Senate Meeting Synopsis for April 3, 2023

The fourth Senate meeting of the 2022-23 session was held on April 3, 2023, and was chaired by President Charlotte Yates.

Dr. Michèle Bowring, Chair of the Senate Honours and Awards Committee, commenced the meeting with a territorial land acknowledgment.

Leadership Updates

The President, Dr. Charlotte Yates, offered oral remarks and began by sharing wishes for success to students at a high pressure time, as well as reminding them to call upon the University for support when they need it.  

President Yates highlighted recent government relations successes including, the signing of the renewal of the OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) Alliance Agreement, the $14.7 million government investment in the Ontario Veterinary College for a collaboration with Lakehead University to address a veterinary shortage by extending the availability of training, and an investment of $900,000 over three years to launch an incentive program to assist recently veterinary graduates who practice in underserved areas. Dr. Yates spoke of how the recently released federal budget will impact the post-secondary sector in Ontario.

The President announced the official roll out of Our Time, the University of Guelph Strategic Plan (2022-27), congratulated Ajay Heble on being awarded the prestigious Killam Prize, and thanked Daniel Atlin, Vice-President (External), for his years of dedication to the University as he will be leaving the University at the end of the summer.

The Provost & Vice-President (Academic), Dr. Gwen Chapman, led strategic discussions on budget planning and the University’s international recruitment strategy. For the Leadership Update, the Provost directed Senators to written material which included an update on Respondus and the University of Guelph Teaching and Learning Network, as well as the University of Guelph Statement on Artificial Intelligence Systems, ChatGPT and Academic Integrity.

The Vice-President (Research), Dr. Malcolm Campbell, provided an update on activities the Office of Research has been engaged in around the five principles of the Strategic Research Plan including: securing financial support for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in research; focusing on a activities related to elevating excellence with a very strong focus on securing research sponsorship; promoting partnerships such as the renewal of the OMAFRA Alliance Agreement; increasing impact by mobilizing research and including the submission of an Annual Research Commercialization Plan to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU); addressing matters of Research Ethics; a Canadian Council of Animal Care (CCAC) review; and securing $350,000 in federal support for personnel, digital tools and issues management toward safeguarding research from foreign interference.

Key Business Items and Approvals

Other key items of business at the meeting included:

• Approval of amendments to Senate Bylaws including the addition of one Indigenous faculty seat and two Indigenous student seats
• Approval of an Academic Break at the graduate level
• Approval of the addition of the Duolingo English Test (DET) for proof of English proficiency at the graduate level
• Presentation of the nominees to fill a Senate-elected faculty member seat on the Board of Governors in 2023-24
• Items presented for information: Presentation of the Annual Petitions Report 2021-22, Notation added to Election Regulations, 2023-24 Senate election results, reminder about 2022-23 Senate evaluation survey, update from the COU Academic Colleague, graduate and undergraduate curriculum changes, graduate faculty appointments, research-related committees annual reports, calls for honorary degrees and student awards, 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, June 5, 2023.

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