Minutes of the 2005 Meeting of the Political Science Articulation Committee
Held at UNBC, Prince George, BC
April 28, 2005
Attendance:
JayHaalandKwantlenUniversityCollege
JeremyRaynerMalaspinaUniversityCollege
DerekCook (secretary)TRU
TracySummervilleUNBC
Logan MasilamaniDouglasCollege
Darin Nesbitt (Chair)DouglasCollege
StephenPhillipsLangaraCollege
Regrets from UBC and TrinityWesternUniversity
1.0 Call to order
The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:25pm.
2.0Adoption of the Agenda.
Moved (Tracy/Jeremy) that the Agenda be adopted. Carried.
3.0Adoption of Minutes of 2004 Articulation Committee Meeting:
Jay asked that the Kwantlen report for 2003 be amended to read that the new degree program (B.A. in Community Justice) will be a general degree with a concentration in criminology or psychology.
Moved (Jay /Tracy) that the Minutes of the 2004 Articulation Committee meeting be adopted as amended. Carried.
4.0 Reports from Member Institutions
Langara College: Stephen Phillips
College wide and political science enrolments were down 5% from last year. However, summer courses in political science are full. The College administration is recommending that the most popular courses among students be offered through an enhancement process. The new courses offered in the last year were Poli 2270, Introduction to Western Political Thought, Poli 2245, Canadian International Relations, and a WebCT version of Poli 1119, Introduction to Canadian Politics and Government. This WebCT course, Poli 1119, is being offered again this summer. The first time it was offered last fall it had a maximum of 40 students and went well – especially in respect to the quality of student postings. Many Canadian Studies students have taken this course. In September 2005, a WebCT version of Urban Politics will be offered. The department is also planning to develop a 2nd year course on B.C. Politics. Stephen will serve another 2 year term as chair of his department.
The following motion came out of discussion about on-line courses.
Be it resolved that the Political Science Articulation Committee make a list of on-line courses in Political Science offered each term in B.C. and circulate this list to all members institutions for the information of faculty and students.
Moved (Tracy/Stephen) that his motion be adopted. Carried.
Malaspina University College: Jeremy Rayner
Although the institution as a whole has experienced a 5% decline in enrolment, a redistribution of students has benefited smaller disciplines so that student numbers in Political Science are up.
There has been an increase in faculty from 3.0 to 3.25 positions. Dr. David Livingstone, PhD in Liberal Studies from the University of Dallas, has joined the department in the new .25 position. The issue of a major is again on the agenda since political science is the only Social Science discipline without a major at Malaspina. At present, political science works within the rubric of the Global Studies Major. Some departmental reorganization has occurred with political science demerging from economics to stand by itself. An introduction to political science, Poli 100, has been introduced and specialized courses raised from first to second year. However, the second year courses do not require Poli 100. The second year courses have been renumbered and Poli 300, International Organizations, has been introduced. No on-line courses are to be offered. On a sad note, Allan Warnke has cancer and everyone wishes him well.
Kwantlen University College: Jay Haaland
In September 2005, students will be admitted to the new B.A. 3rd year courses in political science. These breadth courses are offered to support minors in other disciplines since political science has not yet been granted a minor in the B.A. Jay became chair last year replacing Noemi Gal-Or who is now part-time in political science while involved in various research areas. While student numbers were over 950, there was a 15% decrease – matched by an institution-wide decrease. Canadian Foreign Policy and Transborder Studies were new course offered last year. Canadian Federalism and Political Theory are new courses in progress.
Douglas College: Logan Masilamani
Shaun Tyakoff has been on educational leave replaced by Logan Masilamani. While student enrolment is near 1000 in political science, there has been about a 11% decrease, matched by a college-wide decline in student numbers. Poli 1100, Politics and Ethics, was a new course offered last year. Women and politics is a possible new course for the future. The successful Model UN for students will continue in a somewhat altered form. Darin Nesbitt has many additional responsibilities as secretary-treasurer of the Douglas College Faculty Association – as well as being Chair of the Articulation Committee.
University of Northern British Columbia: Tracy Summerville
John Young has returned from a three-year leave to be chair in a department with 4 full-time ongoing faculty and a continuing sessional. Tracy will be on leave next year to be replaced by a sessional. Partly as a function of the regional mandate of UNBC, there are many on-line courses offered. They are capped at 25. Health policy is offered on-line and in-person. CNC (The College of New Caledonia) has experienced a budget cut resulting in the loss of philosophy. Since philosophy courses are not offered at UNBC, Prince George is now completely without philosophy. The M.A. program is doing well. Four, one term courses plus a thesis are required. The department endeavours to match the research interests of students with those of faculty. The Dean of Graduate Studies has floated the idea of an interdisciplinary doctoral program that would involve political science.
Current student enrolment is 461 with 87 majors and 9 minors. Student numbers are down 10%. A new 4th year course in Religion and Politics is being proposed.
Thompson Rivers University: Derek Cook
The Administration of our new TRU will be encouraging an increase in student numbers. In political science, our student enrolment is up from 600 to over 700. We have new courses in Canadian Foreign Policy and Humanitarian interventions. There are three full time faculty and two part-time. One of the part-time faculty teaches at the Williams Lake campus. We invite everyone to see our new university by attending the articulation meeting and BCPSA conference in Kamloops in 2008. In respect to on-line offerings, our University president has said that he expects all TRU courses to be offered also in an on-line version in future. TRU still has no major in political studies.
5.0 Report of the Chair
Darin Nesbitt submitted a written report on the February 4, 2005 Annual Meeting of Articulation Committee Chairs/Co-Chairs and System Liaison Persons. After some discussion, it was agreed that Darin would canvas our members by e-mail on the issue of a “systems liaison person” for our committee.
6.0 Election of the Chair
Darin Nesbitt was re-elected for another 2-year term. The motion to re-elect Darin was moved by Kwantlen and seconded by UNBC.
7.0 Report of the Sub-Committee on Education Faculties’ Admission Policies
Tracy Summerville provided a progress update. Moved (Jay/Darin) that the following motion be adopted. The sub-committee on Education Faculties’ Admission Policies is directed to put together a group of senior persons to lobby the College of Teachers and the Ministry of Education to ask that political science become a “teachable subject” in light of civics classes taught in the high school curriculum. Carried.
8.0Report from the BC Political Studies Association and Date of Next Meeting
Jeremy Rayner and Malaspina University College will host the next BCPSA conference and Articulation meeting on the last Friday and Saturday of April, 2006. The Articulation meeting will be on Saturday morning.
9.0Other Business
9.1When should the Articulation meeting occur- before or during the BCPSA conference? It was agreed that if it occurs during the conference an effort will be made by the organizer to minimize overlapping sessions.
9.2Roles and Responsibilities of a System Liaison Person for Articulation Committees Who should this person be? Should s/he be a political scientist? It was agreed that the Chair would canvas the members of our Articulation Committee by e-mail about adding a System Liaison person.
10.0 Adjournment
Moved by Jeremy and seconded by Jay that the committee adjourn. Carried.
The meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.