Academic Programs Committee Reports

UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
ACADEMIC PROGRAMS COMMITTEE
FOR INFORMATION ONLY

PRESENTED BY: __________________________
Geoff Hughes, Chair, Academic Programs Committee
DATE OF MEETING: Jan. 23, 2003
SUBJECT: Items for Information

Program name change
Under the authority delegated to it by Council last April, the Academic Programs Committee has approved the following program name change:

College of Graduate Studies and Research/Department of Archaeology
MA in Anthropology, changed to MA in Archaeology
At its October 2002 meeting, Council approved the reorganization of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology into the Department of Archaeology and the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology.

The College of Graduate Studies and Research and the Department of Archaeology requested that the name of the department�s MA program be changed to �MA in Archaeology� to clarify responsibility for the program and its students. The existing program, though named �Anthropology� actually contains two streams, one in Anthropology and one in Archaeology. Twenty-nine of the 30 students now in the program are in its Archaeology stream. The Archaeology stream has a high reputation across the country, is resourced by internationally-recognized faculty, and the department has an outstanding record of research and scholarly activity. Changing the name of the program to �archaeology� would reflect its enrolment and research focus, and is supported by its students. The Committee agreed that the name of the program should be changed from MA in Anthropology to MA in Archaeology to reflect the nature of the current programs. The Academic Programs Committee felt that ownership of the existing program should be assigned to the Department of Archaeology, where its de facto residence already exists

This motion was approved with the conditions that the College of Graduate Studies and Research could submit proposals to reintroduce the title of MA in Anthropology at a later date if they feel that sufficient resources are available for students who wish to enroll in that stream, and that the Department of Archaeology would supply appropriate revisions for the Calendar.

It was noted that the existing Anthropology-stream student would be grandfathered, so that if his program is completed within the usual five-year timeline, he would receive an MA in Anthropology. The two streams within the program would continue to exist, and on approval from the College of Graduate Studies and Research, other Anthropology-stream students could continue to be admitted to that program but they would now receive their degree entitled MA in Archaeology. A student could receive an MA in Anthropology if admitted on a special case basis.

COUNCIL ACTION: For information only