Office of Assistant Vice-President (Program Quality Assurance) x54124 interoffice MEMORANDUM to: Senate Committee for Quality Assurance from: Anthony Clarke, Assistant V.P. (PQA) subject: Periodic Review of the Department of Philosophy date: 12 March 2013 Please find attached the documents for the periodic review of the Department of Philosophy: Final Assessment Report, the Executive Summary which includes the responses of the Chair and Dean, and the responses of the Chair, Dean, and Provost as separate documents. As per section IV.4.A.(vii) of our IQAP for the review of departments and schools, the Executive Summary has been prepared for the information of Senate, and submission to the Ontario Universities Council for Quality Assurance. SENATE COMMITTEE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE PERIODIC REVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of FINAL ASSESSMENT REPORT March 2013 Membership of Internal Review Subcommittee (IRS) External Reviewers: Dr. Andrew Hunter, Ryerson University Dr. Eduardo Mendieta, Stony Brook University, New York Facilitator: Dr. Michèle Preyde, The Internal Review Committee (IRC) received the Final Assessment Report for the Department of Philosophy from the IRS on 05 February 2013. The IRC now presents an Executive Summary of the review, which includes the following: - Introduction - Summary of the review process - Review Committee’s recommendations - Administrative responses to the report from the Chair, Dean, and Provost INTRODUCTION The Department of Philosophy is a community of dedicated teachers and productive philosophical researchers. It was founded in 1965 with an initial complement of five male faculty (John Bruce (chair), Brian Calvert, Michael Ruse, Donald Stewart, George Todd) which quickly grew: in 1975 there were 21 regular faculty (1 female). In 1966 it began offering MA degrees and in 1971, in a joint program with McMaster University (augmented in 1999 to include Wilfrid Laurier University) it began offering PhD degrees. In 2008 the department, deciding that it had the requisite capability and breadth, began offering its own PhD program; the joint program then dissolved. The Department now has 20 full-time regular faculty (7 female), two of whom are jointly appointed (one with Psychology, the other with the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences program). The Department offers BA, MA and PhD degrees in Philosophy, as well as offering a Minor in Ethics in the Life Sciences. The Department has many connections with other units and programs. The Minor in Philosophy is one possible component of the popular Bachelor of Arts and Sciences program. They also contribute to the European Studies program both with course offerings and faculty members serving on their graduate students’ advisory committees. That advisory contribution extends to other departments in the College as well. They also offer courses that are required for the popular Criminal Justice and Public Policy program. To undergraduates, they offer a wide range of courses in almost every area of philosophy, both historical and contemporary, and ample opportunities to pursue individual research projects. In the master's and doctoral programs, students pursue research at a more advanced level and prepare (in the doctoral program) for careers as teachers and researchers. The Department is home to three research groups, Philosophy of Science, Feminist Philosophy, and Political Philosophy. Academic Programs included in Review: Philosophy, BA Philosophy, MA Philosophy, PhD SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS Submission of Self-Study by Department: 05 November 2012 (due 1 November) Site visit: 21/22 January 2013 Final Assessment Report received: 05 February 2013 (expected: February 06) Response of Chair: requested, 06 February 2013; received, February 20 (expected: February 20) Response of Dean: requested, 22 February 2012; received, 11 March 2013 (expected: March 08) The IRS conducted their site-visit to review the Department's academic programs, both graduate and undergraduate on February 21 and 22, 2013. Their agenda included meetings with (in chronological order): Anthony Clarke, Assistant Vice-President (Graduate Studies & Program Quality Assurance); Don Bruce, Dean, Ann Wilson, Assoc. Dean (Academic), and Stuart McCook, Assoc. Dean (Research & Graduate Studies), College of Arts; Mark McCullagh, Chair of the Department of Philosophy; undergraduate students; members of the faculty; graduate Program Committee; Serge Demarais, Assoc. Vice-President (Academic); departmental staff; graduate students; Undergraduate Curriculum Committee; library staff; and an exit interview with Assistant Vice-President Anthony Clarke. REVIEWERS’ RECOMMENDATIONS Overall, and without exceptions, the IRS found everyone to be extremely helpful and forthcoming. They were particularly impressed by the eloquent and engaged undergraduate students who unequivocally and without hesitation expressed their respect, gratitude and admiration for their philosophy faculty. It is very clear that they are receiving excellent mentoring and attention. The IRS were also very impressed by the young, engaged, and solicitous faculty, who are thoroughly engaged with every aspect of their program and department. They were also pleasantly surprised to meet the staff, which recently has undergone personnel changed, but for the better. One of the staff, in fact, had returned to philosophy after having worked in a different department. It was clear that they are a cohesive and effective team. They also noted that we took a physical tour of the library section that is relevant to the philosophy department and were very impressed by the extensive primary language holdings of the university. They deliberately asked for this tour because we wanted to verify that your faculty and students have access to a first rate collection, which in fact they do. In anticipation of their recommendations, however, the IRS wanted to note that the only encounter that led us to pause and be concerned is when they met with the graduate students. They discovered, not to their surprise, that many of the students have deliberately chosen Guelph as their top school. Many applied to Guelph to study with faculty in the program who are nationally and internationally recognized. It was also clear that they are getting personal attention and the kind of mentoring that will allow them to compete on the job market when they graduate, thus continuing the stellar placement record that the department of philosophy has already gained. Yet, these very students who praised their professors and mentors, did not fail to express their apprehension and even fear for the future of their program. The declining numbers of admissions to the program is a major source of their concerns. They all emphatically expressed that decreasing number of Ph.D. admits is and will continue to have adverse effects on the quality of their education and the strength and viability of their program. RECOMMENDATIONS Undergraduate Program 1. Space for undergraduate students in department be created, and a restructuring of the department space to facilitate interaction among all the different types of students be studied and implemented. 2. The undergraduate program committee should simplify the breadth, depth, and sequencing of requirements of curriculum to make them more intuitive and legible. 3. Greater gender balance reflected in texts and philosophers studied across the curriculum Graduate Programs 4. Improve the timing of acceptance offers 5. Details of funding packages need to be made earlier 6. The evident superior capacity to train and educate at the graduate level must be used by increasing the number of graduate students admitted. Graduate education must be protected by keeping a steady, and calculable, number of graduate students. 7. More funding for international students, along with greater flexibility in the possibilities to fund them. 8. More specific help with preparing for job interviews, preparing dossiers, producing teaching statements, research statements, and knowing how to structure a letter of application Create a template or structure for the professional seminar that deliver from year to year the same or similar modules There should be a formalized procedure to deliver help with dossier preparation - esp. Research and Teaching Statements The department should host each semester a workshop on how to get published More opportunities to interact with undergraduate philosophy students should be created Graduate Students should have greater opportunities to teach more courses in order to strengthen their CV and Teaching Dossiers Philosophy Faculty 9. More travel and research funds internally 10. Colloquium funds be expanded to allow the department to bring on a more regular basis other philosophers to give talks or colloquia—this will benefit faculty, undergraduate and graduate students alike. 11. Allow SSHRC and other Research money to top-up student stipends 12. Create more opportunities for teaching release to increase and facilitate faculty research. 13. Provide mentoring to “Research Services” so that they become more sensitive to how humanities research is undertaken and how it is produced (compared to Sciences and Social Sciences) 14. Promotion to Full Professor should be encouraged and targeted (i.e. when someone is clearly at the level of professorship, the Chair should initiative a promotion with the consultation of the respective faculty) 15. More clarity on finances within College of Arts 16. Better timing of funding decisions