1. University Council
  2. May 2 2008 Agenda
  3. Report to the University Council by The Elected Representatives to the Board of Trustees

Report to the University Council by The Elected Representatives to the Board of Trustees

MAY 2008

The University Council representatives to the Board of Trustees include:

Jocelyn Hart (Member, Campus Planning and Development and Queen's Centre Executive Committee); Joe Lougheed (Vice-Chair, Advancement Committee and Vice-Chair, Nominating Committee [until December 2007]); Bruce Mitchell (Member, Campus Planning and Development Committee and Vice-Chair, Finance Committee); David Pattenden (Member, Audit Committee); Innes van Nostrand (Member, Advancement Committee [beginning June 1, 2008]) and David Whiting (Member, Advancement Committee, Vice-Chair, Nominating Committee [beginning December 2007] and Director, PARTEQ)

Over the past year, May 1, 2007 to April 1, 2008 the Board of Trustees has:

Received for Information

  • Quarterly reports on Senate Actions
  • Quarterly Principal’s Reports
  • Quarterly reports on Research Activities
  • Quarterly reports from the President of the AMS, the President of the SGPS and the Rector
  • Reports from the Advancement Committee, the Audit Committee, the Environment Committee, the Finance Committee, the Campus Planning and Development Committee, the Investment Committee and the Pension Committee
  • Final Report on Enrolment (November 1, 2007 ) from the University Registrar
  • Report on the 2008 Spring and Fall Convocation dates and Honorary Degree recipients
  • Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS) Annual Credit Rating Report
  • Standard & Poor’s Rating Report
  • Appointments to Full Professor and Professor Emeritus/Emerita
  • Report on Elections to the Board of Trustees
  • Quarterly Financial Report
  • Pension Quarterly Report
  • Advancement Quarterly Report
  • Environmental Health & Safety Annual Report, 2006/2007
  • Report on the Annual Budget for 2007-2008
  • Queen’s University Annual Report 2007

Held a Discussion Session on:

  • Annual Giving at Queen's University (September 28, 2007)
  • A special session on strategic financial issues (March 8, 2008)

Received for Action

  • Adopted a Consent Agenda format for meetings of the Board of Trustees and formal procedures to add items to the Agenda at the time of the meeting.
  • Delegated to the Principal the authority to appoint from time to time a Vice-Principal who will act as the Queen’s University Representative on and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Study Centre (ISC) and to remove the Queen’s University Representative as a Trustee and Chair
  • Unanimously endorsed a motion to reflect its support of the motion passed by the Faculty of Health Sciences (February 7) and the Senate (February 28) in support of our Teaching Hospitals. 
  • Enthusiastically endorsed a request from students that the University endeavour to support Earth Hour 

Ratified the following items approved by the Senate

  • The revised terms of reference for the Helen and Arthur Stollery Professorship in Mining and Geological Engineering, approved by the Senate on April 26, 2007.
  • The establishment of the GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Health Policy Studies, approved by the Senate on April 26, 2007
  • The establishment of the Queen’s-RMC Fuel Cell Research Centre (FCRC) as a Faculty-Based Centre in the Faculty of Applied Science, approved by the Senate on September 20, 2007.

Naming and Dedication Opportunities

  • Approved the dedication of the Fireplace Lounge in the Student Centre section of the Queen’s Centre in recognition of the very generous gift from Barbara Palk and John Warwick.
  • Approved the dedication of Room 411 in Goodes Hall in recognition of the very generous gift from Cadbury Adams Canada.
  • Approved the dedication of the Lounge, Room 442 in Goodes Hall, in recognition of the very generous gift from Iain Bruce, matched by a gift from Ambac Financial Group.
  • Approved the dedication of Room 100 in Macdonald Hall in recognition of the very generous gift from Ogilvy Renault LLP.
  • Approved the name change of the Nabisco Professorship in Marketing to the Kraft Professorship in Marketing.

Committees

Advancement

This has been a year of transition and preparation for the Advancement Committee. Many positions have been transitioned and much preparation has been undertaken for friend and fund raising activities.

We welcomed David Mitchell to his new role as VP Advancement and engaged in assisting David with defining the strategic directions of his office. Sarah Renaud assumed the role of Alumni Association President and the Board of Trustees will be appointing a new chair for the Advancement Committee with the retirement of current chairman, Tom O'Neill.

Preparation began in earnest for the next capital campaign which is currently in its quiet phase and increased emphasis was put on Annual Giving with a special breakout session of The Board of Trustees and a special Trustee Match Fund for new donors to Annual Giving. The Committee also gave special attention to fundraising efforts in support of the current capital projects underway on the campus.

On the recommendation of the Audit Committee approved the following:

  • The Annual Financial Statements for Queen's University at Kingston for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2007.

On the recommendation of the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee approved the following:

  • The appointment of KPMG as the External Auditor for Queen's University for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2008.

On the recommendation of the Environmental Health and Safety Committee approved the following:

  • The Policy Statement on Environmental Management and the Policy Statement on Health & Safety. These documents are approved annually by the Board of Trustees.

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee and the Campus Planning and Development Committee, approved the following:

  • An additional $200,000 in planning funds to undertake planning, conceptual design, and the development of costing and staging options for the Arts Campus Tett Centre Project.
  • At the May 5 meeting, the Campus Planning and Development Committee reported to the Board of Trustees that it had approved the recommendation from the selection committee to appoint architects Snohetta (Oslo and New York) in partnership with ema (Ottawa).
  • Additional $350,000 in planning funds for the Arts Campus (J.K. Tett Centre) Project.
  • An increase in planning funds from $300,000 to $600,000 for the Goodes Hall Expansion Project. The funds are provided by the Queen's School of Business.
  • An additional planning funds of $1,115,000 to proceed to construction drawings for the Goodes Hall Project. The funding is to be provided by the School of Business
  • An allocation of $250,000 to undertake design work for the programming and schematic design development for the new Faculty of Health Sciences Building. The funding is to be provided by the Faculty of Health Sciences.

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Board approved the following:

  • The Budget for 2007/2008.
  • Tuition Fees for 2007/08 and 2008/09 (The proposal was presented to the Senate for information at its April 26, 2007 meeting.)
  • Tuition fees for 2008-2009 for Medicine, Graduate and International students as presented in the document provided to the Senate for information on November 15, 2007.  
  • Residence Fees for 2008/09 (Residence fees are reviewed and approved by the Senate Residence Committee.)
  • Student Activity Fees for 2007/08 as presented to the Board by the AMS and the SGPS.
  • Agreement in principle with the replacement of the University’s administrative systems, in order to proceed with engaging vendors in the Request for Proposal process, as recommended by the Executive Steering Committee of the Administrative Systems Evolution Project.
  • An increase in the Gordon Hall capital budget from $15M to $16M to accurately reflect unrecoverable cost overruns.
  • Amendment to the signing authorities to include the position of Controller, Financial Services.

On the recommendation of the Investment Committee, approved the following:

  • Amended the spending policy of the Pooled Endowment Fund to remove the spending cap which limits the payout increases from year to year at two times the increase in CPI over the prior year.

On the recommendation of the Pension Committee, the Board approved the following:

  • Amendments to the Queen’s Pension Plan’s Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures in order to divest certain investments in Sudan and to develop a policy that encompasses environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.
  • Adoption of Resolution No. 13 which amends the Queen’s Pension Plan to deal with members who continue to work after their normal retirement date on other than a full-time basis.

On the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, the Board approved the following:

  • Re-appointment of Bill Young as the Chair of the Board
  • Re-appointment of Kim Black, Tom O’Neill and Andrew Pipe as Vice-Chairs of the Board.
  • Re-appointment of George Anderson, Curtis Bartlett and Louise Cannon as Trustees.
  • Appointment of Edward Speal as Trustee.
  • Appointment of David Grace to the Board of Trustees in the four-year term category
  • Appointment of Dan Rees to the Board of Trustees in the three-year term category and as a member of the Advancement Committee
  • Appointment of Dan Rees and Joe Lougheed as Vice-Chairs of the Advancement Committee
  • The increase by one additional member of the Advancement Committee
  • Appointment of Merv Daub as a member of the Finance Committee
  • Appointment of Anne Leahy as a member of the Environmental Health and Safety Committee
  • Appointment of Jeff Chan as a member of the Advancement Committee
  • Appointment of Jerry Del Missier as a member of the Advancement Committee
  • Appointment of David Whiting as a member and as Vice-Chair of the Nominating Committee
  • Appointment of David Grace as a member of the Pension Committee

Theme Sessions

Saturday, September 29, 2007
A theme session on Inquiry-Based Learning at Queen's was coordinated by Dr. Joy Mighty, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Vicki Remenda, the 2006 Queen's University Chair in Teaching and Learning and Ms. Jackie Druery, Learning and Research Services, Stauffer Library. The session concluded with a tour of McNeill Hall.

Saturday, December 1, 2007
A theme session on "Creating an Impact: Enhancing Graduate Education at Queen's" was facilitated by the Vice-Principal (Academic) and the Associate Vice-Principal and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.

 

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