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COUNCIL CHAMBER, ROOM 3130, W.G. DAVIS BLDG
REPORT NUMBER 45 OF THE ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
May 9, 2022
To the Campus Council, University of Toronto Mississauga
Your Committee reports that it held a meeting on May 9, 2022 at 3:10 p.m. in Room 3130, W.G. Davis Building.
Present:
Laura Taylor (Chair), Sanja Hinic-Frlog (Vice-Chair), Alexandra Gillespie (Vice-President & Principal), Rhonda McEwen (Vice-Principal, Academic & Dean), Maelis Barre, Andreas Bendlin, Randy Besco, Brett Beston, Tracey Bowen, Jill Caskey, Rosa Ciantar, Ruth Childs, Michael deBraga, Margarida Duarte, Sherry Fukuzawa, Philip Goodman, Monika Havelka, Shelley Hawrychuk, Rosa Hong, Tanjim Hossain, Shashi Kant, Irenius Konkor, Helen Kula, Emmanuel Nikiema, Michael Nixon, Gerard Otiniano, Esteban Parra, Andreas Park, Gurpreet Rattan, Christoph Richter, Jacob Gallagher Ross, Adriano Senatore, Jumi Shin, Areesha Siddiqui, Jaimal Thind, Soo Min Toh, Ron Wener
Non-Voting Assessors:
Yen Du (Manager Academic Programs, Reviews & Quality Assurance), Heather Miller (Vice- Dean, Teaching & Learning), Mark Overton (Dean of Student Affairs)
Regrets:
Sultan Akif, Varouj Aivazian, Joshua Barker, Ilia Binder, Brett Beston, Laura Brown, Laura Cocuzzi, Tamara El-Aydi, Richard Greene, Maggie Ku, Andrea Olive, Ashley Monks, Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Lindsay Schoenbohm, Alvin Stanislaus, Dunia Stanojevic, Andrew Sepielli, Meghan Sutherland, Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Leigh Revers, Weiguo Zhang
In Attendance:
Lisa Devereaux (Manager, Academic Integrity & Affairs), Lucy Gaspini Director, Academic Success & Integrity), Steven Short (Acting Vice-Principal, Research)
Secretariat:
Anwar Kazimi (Deputy Secretary)
- Chair’s Remarks
The Chair welcomed members and provided some logistical reminders.
- UTM Strategic Framework
The Chair called on the Vice-President and Principal, Professor Alexandra Gillespie to introduce the item.
Professor Gillespie noted that the Framework was created through a collaborative effort over a 2- year period that involved extensive consultations, including over five hundred individuals across the U of T community. The Framework was not a plan in and of itself, but a synthesis of UTM’s existing plans’ collective purpose. As such, the Framework reflected the results of prior processes of consultation, including, but not limited to, those held for the 2020 Sustainability Strategic Plan, the 2021 Campus Master Plan, the 2017 Academic Plan (a 5-year Provostial Review was about to be launched), and the 2021 Defy Gravity Campaign.
Professor Gillespie expressed her appreciation of the staff from the Office of the Vice-President and Principal, Office of the Vice-Principal Research and the former Chief Administrative Officers who had contributed to the drafting of the document.
As part of the presentation, Professor Gillespie outlined the following:
Purposes of the Framework
- Unified existing campus and U of T-wide goals into a common narrative.
- Championed inclusive excellence that enabled people, communities, and environments to flourish.
- Provided shared language to communicate UTM’s aspirations to internal and external stakeholders.
- Made transparent how UTM reached decisions and identified areas for contraction or growth.
- Encouraged iterative review of existing strategic plans and development of new ones at the unit level.
- Prepared the community for times when plans needed to change
- Contributed a principled flexibility to the process of continuous planning.
Priorities
Professor Gillespie stated that the core priorities identified in the Framework were organized in a circular structure to illustrate their non-hierarchical unity. The priorities revolved around the central tenets of truth, openness, and reciprocity, which signified the UTM’s overarching commitment to honesty, transparency, and the development and strengthening of reciprocal relationships. She noted that while this particular priority would inform the basis of all of the campus’s actions, it was particularly significant in terms of UTM’s relationship with Indigenous people and communities.
The Framework identified the following five priorities: - Fostering Student Success
- Empowering Research Discovery and Impact
- Embracing “Our Place”
- Building Efficient and Sustainable Operations
- Encouraging Collaboration and Belonging
Professor Gillespie further noted that three commitments were listed under each priority, which would operationalize each priority into actions as a basis for measurement. Five questions were listed following each set of commitments that would serve as accountabilities, which were points of reflection that serve to ensure the campus is on track with its progress towards each priority – these accountabilities would be integral to the annual review process of the Framework by the Office of the Vice-President & Principal, in consultation with U of T’s President & Provost, and other tri-campus leaders.
Professor Gillespie stated that while annual reviews would be all-encompassing, they would pay particular attention to the accountabilities stated for each priority; and, upon completion of the annual review process, a report that outlines any updates to the Framework would be posted to the Office of the Vice-President & Principal’s website.
The Chair thanked Professor Gillespie for her presentation. There were no questions from members.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, YOUR COMMITTEE RESOLVED
THAT the Academic Affairs Committee concur with the prospective recommendation of the Campus Affairs Committee,
THAT, the University of Toronto Mississauga Strategic Framework, dated March 17, 2022, submitted by the Vice-President and Principal, be approved in principle.
- Major Modification: Mode of Delivery Change within the Specialist in Digital Enterprise Management (DEM) and Major in Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, (CCIT), UTM
The Chair invited Professor Heather Miller, Vice-Dean, Teaching & Learning, to present the item.
Professor Miller highlighted the proposed changes noting that the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College had determined that there was an opportunity for each institution to deliver its own first-rate and distinctive inter-disciplinary programs aligned to their respective strengths, expertise, and learning objectives. Any changes would be rolled out in a staggered fashion. One additional benefit was that UTM students would no longer be required to travel any distance to Sheridan College which would give more time to pursue on-campus opportunities.
There were no questions from members.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, YOUR COMMITTEE RESOLVED
THAT the proposed mode of delivery change within the Specialist in Digital Enterprise Management (DEM) and Major in Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, (CCIT), as recommended by the Vice-Principal Academic & Dean, and as detailed in the proposal dated April 27, 2022, be approved, effective September 1, 2022.
- Minor Modification: Undergraduate Curriculum Changes, UTM
The Chair invited Professor Heather Miller, Vice-Dean, Teaching & Learning, to present.
Professor Miller reported that the Curriculum Reports were comprised of Minor Modifications to existing undergraduate programs. These curricular changes were intended to have significant positive effects on a cumulative basis but were considered to be minor changes in the context of the UTQAP. She stated that it was important to note that the changes brought forward at these meetings would come into effect during the 2023-2024 Academic Year.
There were no questions from members.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, YOUR COMMITTEE RESOLVED,
THAT the proposed Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences undergraduate curriculum changes for the 2023-24 academic year, as detailed in the respective curriculum reports, be approved.
- Annual Report: Academic Integrity, 2020-21
The Chair called on Ms Lisa Devereaux, Manager, Academic Integrity, Office of the Vice- Principal Academic & Dean (OVPAD) to present.
Ms Devereaux stated that the Report covered the period from September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021. She made a presentation which highlighted the number of cases that were resolved at the Departmental, Divisional and Tribunal levels. The statistics provided information related to the number of cases per academic year, the number of cases within each department, the number of offences by year of study, and the number of offences by offence type. The numbers also included cases that have been resolved with sanctions and those that had been dismissed.
Ms Devereaux reported on the current trends in academic integrity. These included an increase in the use by students of a subscription-based service that matched students with “tutors” who would help them in a variety of subjects; tutoring companies were aggressively targeting incoming international students; and essay writing services were being advertised so that students could purchase essays that could go undetected by University faculty and plagiarism software.
As part of its response to the increasing number of academic integrity cases (i.e., unauthorized aids or assistance on exams/term tests and plagiarism) being brought forward under the University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, Ms. Devereaux reported that the Academic Integrity Unit (AIU) had increased its productivity, as follows:
- Increased number of Dean’s Designates from 3 to 5 so that the AIU could schedule more meetings with students and resolve cases in a timelier fashion;
- Hired two additional Academic Integrity Assistants on a two-year term to address the increase in cases – the AIU had doubled its peak case resolution capacity;
- In May 2021 alone, the AIU processed more than two hundred cases and has closed 80% of cases submitted in the last five years (i.e., since 2016-17).
As part of the AIU communications and outreach initiatives, Ms Devereaux stated that one such initiative was the development of an “Academic Integrity Kit” which was available online to support faculty with managing academic integrity in in-person and virtual classrooms. Ms Devereaux concluded her presentation by reporting that OVPAD had retained external consultants from Ernst & Young to undertake an improvement/process review project.
In response to members’ questions and comments, Ms Devereaux and Ms Lucy Gaspini, Director, Academic Success & Integrity stated the following: - The use of AI systems that provided sophisticated translation of answers to posed questions was on the rise; it was noted that UofT’s plagiarism detection tool was able to detect when foreign language text was being translated and that this could be followed up on with the Instructional Technology team.
- The Office of the Dean was responsible for ensuring that all allegations of academic offence case files brought forward by Department Chairs and Directors were complete, which included all evidentiary documents – further discussions on the process and its complexity as a tri-campus model could be held with the Office of the Vice-Provost;
- The AIU could examine the relationship of GPA data with that of the data presented but would need the assistance of the Office of the Registrar; and
- The AIU was actively collaborating with local post-secondary institutions (i.e. McMaster University and the University of Waterloo) on external funding proposals to develop reusable pedagogical assets about academic integrity.
The Chair thanked Ms Devereaux and Ms Gaspini for their detailed presentation.
- Annual Report: Office of the Vice-Principal Research, 202-21
The Chair called on Professor Steven Short, Associate Vice-Principal, Research - Facilities to present.
Professor Short made a presentation that included the following highlights of the Office of the Vice-Principal Research (OVPR) annual report:
- The OVPR had three new leadership roles (Dr. Payam Zahedi, Director; Dr. Shawn Davis, Veterinary Director; and Professor Steven Short, AVP Research – Facilities. All three positions had strengthened UTM research efforts.
- The staff complement had also increased, allowing for greater support to UTM’s research community.
- Two Strategic Development Officers were hired as part of the Project 27 initiative at U of T (Drs. Ana Pogoutse and Jessica Lapp brought expertise in grant application development and had already worked on expanding resources).
- One Communication Officer was hired (Ms Tanya Rohrmoser – she has already improved the OVPR website architecture and updated content, expanded social media footprint, rebranded bimonthly research newsletter, which better aligned the brand to U of T.
- The OVPR portfolio had undertaken the following activities: attended departmental and institute faculty meetings (13 thus far) over past 10 months, presenting an overview of the OVPR with robust discussion and useful feedback; and surveyed new and early career researchers faculty on research needs, and had follow-up meeting with them.
- Continued investment activity in research via internal programs, including overseeing the Research and Scholarly Activity Fund and the UTM Postdoctoral Fellowships, as well as awarding ten seed funds and two workshop/ outreach development funds through the Black, Indigenous, and Racialized Scholar/Research Grant Program.
- The OVPR successfully ran the inaugural SSHRC Grant-Writing Cohort Program with twenty-five faculty participants – a plan is in place to repeat this and to also have NSERC and CIHR streams; and
- Allocation of more than $14.5 million in research funds from external sources, including $10.8 million from Tri-agency.
The Chair thanked Professor Short, for his presentation. There were no questions from members.
- Reports of the Presidential Assessors
The Chair invited Professor Rhonda McEwen, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean to provide a report.
Professor McEwen highlighted new initiatives with two websites from her office:
- Wisdom@UTM: contained a collection for all persons who identified as women in STEM, recommending that this new resource be used for recruitment of diverse candidates in STEM and as a networking tool for students, faculty, librarians, and staff at UTM and beyond; and
- An overhauled and updated Dean’s Office website, with new links to resources, and helpful materials. This website development was supported by a current UTM/ICCIT student who is studying web design.
Professor McEwen recognized the service of Professor Michael Lettieri, who was completing his five-year term as Vice-Dean, Academic Experience, and a long and remarkable career at UTM. She also noted that Professor Heather Miller was also completing her term as Vice-Dean, Teaching and Learning, and would be returning to the Department of Anthropology.
Professor McEwen thanked Professors Lettieri and Miller for their service to UTM.
CONSENT AGENDA
On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried YOUR COMMITTEE APPROVED
THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 11, the Report of the Previous Meeting, be approved.
- Annual Report: UTM Library, 2020-21
The report was received for information.
- Annual Report: Committee On Standing, 2020-21, Office of the Registrar
The report was received for information.
- Annual Report: Academic Appeals Subcommittee, 2020-21
The report was received for information.
- Report of the Previous Meeting
Report number 44, dated February 10, 2022, was approved.
- Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
- Date of Next Meeting – Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 3:10 p.m.
The Chair reminded members that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled for Tuesday, September 13, 2022.
- Other Business
The Chair extended her thanks to all the members of the Committee for their contributions throughout the governance year.
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
May 13, 2022