Senate notes

Magally Zelaya, staff

Senate is the highest academic governing body at the University of Manitoba, comprised of administrators, deans, directors, and elected professors and students. Senate meets on the first Wednesday of every month in Engineering 2 room 262; the next meeting will be held on May 14.

In the absence of president Emöke Szathmáry, vice-president (academic) Robert Kerr chaired the April meeting of Senate held on the second of the month in Senate’s chambers.

The one-hour meeting saw the introduction of three new student senators: Ryley Davidson from the Faculty of Engineering, Dawn Harmer from the School of Medical Rehab, and Poongodi Sampath from the Faculty of Nursing.

Statements of intent to establish master’s and PhD programs in Health Psychology and Biomedical Engineering were introduced and forwarded on to the Board of Governors.

There was no report from the president as Szathmáry was attending an Association of University and Colleges of Canada conference in Ottawa.

Instead, the meeting moved to question period, at which time Rachel Heinrichs, UMSU vice-president (advocacy), asked for clarification on whether or not the new International College of Manitoba (ICM) would be classified as an institution of higher learning, to which she did not receive a definite answer.

Susan Prentice, a sociology professor, asked if the word “Manitoba” was protected and whether or not ICM had the legal right to use it in its name.

Kerr said that Navitas, the company behind ICM, received permission to use the word not only from the province but also from the Board of Governors during their last meeting.

The master’s program for physician assistants (PA), expected to start in the fall, was approved and will now go to the Board of Governors.

It was announced that the new PA program would require $1.8 million annually for baseline funding (academic staff, support staff and operating costs).

Norm Hunter, chair of the Senate planning and priorities committee, said that the province has approved funding for the new program.

Student Affairs submitted their annual report, but it was not heavily discussed. Discussion centred on the need for additional student supports at the Bannatyne campus.

Lynn Smith, executive director of Student Services and Student Affairs, pointed to the need for more student counselling services at the Bannatyne campus, as they are presently overworked.

Smith said that the department would develop a proposal to increase services.

A proposal to develop a master’s of Fine Art was also put forward and approved.

Celia Rabinovitch, director of the School of Art, said that the program has been in the making for “almost 30 years.”

A proposal to create a department of emergency medicine was approved.The creation of the program would make the University of Manitoba the sixth university in Canada to develop such a program.

A motion to require students applying to the Faculty of Social Work to complete a child abuse registry check was passed.

Students attaining a bachelor’s of social work are already required to complete a criminal records check.

The meeting ended with a vote to move the fall convocation to Oct. 28, 29 and 30 from Oct. 22 and 23. The motion was carried.

Rescheduling convocation will facilitate the installation of the new university president and vice-chancellor David T. Barnard, which would occur at the first session of convocation on Oct. 28.

Barnard’s terms begins on July 1, 2008.