Senate Standing Committees

The Senate Academic Planning Committee (SAPC) makes recommendations to Senate on all matters related to the overall direction of academic programs at 51��ɫ.

This includes:

Adapting and modifying the overall university plan as required;
Responding to specific requests (from the Board of Governors or from the Ministry) to articulate a 51��ɫ niche or position relative to a current situation or need;
Responding to requests from Faculties and units to initiate new programs, modify current programs, or cancel them;
Considering the financial implications of maintaining all academic programs; and
Dealing with questions of policy that govern scholarships, bursaries and awards.

As part of this broad mandate, SAPC oversees the program review and approval process run by the University under the Ontario Universities’ Council on Quality Assurance, managed by the Ontario Council of Academic Vice‑Presidents.

In general, its role is to offer to Senate a considered conceptualization of where the University is, in what direction it should be heading, and what needs to be undertaken to accomplish this.

Chair: Provost and Vice-President: Academic
Administrative support: University Secretariat

Membership

Provost and Vice-President: Academic: Heidi Northwood
Academic dean or university librarian (chosen by the deans/librarians):
- Robert Basso
- Bruce McKay
- Brent Wolfe
Graduate student (chosen by the Graduate Students' Association): Hashem Faal Moghanloo
Undergraduate student (chosen by undergraduate students): Lulia Habtemichael
Martin Luther University College faculty senator (elected by the Martin Luther University College [Waterloo Lutheran Seminary]): Daniel Maoz
Eight faculty members (elected by UFC; two must be senators; one from each of the faculties):
- Anna Ferenc (Music)
- Steve Sider (Education)
- Bruce Gillespie (Liberal Arts)
- Azim Essaji (Lazaridis School/Senator)
- Xu (Sunny) Wang (Science)
- David Smith (Arts/Senator)
- Kari Brozowski (Human and Social Sciences)
- William O'Leary (Social Work)

The mandate of the Student Appeals Committee derives from one of the powers of Senate, as per the WLU Act: to “hear and determine appeals from the decisions of the faculty councils on applications and examinations by students.” Students may appeal decisions of the faculty petitions committee (as outlined in the Graduate Student Appeals and Faculty Petitions Procedures in the graduate and undergraduate academic calendars, respectively) which impact their academic standing. Such decisions include, but are not limited to: grades, assessments, and applications for consideration under a university policy or process. The Student Appeals Committee operates under delegated authority from Senate in the hearing and determination of such appeals. The Committee is further responsible for final appeals as per Policy 12.2 Student Code of Conduct: Academic Misconduct. The Committee is responsible for establishing rules and procedures for the hearing and determination of appeals; the establishment or revision of such procedures is subject to the approval of Senate. The Associate Vice‑President: Academic shall be chair of the committee.

Chair: Trish McLaren
Administrative Support: Office of the Provost and Vice-President: Academic

Membership

Associate Vice-President: Academic: Trish McLaren
Dean of Students: Adam Lawrence
Five students (two undergraduate student senators; two graduate students):
- Janny Boomhouwer (Graduate)
- Angela Gallo (Graduate)
- Leia Felice (Undergraduate)
- Christopher Matheson (Undergraduate)
- Aftab Tariq (Undergraduate)
Faculty (Arts, designate): Linda Quirke
Faculty (Arts, alternate): Dana Weiner
Faculty (Liberal Arts, designate): Tarah Brookfield
Faculty: (Liberal Arts, alternate): Vacant
Faculty (Human and Social Sciences, designate): Stacey Hannem
Faculty (Human and Social Sciences, alternate): Lisa Kuron
Faculty (Education, designate): Jennifer Straub
Faculty (Education, alternate): Kathleen Clarke
Faculty (Music, designate): Gerard Yun
Faculty (Music, alternate): Vacant
Faculty (Lazaridis School, designate): David Wheatley
Faculty (Lazaridis School, alternate): Michael Brolley
Faculty (Science, designate): Dariush Ebrahimi
Faculty (Science, alternate): Sean Doherty
Faculty (Social Work, designate): Jessica Hutchison
Faculty (Social Work, alternate): Magnus Mfoafo-M'Carthy

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