MINUTES
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
Friday, 17 November 2006
2:30 p.m., Clearihue A207

Regrets were received from: S. Ross, L. Saxon, E. Chapco, P. Restrepo-Gautier, H. Cazes, M. Adam, M. Swift, A. McKenzie, S. Devereaux, J. Zwicky, D. Russek, S. Yekelchyk, R. Rajala, T. Saunders, J. Lutz, G. Blue, C. Suzack

1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

MOTION: (J. Young, J. Foss)
"That the agenda for the meeting of the Faculty of Humanities be approved with amendment." CARRIED.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION: (J. Esling, D. Thaler)
"That the minutes of the meeting of the Faculty of Humanities held on 20 October 2006 be approved." CARRIED.

3. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
The Dean mentioned that the French MA proposal had been send to Faculty of Graduate Studies Executive with notice of its approval by the Faculty of Humanities; Graduate Studies has not yet considered it.

4. DEAN'S REMARKS
The Dean drew members' attention to the Campus 2020 consultations which are underway now. Campus2020.ca has commissioned "think pieces" on issues of concern and the Dean encouraged everyone to review the information there; the item under the heading "E-Learning" provides a good sense of some of the thinking going on and illustrates the need for the University to be involved in the process.

5. ASSOCIATE DEAN'S REMARKS
Dr. Carlin mentioned that the Faculty of Humanities Lansdowne Lecturer, Dr. Alain Touwaide had a very successful visit to UVic and that he would like to offer internships to our MA or PhD students in order to assist him with organizing his 10,000+ book collection at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. These internships would be unpaid but we could offer some airfare and accommodation support. It is anticipated that these internships be for one week, possibly longer. Dr. Carlin is happy to discuss this with interested departments or students.

6. CORRESPONDENCE - nil

7. 2007-08 COURSE CALENDAR REVISIONS (T. Haskett, Chair, Faculty of Humanities Curriculum Committee)
The Dean welcomed Dr. Haskett to the floor to discuss the 2007-08 Course Calendar revisions. Dr. Haskett remarked that the committee received 12 submissions which have been available to review in the 220 page docket deposited in the Dean's Office. Dr. Haskett mentioned that the proposal for the Medieval Studies Honours program is still awaiting approval from the Board of Governors although the revised courses are included in the curriculum submission. He also highlighted the five new courses in Digital Humanities. An initiative from Jim Anglin's office will also see a series of new Indigenous Studies courses for the LE,NONET program that will provide internships for Aboriginal students. The Library representative on the committee drew attention the following issues:
1) the need to order supporting library materials prior to new course submissions;
2) the need to inform the Library whenever a course is deleted that there is no longer a need to collect supporting materials in the area, if that is the case.
Currently the curriculum committee has no clear way of determining whether course changes affect other programs across the three faculties; it has been agreed that Joyce Gutensohn of the Academic Advising Centre will be checking program course requirements extensively, watching for such changes. Dr. Haskett thanked all members for the months of hard work.

Questions were raised about the need for the early date of submission of course changes to the committee; the committee reported that the July 1 date facilitated its work in that its members could use the summer period to review the materials and that it has resulted in our submission getting to the Senate Curriculum Committee by the stipulated deadline.

7a) APPROVAL OF MEMBERSHIP TO THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE ASSOCIATE DEAN
The Dean announced that the Committee on Committees had sent out a call to nominate two new members to serve on the Advisory Committee to the Associate Dean. Dr. Judith Mitchell (English) and Dr. Leslie Butt (Pacific & Asian Studies) have agreed to sit on this committee for a 2.5 year term.
MOTION: (C. St. Peter, J. Greene) "THAT the Faculty of Humanities approve Dr. Judith Mitchell and Dr. Leslie Butt to sit on the Advisory Committee to the Associate Dean for a two and a half-year term." CARRIED

8. OPEN DEBATE TOPIC: "How is the future of the Faculty of Humanities reflected in the Review and Renewal of the Strategic Plan document issued by the President's Planning and Priorities Committee in November?"

There was extensive discussion; the following summary was subsequently submitted to the Planning and Priorities Committee.

Creativity, intellectual curiosity, ethics, independent thought, interpretative skills, historical awareness, cross-cultural awareness, disciplinary awareness, environmental awareness (as a cultural/community context, not just a "green" one): these concepts were noted as either missing or only cited as grounding principles without being fully integrated into the implementation of the student experience part of the plan. Emphasizing these points may also provide a greater sense of the document being "aspirational" which seems to be minimized currently.

The place of the disciplines needs to be firmly asserted; we need the integrity of disciplines before venturing out into interdisciplinary areas. Overall a few more "where appropriates" would help the plan strengthen the core activities of the university within its disciplinary boundaries.

It was observed that experiential learning can be sometimes substituted for the experience a student has in taking a course. The student may be having an experience but there is no guarantee in such a situation that the experience will be guided intellectually. Such an approach also tends to stress the immediate utility of knowledge, rather than recognizing the necessity for knowledge that has long-term utility which best serves society through the development of independent thought. It is not that we are opposed to experiential learning by emphasizing questions of utility and practical application, but the plan should not allow learning to be limited to those things nor to imply that thinking, reading, and writing (taking place in traditional educational settings) are not crucial experiences and therefore experiential learning in and by themselves.

9. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business it was moved by E. Pnevmonidou and seconded E. Rossi that the meeting be adjourned at 4:02p.m.

Dean Andrew Rippin, Chair
Jennifer Lefler, Recorder