January 10th Senate meeting

Full report can be found here. There were two important points from the Senate meeting. The last portion of the report contains information on the discussion between SSA and the Biological Sciences Department.

Program proposal: Post-baccalaureate Diploma in Medical Physiology and Pathophysiology. Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences— SENATE APPROVED

  • Students interested in applying for their first intake in the Fall of 2020, be sure to check out the full minutes. Potential student questions like general program information, admission requirements, selection criteria, tentative list of courses, etc. can be found there. ***Please note that this is not the official applicant information bulletin from the Department.***

program Proposal: Bachelor of Midwifery Degree. College of Page 100 Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences — SENATE APPROVED

  • Indigenous students interested in applying for their first intake in the Fall of 2019, be sure to check out the full minutes. Potential student questions like general program information, admission requirements, selection criteria, etc. can be found there. ***Please note that this is not the official applicant information bulletin from the Department.***

SSA brings student concerns to Biological Sciences department head

  • Read the minutes for Dr. Harris’ response regarding “insufficient upper level courses for biology students”.

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM YOUR SENATORS:

Should you have any academic concerns like the previous point mentioned, please do not hesitate to email us Science.StudentsAssociation@umanitoba.ca. We are dedicated to ensure that your concerns are heard by Faculty Members, Department Heads, etc. Our role is to advocate for you and ensure that you get responses and answers to these important questions.

October 3rd Senate meeting

The minutes for the first Senate meeting of the school year can be found here. There were a couple Science-related issues relevant to Science students, interesting academic matters and University news relevant to all students.

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One of our main goals for hosting LabTREK this year was to encourage students to explore undergrad student research opportunities. We would like to follow up on this initiative and bring everyones attention to the Undergrad Student Research Awards (USRAs):

  • This website contains more info on Undergrad Research Opportunities.

  • Please note of the recent revision of the departmental deadline for the NSERC, NSERC Aboriginal, and Faculty of Science Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRAs). This single departmental deadline applies to ALL departments. The USRAs are now due on January 10, 2019. This will allow students to be able to include their fall 2018 grades in the cumulative GPA they report on the application form.  Nevertheless, Dr. Brian Mark (Acting Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Science) strongly recommends that students start preparing their applications well in advance of the holiday break.

  • Lastly, please note that the URA is an entirely separate stream which has a different due date from the USRAs.


June 20th Senate Meeting

Official Senate report can be found here. There were a couple pieces of information pertinent to Science students. Check the linked report for more info.

INTRODUCTION OF 4 INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE COURSES

New courses offered by the Faculty of Science which will be available for the academic year 2018-2019! This will provide the Faculty with the flexibility to offer interdisciplinary science courses, including courses that do not fit within a single department. These will be available to students across faculties and might be used to satisfy a Science elective. **More info on these courses on the linked Senate report**

  • SCI1000- Topics in Science 1

  • SCI2000- Topics in Science 2

  • SCI3000- Topics in Science 3

  • SCI4000- Topics in Science 4

AMENDMENTS MADE TO MEDICINE ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

There are two changes to the admission requirements. These are both Senate Approved and will be effective this coming application cycle for the academic year 2019/2020.

  1. AGPA calculation change. Previously, the AGPA was initially calculated from undergrad grades submitted by the app deadline and this will be used towards the Selection of Applicants for Interview. Later on in the year, AGPA will be recalculated and this will be used towards the Selection of Applicants for Admission. This will not be the case anymore. Now, same AGPA will be used for i) Interview and ii) Admission Selection. (i.e. in determining selection for admission, AGPA at the time of application will not be altered by grades achieved after the app deadline)

  2. Inclusion of CASPer to the admission criteria. More information on CASPer can be found here. One thing to note is that while all applicants are required to take this test, the CASPer results will not be used in the selection of registrants from the Canadian Indigenous applicant pool.

AMENDMENTS MADE TO NURSING REQUIREMENTS

  1. BIOL 2410 (Human Physiology I) & BIOL 2420 (Human Physiology II) will now be accepted as a pre-req in lieu of BIOL 1410 (Physiology of the Human Body). If taken, both BIOL 2410 and 2420 grades will be included in the AGPA calculation.

  2. MBIO 3010 (Mechanisms of Microbial Diseases) will now be accepted as a pre-req in lieu of MBIO 1220 (Essentials of Microbiology) requirement.

  3. Changes related to Math and Written course requirements

May 16th Senate Meeting

Official Senate report can be found here. There are relevant modifications to the following programs:

Actuarial Math

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Actuarial Math
  • B.Sc (Joint Honours) in Stats -- Actuarial Math 

Biochemistry

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Biochem

Biological Sciences

**only for the Evolution and Biodiversity Theme in the following programs:

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Biological Sciences
  • B.Sc (Honours) in Biological Sciences, Co-operative Option
  • B.Sc (Major) in Biological Sciences
  • B.Sc (Major) in Biological Sciences, Co-operative Option

Chemistry

**only for the 1)Physical and (2) Quantum/Computational Chemistry Focus Areas in:

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Chemistry
  • B.Sc (Honours) in Chemistry, Cooperative Option
  • B.Sc (Major) in Chemistry
  • B.Sc (Major) in Chemistry, Cooperative Option

Computer Science

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Computer Science--Physics and Astronomy

Genetics

  • B.Sc (Honours) in Genetics
  • B.Sc (Honours) in Genetics, Cooperative Option
  • B.Sc (Major) in Genetics
  • B.Sc (Major) in Genetics, Cooperative Option

 

May 17

Full Meeting Minutes: http://umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/media/2017_05_17_Senate_Agenda_v2.pdf

Nothing too extravagant this meeting, but the one main piece of information pertinent to science is the change to the Pharmacy program of Rady College. Up till now, Pharmacy was a Bachelors Degree, now it is changing to a PharmD program to fit in with the rest of universities that have done similarly. 

The Changes put in place were discussed in senate:  

• Prerequisite credit hours before admission will increase to 60 credit hours (minimum 2 years) from 30 credit hours in the B.Sc. (Pharmacy) program.

• The Pharm.D. program at the College of Pharmacy will be 4 years, consisting of 144 credit hours of a new and enhanced curriculum.

• The new curriculum will expand the breadth and depth in clinical and advanced therapeutics, scientific literature evaluation, pharmacogenetics, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, skills laboratories, simulation training, and indigenous health.

• Experiential learning components of the program will increase to 1600 hours (40 weeks) from 640 hours in the B.Sc. (Pharmacy) program. Fourth-year students will spend their final year of the program in various experiential rotations as “Pharmacy Interns”.

• Interprofessional learning and service learning components will be added to the program, and this will be coordinated with other Colleges in the RFHS.

• The new Pharm.D. program proposed by the College of Pharmacy will meet the CCAPP accreditation standards for Pharmacy education.

 

 

April 5

Full Meeting Minutes: http://umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/media/2017_04_05_Senate_Agenda.pdf

In terms of relevance to the Faculty of Science nothing really substantial was discussed. However, there are a couple of things discussed that may be of some importance to students.

senate discussed the possibility of the introduction of a new Masters program in Human Rights. This is what the proposed program would entail

“Canada’s only Master of Human Rights degree program will equip graduates to help address the increasingly complex human rights challenges of the 21st century. It will be broadly interdisciplinary and take advantage of expertise in the University of Manitoba’s professional schools, including Law, Education and Social Work. The MHR program will prepare students to integrate human rights perspectives into their careers in the private and/or public sectors by developing research, advocacy and negotiation skills, as well as professional competencies. The program will emphasize critical engagement with the conception, practice and institutionalization of human rights while preparing students to make ethical, competent, innovative and effective contributions to human rights work locally, nationally and globally. ”
— http://umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/media/2017_04_05_Senate_Agenda.pdf

For the time being, this topic has been postponed indefinitely, meaning it's not to "postpone" the main motion, but rather to prevent action on it for now.

The main points being brought up for the program during the meeting were that the University of Manitoba would be the first Canadian University that has this program, Human rights is an issue that requires more people working for it, Winnipeg has a human rights building
The main points against is that the funding for Arts programs are already pretty low and this program would require a hefty sum of money [requesting 57 thousand a year]. and that would take away from students enrolled in Arts programs now. 

 

 

February 1

The minutes of the February 1st senate meeting (full minutes here)

Highlights:

President Barnard expressed condolences, on behalf of the University community, to the family and friends of those who were killed in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Quebec, on January 29th. He said people’s hearts and minds were also with those who were injured and with colleagues at the Université Laval who were directly affected by the death of a faculty member. The University community stands together to denounce the senseless act of violence.

Modifications to the Prerequisites for Admission to Max Rady College of Medicine

Changes were made to diversify the applicant pool and the medicine class, in order to ensure that the program reflects and serves the Province's diverse population. These are the main points brought up and moved. It will be noted if the senate approved- Note these are for the FALL 2018 INTAKE

  1. Proposing elimination of the 6 credit hours of biochemistry and the 18 credit hours of social sciences, as the MCAT 2015 tests these things already. Senate approved.
  2. Request grades from courses completed at least five years prior to admission, as part of another program of study, be eliminated for the calculation of the Adjusted Grade Point Average. Essentially, if you don't do that well in your studies from 2014-2018, you take a break, you straighten up and fix your study habits, and you do another program of study from 2020-2024, your 2014-2018 studies, by your request, can be dropped in the calculation of the adjusted gpa. Senate approved.
  3. Proportion of spaces in the M.D. program reserved for Manitoba residents to 95 percent, and with that allow residents of Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon (I like to refer to these provinces as North Canada or Eastern America as it is East of Alaska) to be considered Manitoba residents. Senate approved.