Report: Academic Board - October 06, 2022

*participated remotely via Zoom

REGRETS: Ramona Alaggia, Larry Alford, Laura Anderson, Aarthi Ashok, Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, Jutta Brunnée, Missy Chareka, Marsha Chechik, Carol Chin, Susan Christoffersen, Amrita Daniere, Nathalie Des Rosiers, Maryanna Diab, Lisa Dolovich, Paul Downes, Sheree Drummond, Juan Du, Darryl Edwards, Angela Esterhammer, Dickson Eyoh, Robert Gibbs, J. Roy Gillis, William Gough, Linda Johnston, Madeline Kalda, Gretchen Kerr, Elaine Khoo, Jeannie Kim, Lisa Kramer, Philip Kremer, Normand Labrie, Dveeta Lal, Sameer Lal,Brigitte Lavoie, Zhino Maanavi, Amy Mullin, Nicole Novroski, Fabian Parsch, Jennifer Purtle, Srilata Raman, Karen Reid, Rosa Saverino, Markus Stock, Ryan Teschner, Steven Thorpe, Nhung Tran, Geeta Yadav, Christopher Yip

NON-VOTING ASSESSORS: Kelly Hannah-Moffat (Vice President, People Strategy, Equity and Culture), Jeff Lennon (Assistant Vice President, Planning and Budget), Wisdom Tettey (Vice President and Principal, UTSC), Joseph Wong (Vice President, International)

SECRETARIAT

Tracey Gameiro, Secretary

IN ATTENDANCE:

Sandy Welsh (Vice-Provost, Students), Christina Bartha (Senior Executive Director, Student Mental Health Systems, Policy and Strategy), Tad Brown (Counsel, Business Affairs and Advancement), Audelyn Budihardjo (Supervisor, Internal Audit), Alex Matos (Director, Internal Audit), Ann Perry (Senior Issues & Media Relations Strategist), Andrea Russell (Acting Assistant Provost, Office of the Vice-President and Provost), Melina Scott (Executive Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students)

ITEM 3 IS RECOMMENDED TO THE GOVERNING COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL. ITEM 5 WAS APPROVED. ALL OTHER ITEMS ARE REPORTED FOR INFORMATION.

Pursuant to section 33(i) of By-Law Number 2,

Item 10 was considered in camera.

OPEN SESSION

1. Chair’s Remarks

Professor Douglas McDougall welcomed new and returning members and introduced himself, as the incoming Chair, as well as Vice-Chair Professor Ernest Lam and Secretary to the Committee, Tracey Gameiro.

The Chair introduced the assessors to the Board who were present, explaining that they were senior members of the administration who had been appointed by the President to advise the Board.

The Chair encouraged members to participate in meetings, and to share their views actively and respectfully on issues under discussion. He noted the importance of reviewing all documentation in advance and encouraged members to submit complex questions in prior to the meetings, so that fulsome responses could be presented to the Board while discussing the matter.

2. Report of the Vice-President and Provost

Professor Regehr began her report with an update on ‘Back to School’ activities. She reported that orientation events had been extremely well attended, with record engagement with ASKme booths, Clubs Day, and a sold-out crowd in attendance at the Varsity Blues football home opener;

The Provost also acknowledged the 10-year anniversary of the offering of the first Massive Open Online Course (“MOOC”), highlighting the following:

• MOOCs had had steady global engagement from students, with more than 4 million enrolments, over a thousand daily learners and over 300,000 certificates awarded;
• 52 unique MOOCs had been offered by U of T, spanning several disciplines;
• MOOCs continued to be an important vehicle to share the University’s expertise with the broader public and showcase its capacity as a leading institution for teaching, learning, and research;

Education Presentation - Mental Health Initiatives

The Provost then dedicated the remainder of her report to progress made on the redesign of mental health services at the University. She noted that a task force on student mental health had been convened in 2019, co-chaired by Professors Trevor Young, Joshua Barker, (Vice-Provost, Graduate Research and Education, and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies), and Sandy Welsh, (Vice-Provost, Students). The Task Force’s Final Report was delivered in December 2019 and included 21 recommendations, all of which the administration had accepted and had been steadily implementing over the previous two and half years.

The Board then received a presentation from Sandy Welsh on the progress of student mental health initiatives.Christine Bartha, (Senior Executive Director, Student Mental Health Systems, Policy, and Strategy), was also in attendance to answer questions.

The presentation highlighted the following:

• Among the recommendations that had already been implemented were the introduction of same-day counselling services on the St. George campus, the adoption of a single electronic records system, the establishment of new integrated care pathways between campus-based services and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and the appointment of a senior executive director (Christine Bartha), to oversee an integrated tri-campus system.
• Services were redesigned, new partnerships with hospitals and community health providers built, and a renewed commitment made to the stepped care model to ensure early accessible on-campus care for students dealing with mild to moderate issues, and partnerships with external community supports for students with high-acuity complex mental health needs.
• Implementation of one uniform electronic record system across the tri-campus had eased access for students to receive care at the University’s health centres regardless of campus registration.
• A new pathway in partnership with CAMH helped to address the higher acuity complex care end of the stepped care continuum.
• The pathway had created a new role of “clinical navigators” at CAMH that provided complex care co-ordination and discharge planning for hospitalized students.
• Clinical navigators were, with the student’s consent, able to connect to other UofT services (e.g. Student Crisis Response, Accessibility Services).
• Over 80% of the Task Force’s recommendations were well underway, including improvement to the physical spaces of campus health centres.

During discussions, the Professor Welsh offered the following additional comments in response to questions about various issues:

• Presentations and communications about the CAMH pathway had taken place across CAHM with greater awareness and uptake of the service.
• Work with UofT partners, including with student leadership and undergraduate advisory groups, continued to communicate about the CAMH pathway.
• The UofT InLight Student Mental Health Institutional Strategic Research Initiative had received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to evaluate the new partnership with CAMH, and would also be compiling other data on the accessibility, awareness and uptake in services, to inform future planning and adjustments as needed.
• The 2019 Student Mental Health Task Force included consultation with students and students across all three campuses, and had included meetings with student societies, online feedback channels, and town halls.
• Registrar’s offices across the divisions continued to be an important point of contact to help refer students to appropriate supports and strategies such as accommodations when they are experiencing mental health challenges.
• No strict protocols guided the referral and care pathway; rather the process was holistic and individual to all needs of the particular student.
• Same-day counsellors were recruited for their focus and experience with the particular age demographic of UofT’s student population, and included registered social workers and psychologists, as well as psychiatrists, which was unique in Canada.
   

3. Affiliation Agreements: Renewal of the existing full affiliation agreements between the University of Toronto and the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN) full member hospitals, and revisions to the agreement template last updated in 2016

Professor Trevor Young, Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions and Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, provided an overview of the updated agreement noting that it was an articulation of how to achieve shared objectives in teaching, research, fundraising, appointment of faculty and staff, and legislative requirements. He reported that:

• the first template agreement was approved by Governing Council in 2006;
• following the approval of the 2016 template, the University signed new five-year agreements effective January 1, 2017 with each hospital;
• partner hospitals included the nine “fully affiliated” hospitals;
• the Office of the Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institution had undertaken extensive consultation with Vice-President and Vice-Provost portfolios, leadership of the health sciences faculties, the risk management and privacy offices, and legal counsel;
• the most substantive revisions to the template agreement fell into four categories, those that:
  1. reflected changes in legislation, policy, or procedure;
  2. reflected current practice;
  3. reflected the changing relationship with TAHSN hospitals; and
  4. provided clarity.
      

There were no questions from members.

On a motion duly moved, seconded, and carried

YOUR BOARD RECOMMENDED

1. THAT the revised template for full affiliation agreements between the University of Toronto and the full member hospitals of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network be approved, effective immediately;
2. THAT the President, or designate, be authorized to sign such agreements on behalf of the Governing Council, provided that the agreements conform to the approved template; and
3. THAT the agreements signed under the provisions of this resolution be filed with the Secretary of Governing Council.

OPEN SESSION CONSENT AGENDA

On a motion duly moved, seconded, and carried

YOUR BOARD APPROVED THAT

the consent agenda be adopted.

4. Approvals Under Summer Executive Authority

The Chair reported that there were no approvals under summer executive authority within the purview of the Academic Board.

5. Report of the Previous Meeting: Report Number 240 – May 26, 2022

Report Number 240, from the meeting of May 26, 2022 was approved.

6. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting

There was no business arising from the report of the previous meeting.

7. Items for Information

Members received the following items for information:

1. 2022-2023 Calendar of Business
2. Report Number 288 of the Agenda Committee – May 31, 2022
3. Report Number 289 of the Agenda Committee – June 27, 2022
4. Report Number 290 of the Agenda Committee – September 28, 2022
5. Report Number 215 of the Committee on Academic Policy and Programs – September 20, 2022
6. Report Number  205 of the Planning and Budget Committee – September 22, 2022

END OF CONSENT AGENDA

8. Date of the Next Meeting: November 17, 2022, 3:10 – 5:10 p.m.

The Chair reminded members that the next meeting would be held on November 17, 2022 at 3:10 p.m.

9. Other Business

No other items of other business were raised.

IN CAMERA CONSENT AGENDA

10. Quarterly Report on Donations: May 1 – July 31, 2022

Members received the Quarterly Report on Donations for information.

The meeting adjourned at 4:13 p.m.

October 7, 2022