Planning Committee says review of science depts. okay

University Council’s Planning Committee says there was nothing very wrong with a review of Medicine’s five basic science departments that caused a flap when it was released in January.

Planning Committee Chair Jene Porter reported to Council April 18 after a January Council motion asked the Committee to see if the review commissioned by the Health Sciences Advisory Council had been handled properly.

Porter said the committee found that, while the review may have appeared to some faculty to have been commissioned from outside the University, it “was unpolished and blunt, even offensive to many”, and it came to light when a StarPhoenix headline blared that the review found “deadwood” faculty in the departments, in fact the Planning Committee is satisfied that there was no threat from this type of review.

“The Committee recommends, however, that such reviews be managed so as to meet some reasonable standard of fairness to those under review and that communication strategies be established for all such reviews.”

The departments reviewed were: Anatomy & Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology, Pharmacology, and Physiology.  The review recommended action to set up flexible research teams to attract higher funding.

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