Planning responded that similar to the aforementioned Department of Computer Science review, there would be an interim monitoring report in 3-years, and the Faculty would be working on EDI initiatives in the interim as well, and asked if the review group would consider the 3-year time frame rather than the one-year time frame.
  
  No follow-up report was requested as the reading group was satisfied with the 3-year interim monitoring report.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary had accurately reflected the full review and that the administrative response fully addressed the issues identified. However, the spokesperson noted that the issue of staffing, space capacity, communications and alumni outreach was not directly addressed. The spokesperson highlighted that the Dean’s response for converting the Contractually Limited Term Appointment (CLTA) undergraduate assistant to 100% FTE was noncommittal and lacking alternate solutions. The reading group asked for the clarification regarding the CLTA staffing issues, alumni engagement and mentorship opportunities for current students, and the PhD exam structure which had been cited as problematic in previous reviews.
  
  Poppy Lockwood, Vice-Dean, Academic Planning responded that:
• Concerns about staffing at all levels was a challenge for the department, and that the Dean’s office and Administrative HR had been working closely with the department on these staffing issues. The Dean was supportive of the department’s needs in this area and that there would be a solution in place by the end of the calendar year.
• Regarding the CLTA positions, faculty positions in FAS were allocated through the faculty appointment committee that meets on an annual basis. The committee considered the full range of needs across Arts and Science, and there were more positions requested than allocated on an annual basis. In the past year, enrollment decreased to 25 students, thus not feasible to allocate new positions. The department was working with HR on this issue and would submit a request to the faculty appointment committee in 2024.
• The department was taking a number of specific steps regarding alumni engagement which included renewing the alumni ambassador role, planning a global career event about the career benefits of having a second or third language, a career roundtable for graduate students and alumni in the spring, and working with the dean’s office to boost staff capacity.
• Regarding the PhD exam structure, the previous reconfiguration of the qualifying exam following the last external review had not had the intended impact on time to completion and other areas. They were currently working on a draft of a new model that derived from the input of the external reviewers and graduate students. The department will have preliminary data of the impact of the new exam format via the interim monitoring report in 3 years.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Munk Area Studies (undergraduate Area Studies programs housed within the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and its programs (CERES))
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary accurately described the full review. The reading group sought additional clarification on several areas of the administrative response; the first related to the Asian Institute which included staffing concerns, high turnover in leadership and needed support, as the suggestion to convert the Asian Institute’s program from an EDU-C to an EDU-B was rejected. Secondly, noting that the Hungarian Studies Major and Minor were being phased out due to low enrollment, the group cited that it was praised as one of the best funded programs, providing opportunities for language and study abroad. The group inquired if there were alternate courses of action that could be explored to promote and market the program and increase student numbers. Third, the reading group sought further details from the Dean’s office regarding concerns on the overall quality related to the undergraduate program due to the evolving political climate and its impact on academia, and clarification if the program would be expanded.
  
  Peter Lowen, Director, Munk School responded that:
• From Munk’s perspective on EDU units, transferring faculty members into an EDU-B would conflict with smaller number programs in terms of the teaching capacity, creating challenges to teach across the school as there were several graduate programs. The goal was to extend faculty by taking newly hired faculty and distribute their teaching capacity across the school that included the Asian Institute, CERES and elsewhere. He reported that there was an open search for a Chair for Global China and they would be hiring a Chair for Global India.
• On the matter of Hungarian studies, he noted the significant importance of global engagement with Hungary, citing the connections CERES had in the region. He noted that the program had one student presently enrolled despite actively promoting the program. They would continue to engage on topics related to Hungary and Hungarian language classes but it was not sustainable to continue to offer Hungarian Studies Major and Minor.
• He reported that the leadership at the Asian Institute had gone through periods of quick succession, with previous leadership having been recruited to other key institutional roles, and the current Director of AI was extended for another two years.
• Munk had a complex environment, comprising of many units within it, and was making a strong effort to improve faculty engagement, integration, and unit collaborations across Munk, through its leadership decisions and complement planning.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and its undergraduate and graduate professional programs
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary had accurately reflected the full review and that overall, they had found the review to be positive. While the administrative response covered most of the pertinent issues, the group highlighted several areas of concern, including the lack of clear organizational and financial plans, the need to establish internships and experiential learning opportunities for students, and the impact of merging the MPP program with Munk. The group requested further explanation of the issues regarding high tuition fees in comparison to similar programs, if a well-defined organizational and financial strategy was in place to accommodate the anticipated growth in students and faculty, and what initiatives were in progress to enhance offerings related to climate and sustainability, as well as training students to write effectively for a policy-oriented audience.
  
  Peter Lowen, Director, Munk School responded that:
• Munk had a mixed budget model that comprised of a base budget with line faculty, and professional degrees which were charged market rates of tuition. He reported that these funds supported faculty, critical extracurricular activities, and training. Increased enrollment would allow a creation of new sections, and this was managed on a year-over-year basis.
• The tuition price was set in reflection of the high quality of programs and breadth of experience from the teaching staff in comparison with other degree institutions in Canada, and sat in the middle, compared to domestic and international peers. Munk was a member of the Global Public Health Network, which is a small group of leading public policy schools.
• Around policy writing, there was a fair amount of writing intensive work in classes, and Munk offered a full suite of professional development training for students that occurred throughout the year, and a concentrated January term that included professional development, communication policy and other soft skills.
• The MPP leveraged students’ capacity to retain some fluency in probability and statistics, and other areas of quantitative solving. Deemed as a differentiating factor between Munk and other policy schools in Canada, student support was offered to help students succeed, and were exploring ways to enhance these support resources. These programs fostered a higher standard of quantitative reasoning, and was focussed on ensuring that students were well equipped to be effective policy actors.
• Munk offered two optional sustainability courses for first year students, in addition to environmental politics and others. He reported that they were exploring ways to offer more courses that dealt with sustainability, acknowledging that it needed to be taken seriously as a policy matter. He highlighted that the School of Environment engaged with this type of curriculum full time and that they would be working on this over the next 5 years to increase their course offerings around sustainability.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary had accurately reflected the full review. The reading group reported that the Dean’s administrative response had adequately addressed the issues identified by the review, however, asked the Department to further address the concerns around gender diversity in relation to graduate students, faculty hires, and support mechanisms for underrepresented faculty and students.
  
  Markus Bussman, Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) responded that:
• Regarding gender diversity, the department made offers to two female candidates in the past that declined the offers, resulting in men being hired. He reported that of the last seven hires, five were women. There were two searches for three positions currently underway, and diversity and gender diversity were a key priority.
• From an undergraduate perspective, almost 40% of students entering engineering were women. However, he noted that within the master's programs and PhDs, the number of women decreased and faculty members in MIE were conducting a study to understand the reasoning and what could be done to change it.
• There were two kinds of graduate students, one being funded research students that were recruited individually, and a professional master's program that was largely comprised of international applicants.
• In the past year on the research side, the department had incentivized faculty members to proactively recruit for women students, enhance diversity and subsidize students entering MIE.
• On the professional master's program, the department was working with the School of Graduate Studies to obtain data to identify the students they wished to recruit as this program was a high revenue earner. As such, the department would think about diversity to the extent that they could, but still had to ensure that they brought in enough students to reach targets.
• The former interim chair launched an EDI committee in the last year and its focus was to think more broadly of how to implement various initiatives around equity, diversity, and inclusion in the department.
• A small initiative for the professional master's students was recently created to focus on female students, and to foster an inclusive community.
  
  A member commented that they faced similar challenges in the Faculty of Medicine, in terms of searches as well as the environment into which people enter, noting that both needed to be considered for successful recruitment of faculty diversity, and should be a dual focus.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Department of Sociology
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary accurately described the full review and found the review to be positive, noting the external review team’s commendable mention of the department’s commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. The reading group reported that the Dean’s administrative response had adequately addressed issues identified by the review, however, identified two points on which they requested further clarification beyond what was covered in the Dean’s response. This included space allocation to accommodate new hires and the perceived lack of feedback related to course development and exclusion from the activities of the department expressed by Sessional Lecturers.
  
  Tracey Bowen, Vice-Dean, Teaching & Learning responded that the Department of Sociology’s office space was at capacity at UTM. The Office of the Dean recognized that there were potential constraints if faculty returned from leave, or faculty that retired or resigned were replaced, noting that UTM was on a hiring slowdown. The department developed creative strategies to help with the space issues; one was sharing office space as this was a common practice in other units at UTM. Second, leveraging office spaces efficiently in terms of study and research leaves. Finally, any further space considerations would be discussed with the UTM CAO.
  
  Phil Goodman, Chair, Department of Sociology commented that the perceived lack of feedback related to course development and exclusion from the activities of the department expressed by Sessional Lecturers was due to the small cohort of Sessional Lecturers, and a circumstance of a number of years where the department grew rapidly resulting in program delivery struggles, which had since stabilized. He noted that for the current 2023 term, they had five instructors serving as sessional instructors, and four of them developed one to two courses. He reported that the department worked hard to foster community integration, and would continue to advocate for LTA and other types of positions during the normal processes, noting the structural advantages of program integration. Finally, he concluded that the associate chair actively responded to questions from sessional lecturers related to teaching and feedback, and was open to formalizing processes and feedback, and that they would be reaching out to the sessional lecturers.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary accurately described the full review. The reading group reported that the Dean’s administrative response had adequately addressed issues identified by the review, however, the reading group commented that many issues were still in consultation, and many concerns from the previous external review remained. The Reading Group noted that the program response contained areas where actions were assigned to ambiguous timelines, lack of concrete outcomes and vague assurances, and found this ambiguity to be unsatisfactory. The Reading Group also identified concerns around the admissions process relying too heavily upon GPA to be worth revisiting with a holistic approach, noting that the consequence was potentially rewarding students who ‘gamed the system’ to boost their marks, and not a reflection of their actual intellectual curiosity or other achievements. The group acknowledged that an interim report was expected in 2025, and that some of the transformations to the organizational and financial structure of the department would take some time to implement and assess.
  
  Ali Salahpour, Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology commented that:

• The department’s resources were being strained by increasing popularity of the undergraduate program. The department had hired two new administrators for the undergraduate program and three additional professors.  

• An environmental scan was being conducted to understand the decline and lack of interest in the Biomedical Toxicology Program, and to engage with toxicologists across University of Toronto to strengthen the toxicology discipline through ongoing consultations.
• Around 10 to 20% of their courses were online, which aligned with practices at the Faculty of Arts and Science.
• He reported that a town hall was held on July 18, and that there were biweekly departmental meetings. He was in consultation with the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and internally to address issues related to the departmental budget.
• In the area of GPA that was used for undergraduate admissions process, it was a faculty-wide practice, and that change needed to be done at the faculty-level, not departmental level. He highlighted that colleagues in the MD program had made efforts over the recent years to rely less on GPA, and this is perhaps something that the FAS could leverage, acknowledging that it was better to decrease the reliance on GPA for undergraduate admissions.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
   

  University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Paramedicine program, offered jointly with Centennial College
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary accurately described the full review and that overall the Dean’s administrative response had mostly addressed issues identified by the review, and noted that steps were already in progress to address concerns. Most notably, the move of the program from the UTSC Department of Biological Sciences to the Department of Health and Society took a large step to address the concerns surrounding the alignment of the coursework and training offered at UTSC with that of Centennial College. The reading group asked the Unit to further comment on the needed departmental support from the Dean’s office to secure access to clinical placements and ambulance service attachments, fundraising initiatives, as well as supporting under-represented and marginalized communities.
  
  Bill Gough, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean responded that:

• The joint program with Centennial was unique in Canada in terms of how Paramedicine was delivered and being the only degree program. He acknowledged that the Chair of the Department of Health and Society returned from leave on July 1, 2023 to a new program in her department. He reported that a new hire was a former Centennial faculty, and an expert in Paramedicine, further grounding the program with relevant expertise and tailored program offerings to better suit the needs of the students.
• Clinical placements were entirely supported by Centennial.
• Centennial College was in dialogue with the province to expand Paramedicine, as it was an opportune area of growth, particularly in rural Ontario.
• This was not a deregulated program, thus students paid regular fees, including Centennial fees during their two years at the College.
• There was a high number of OSAP students at UTSC and the program reviewed the financial requirements of students based on need. He noted that a potential barrier for some groups could be the need for licensure, but this was not required for the program.
  
  In response to a member’s question about the metrics of success by changing departments that included research, and connections to the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH), Bill Gough commented that the Department of Health and Society was the one academic department at UTSC that would physically move into the SAMIH building, that Paramedicine was a SAMIH partner, and would serve on the academic working groups. Regarding research, he noted that faculty in Paramedicine were collaborating with researchers in DLSPH and other divisions, and were exploring the development of a master’s program.
  
  Considering the significant changes between the review and current timeline, a one-year follow-up was requested to check in on the program’s adjustment to its new administrative home at UTSC.
  
  University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Journalism program, offered jointly with Centennial College
  
  The spokesperson for the reading group reported that the review summary accurately described the full review, and that the Dean’s administrative response adequately addressed all issues identified. The Reading Group sought additional clarification on several areas of the administrative response, which included concerns about confusion of the differences between this joint specialist program in journalism and other programs in journalism, and how the plan for clarifying the vision and mission for the program would be distributed across the division. The reading group observed that the Unit and Dean’s response seemed disconnected and asked the Unit to address concerns around administrative staffing levels and opportunities to consolidate and enhance community and faculty engagement, and alleviate workload issues in the short term through faculty appointments in other UTSC units. Lastly, the group sought clarification around the CLTA position, and related academic HR and hiring issues.
  
  Thy Phu, Chair of the Department of Arts, Culture and Media responded that the promotions piece was part of the communication plan jointly developed with Centennial College. She explained that UTSC had a journalism studies stream as part of their media studies program and was trying to distinguish from that through the major modification process, which included a proposed renaming of the program to ‘Media and Communication Studies’. Through consultations with Centennial College, they articulated that the UTSC portion provided students with the skills to analyze how stories were told; and the joint program taught students how to tell the stories. Thus, part of the articulation of that plan included the revision of the website content for consistency at both UTSC and Centennial, and through faculty training.
  
  Bill Gough, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean responded that as junior faculty members  progressed in their career, and as UTSC moved forward in their complement plan, this would improve community engagement with faculty. Hiring plans had slowed down per previous years, and that CLTAs could be extended if warranted. The HR planning was exploring part-time teaching stream appointments, due to flexibility and that it could lead to longer appointments and permanent status if it was the accepted pathway. They were committed to additional hiring for the program and increased staff support, and that both Centennial and UTSC were moving towards having their own dedicated staff member supporting the joint program, adding to the overall staffing complement.
  
  No follow-up report was requested.
  
  The Chair thanked all members of the Committee’s reading groups for their work and also thanked the Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Programs for assembling the Review Compendium.

CONSENT AGENDA

On motion duly made, seconded, and carried

IT WAS RESOLVED

THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 4, the Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.
 

4. Report of the Previous Meeting: Report Number 220 – September 26, 2023 
   
   The report of the previous meeting was approved.
    
5. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
   
   There was no business arising from the report of the previous meeting.

6. Date of the Next Meeting: January 10, 2024, 3:10 – 5:10 p.m.
   
   The Chair confirmed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 in the Council Chamber.
    
7. Other Business
   
   There were no items of other business.    

The meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

November 7, 2023