Board and Senate notes: December 2017

Read the Board Notes from December 5, 2017.

Read the Senate Notes from December 8, 2017.

BOARD NOTES

Ombuds Office terms of reference amended; Senate’s membership to include one part-time faculty non-voting member

President’s remarks

In his remarks to the Board of Governors at its December 5 meeting, Concordia’s president Alan Shepard drew attention to two recent items.

The first was the International Conference on Human Rights Education, held November 30 through December 3 in Montreal and co-hosted by Concordia and Equitas.

More than 400 people from over 50 countries participated in the conference, organized in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, McGill, UQAM and Western Sydney University.

The second item was the suspension of Quebec’s neutrality law by a Quebec Superior Court judge. There are no changes to the university’s policies or practices at this time related to this development.

The president also mentioned that Senate passed a resolution reaffirming its values in light of Bill 62 at its November 10 meeting.

Amendments to Ombuds terms of reference approved

The Board approved changes to the terms of reference for the Ombuds Office.

Melodie Sullivan, senior legal counsel for the University Secretariat and Legal Services, said although the changes were not major, the opportunity was taken to use gender neutral language and to update terminology.

For example, the terms now use the word member instead of applicant to describe a person requesting assistance from the office.

Changes include decreasing the delay for a member to come forward to the Ombuds Office, from six months to three months, while always maintaining the discretion to accept older matters as circumstances may vary.

View the policy in full.

Amendments to Senate’s membership approved

Following a recommendation from the Governance and Ethics Committee and Senate, the Board approved amendments to Articles 61 to 63 of the By-Laws.

As a result, Senate’s membership will include the addition of one part-time faculty non-voting member from the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.

The Board approves changes to the mandate and composition of the Employee Benefits Committee

Following a recommendation from the Employee Benefits Committee and the Governance and Ethics Committee, the Board approved amendments to the mandate and composition of the Employee Benefits Committee, including one additional non-voting member who may represent active employees belonging to employee groups whose primary membership is part-time.

The creation of a new Board standing committee, the Part-Time Employee Benefits Committee, was also approved. This committee’s mandate will include making recommendations to the Board regarding annual premium renewals for group insurance plans, cost-shared between employees and the university, for employee groups whose primary membership is part-time.

As a result of the creation of this new committee, the mandate of the Employee Benefits Committee was amended accordingly.

Amendments to the Pension Plan text and restated text approved

Following a recommendation from the Employee Benefits Committee, the Board approved amendments to the Pension Plan text as well as the restated text of the Pension Plan for Employees of Concordia University, effective January 1, 2018.

These include adjusting the Plan text following the introduction of recent legislative changes, and the addition of one non-voting member to the Pension Committee.

This member may be designated by the part-time employee groups that did not previously have representation on the Pension Committee.

Quarterly report from Environmental Health and Safety received

Roger Côté, vice-president of Services, presented the highlights of the 2017 third quarter report from Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S).

He noted that EH&S focuses on preventive measures, including awareness and education, to create a culture of safety within the university.

In August, EH&S completed the roll-out of the university’s Occupational Health Program.

This program is focused on the prevention, early detection and monitoring of occupational illness and disease, and complies with federal and Quebec regulatory requirements.

It has three main components:

• Job hazard analysis — the risk assessment process for identifying and evaluating exposure to hazards to adequately protect the health and well-being of employees, in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements
• Occupational health screening — the targeted medical evaluations based upon hazard specific regulatory requirements, or, in their absence, applicable standards of practice
• Fitness for duty evaluations — the process the university undertakes to ensure that candidates can perform work safety without risk to themselves or to the safety of others

While work on the program’s development and implementation has been ongoing for the last two years, it only recently completed the full implementation of the job hazard analysis and the fitness for duty evaluations in August.

In the third quarter, a total of 15 job hazards analyses and five fitness for duty evaluations were completed.

In addressing training sessions, one of the leading safety key performance indicators, Côté said from July 1 to September 30, 2017, there were 52 safety training sessions with 515 participants.

Compared to the same period in 2016, this represents an increase of 9 per cent in the number of training participants, with a 37 per cent increase in the number of training sessions.

The implementation of new safety initiatives, the Control of Hazardous Energy Program and Confined Space Entry Program, contributed significantly to this increase.

SENATE NOTES

Concordia launches digital strategy

President’s remarks

In his remarks at the December 8 Senate meeting, Concordia’s president Alan Shepard congratulated the university’s newest Canada Research Chairs: Habib Benali, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Benjamin Eppinger, associate professor of psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS); and Pedro Peres-Neto, professor in the Department of Biology in the FAS. Read more about the appointments.

He also mentioned the recent funding announcement by Kirsty Duncan, Canada’s minister of science and Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). They were on campus to announce $265.4 million in SSHRC Partnerships, Insight and Talent programs across the country.

The president said Concordia is one of the leaders in receiving SSHRC funding for powerful work done at the university. Concordia’s share of the national investment is $9.3 million.

Shepard also congratulated Anne-Marie Croteau, dean of the John Molson School of Business, and Marc Denoncourt, chief information officer, on receiving the Méritic awards from the Réseau Action TI, a professional network for information technology in Quebec. They were recognized for making significant contributions to Concordia and the IT sector in general.

The president noted that Concordia International has concluded two new exchange agreements, expanding opportunities for our students to study abroad. One is with the National University of Ireland Galway and the other is with the Strate School of Design in France.

Academic update

Christophe Guy, vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies, announced that Concordia has been given the green light to nominate a Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities, a position that will come with a $10 million award over seven years.

The university is one of nine Canadian institutions whose proposal was accepted in the prestigious CERC competition in the current funding year.

The new chair will build on Concordia’s existing strengths in net-zero and energy-efficient buildings, clean and renewable sources of energy, sustainable environmental engineering, information systems and smart technologies, urban planning and integrated design, and climate science.

Concordia launches development of digital strategy

Guylaine Beaudry, vice-provost of Digital Strategy and university librarian, provided an overview of the new initiative to develop a digital strategy.

This is one of five transformation projects being undertaken in 2017-18 as part of the Strategic Directions initiative to position Concordia as a next-generation university.

“Our goal is to create a coherent plan,” said Beaudry, noting that the digital constitutes more than just tools, storage and processing.

“It is really about people. How can we come together as a community to create a digital culture that will allow our students, faculty and staff to thrive in a period of rapid change?”

The digital strategy project’s goals are two-fold:

• An institution-wide reflection on the digital environment needed to support the experiences, needs and aspirations of students, faculty, staff, alumni, collaborators and partners
• The development of a shared vision and implementation road map, based on this reflection and consultation

Project activities include an inventory of information systems, digital technologies, platforms, software and services used for teaching, research and communications with students.

Engaging members in the development of the digital strategy is a key priority, which is why there will be a series of consultation activities in the winter 2018 term, said Beaudry.

Among the questions that faculty, staff and students will be asked are: What is Concordia’s digital strategy? What are our priorities? What do you think being digital means for our university? What can we do to become a university whose members are all digitally literate?

Full- and part-time faculty members, librarians, professional and support staff will be invited to share information about their everyday work, goals, problems and practices.

There will also be consultation activities geared to current and future students to obtain their input on the changing digital reality. This includes a short survey of students’ expectations and experiences of technology, using a tool developed by Jisc, a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides digital solutions in education and research.

As part of the process to engage Concordians, including alumni, the Concordia President’s Speaker Series on Digital Futures will launch on January 16.

“We’re bringing people who have expertise in dealing with the current and emerging digital realities in sectors such as cinema, government, social media and business, and in evolving fields such as artificial intelligence,” said Beaudry.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Tuesday, January 16 – Marie Josée Lamothe, managing director of branding and managing director of Quebec, Google Canada
• Monday, February 5 – Kevin Chan, head of public policy, Canada for Facebook Inc. and Instagram
• Monday, February 12 – Concordia graduate Félix Lajeunesse, co-founder/creative director, Félix & Paul Studios, and award-winning filmmaker
• Tuesday, February 20 – Concordia graduate Francis Baillet, vice-president of corporate affairs, Ubisoft
• Thursday, April 5 – Michelle d’Auray, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Thursday, April 19 – Shannon Vallor, William J. Rewak, S.J. professor of philosophy, Santa Clara University
• Tuesday, April 24 – Yoshua Bengio, Canada Research Chair in Statistical Learning Algorithms at Université de Montréal and an expert on deep learning.

Département d’études françaises to offer new graduate certificate

Senate approved a proposal to create a new graduate certificate program in the Département d’études françaises.

The Microprogramme en didactique et linguistique pour l’enseignement du français langue seconde responds to an identified need in teaching French as a second language.

It will combine both theoretical and practical approaches to computer-assisted learning and will highlight how linguistic theories are involved in language learning and teaching.

The 15-credit certificate will also offer students experiential learning opportunities in classroom settings.

Senators provide input on student health and well-being

Lisa Ostiguy, deputy provost, invited senators to provide their feedback on ideas put forward at three idea cafés to enhance student services.

This is part of a formal review on student health and well-being launched this fall at the request of the president.

Ostiguy explained that a committee is working on this review, examining student health and well-being in the following six areas:

1. The classroom and academic environment
2. Concordia policies and practices that support well-being
3. Concordia support services related to health and well-being
4. Opportunities on campus for student personal development
5. Campus spaces that promote health and well-being and opportunities for interactions
6. Opportunities on campus to connect

The review includes interviews with experts from the internal and external community, a literature review in each of the six areas, and scanning best and emerging innovative practices in North American universities.

The committee, whose membership includes undergraduate and graduate students, plans to complete its draft report by the end of December 2017. The final report will be shared with the community in spring 2018, along with recommendations.