The Senate Academic Planning Task Force aims to have the first draft of the plan by the end of April and a final report to Senate in September.

The Queen’s community will have an opportunity to provide input into the University’s academic plan at the March 24 meeting of University Senate.

“The Balanced Academy” (What is the right balance for Queen’s and how can that be achieved?) and “Doing Less” (Some reallocations will be required, where should these occur?) are the topics of Thursday‘s 30-minute discussion, arranged by the Senate Academic Planning Task Force.

The task force was struck in January and aims to have the first draft of the plan by the end of April and a final report to Senate in September.

“Over the past weeks we have been talking with students, faculty and staff,” says task force chair, Professor Peter Taylor (Mathematics and Statistics, Biology, Education). “Sometimes we ask them what we need more of, and other times we ask how we might do less. It’s a question of balance, and at the March 24th meeting of Senate we are going to put the question of the balanced academy to senators. We might find that there are many significant types of balance that they value.“

To date, the task force has met with a wide variety of individuals and groups across campus, including Faculty Boards, the Alma Mater Society (AMS) and Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), Student Affairs, Queen’s Library and Queen’s University Staff Association.

A well-attended town hall meeting earlier this month will be followed by two more town halls, on March 29 and April 11.

Upcoming events are posted on the interactive task force webpage.

Those interested in attending the discussion at Thursday’s Senate meeting are asked to email senate@queensu.ca in advance, to request a visitor’s card. Requests for admission will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until noon Thursday.