Faculty Committees
Faculty Committees are specialized committees that report to Faculty Council. The work undertaken by these committees is detailed below. Ultimately, proposals from these committees are brought to Faculty Council as a motion.
Faculty Committees are comprised of Osgoode professors, administration, LLM students, and LLB students selected by Student Caucus. All students on a Faculty Committee have a voting right on that committee and are responsible for serving and protecting students interests on committee matters.
Academic Policy Committee
*** This Committee requires a significant commitment over the school year***
- Review all existing and proposed courses, seminars, and programs
- Supervise and assist in the development of the curriculum
- Review the academic rules,
- Undertake long range curricular planning,
- At the beginning of each academic year, present for the information of Council, a work plan developed in consultation with the faculty,
- Establish such sub-committees and working groups as are necessary to enable it to carry out its functions and shall inform Faculty Council on their purpose and composition
Chair: Brian Slattery
4 LLB student positions: Kevin Liang, Robert Kleinman, Marcel Malfitano, Courtney Evans
Faculty Members: R. Buchanan (f)/N. Brooks(w), R. Mykitiuk (f)/D.Scott (w), F. Ed Waitzer, 1 TBD
Ex officio: G. Alexandris, L. Mirando, J. Mosher
Admin Assistance: K. Willoughby
Academic Standing Committee
- Hears and decides final grade appeals, including applications to change a
grade, to repeat a year, to write a deferred examination or provide any other
remedy as may be appropriate in the circumstances;
- Grounds on deciding appeals are either based on humanitarian and compassionate
grounds, or unfairness or defects on the grading process
- Have terms of reference as provided in the Academic Rules of Osgoode Hall Law
School, Section E. Examinations and Grading, sub-sections 6.4 through 6.7
inclusive, or as amended from time to time;
- Report annually to the Council by its March meeting
Chairs: M. Mandel (as of July 1; M. Pilkington May 1-July 1)
1 LLB student position: Robert Kleinman
Faculty Members: M. Pilkington, K. Sutherland, G. Van Harten, A. Young
Ex officio: J. Mosher
Admin Assistance: N. Sperling
Admissions Committee
*** This Committee requires a significant commitment over the school year***
- Responsible for student admissions to all years of the LLB programme;
- Develop, maintain and periodically review policies governing the admission of
applicants to the first year and upper year LLB programmes;
- Present for Council approval policies relating to new admissions categories and
proposals to change substantially the eligibility criteria of established
admissions categories;
- Annually review, and, where necessary, revise, procedures for administering the
admissions process;
- Monitor admissions decisions for the non-discretionary admissions
category;
- Make admissions decisions for all discretionary admissions categories,
including admission to the Extended Time programme in all years of the LLB
programme;
- Maintain policies and procedures for deciding:
- Applicant requests for reconsideration of admissions decisions,
- Applicant requests to waive deadlines and eligibility criteria;
- Applicant requests for reconsideration of admissions decisions,
- Annually review data on applications, offers and registrations;
- Prepare an annual report on admissions data, and on the procedures and policies
followed by the Committee, for presentation to the Council no later than its March
meeting;
- Review the mandate of the Admissions Committee every 5 years;
- Facilitate monitoring of the impact of deregulated tuition fees by:
- Surveying applicants who decline offers about their reasons for rejecting
an offer. Data on the reasons for rejection shall be included in the
Committee’s annual report;
- Presenting in its annual report on admissions data any changes or trends that the committee believes are relevant to the impact of deregulated fees.
- Surveying applicants who decline offers about their reasons for rejecting
an offer. Data on the reasons for rejection shall be included in the
Committee’s annual report;
Chair: A. Hutchinson
3 LLB student positions: Sarah Whitmore, Jesse Sherrett, Jessica Diab
Faculty Members: C. Craig, I. Mgbeogi, A. Dhir, S. Slinn
Ex. offico: G. Alexandris, J. Mosher, B. Ryder
Admin Assistance: L. Resendes
Clinical Education Committee
- Monitor all clinical programmes of the Faculty,
- Develop proposals for new clinical programmes for approval by the Academic Policy Committee
Chairs: T. Farrow
3 LLB student positions (One of the students must be a current or a recent division leader at the Parkdale legal clinic.): Rachel Stack, Andrea Siu, Christine Doucet
Faculty Members: S. Gavigan, S. Imai, S. Rehaag, S. Wood, A. Young
Ex officio: R. Haigh, M. MacGregor, J. Mosher, C. Morton, K. Smith
Admin Assistance: N. Tucci
Equality Committee
- Identify and act on equality issues in the Law School in order to ensure that
the commitment expressed in the Equality Resolution is being fulfilled. As well,
the Equality Committee will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the
recommendations for Osgoode Faculty Affirmative Action Plan.
- Report annually to Council
Chairs: S. Gavigan, L. Green (f)/D. Scott (w)
3 LLB student positions: Daniel Del Gobbo, Michael Nilevsky, Jessica Diab
Faculty Members: J. Gilmour
Staff Member: C. Morton
Prof. Librarian: D. Perlin
Ex officio: J. Mosher
Faculty Recruitment Committee
- Make recommendations to the Faculty Appointments Committee concerning the
appointment of full-time faculty in accordance with the priorities approved by
Faculty Council
- Develop procedures for the recruitments of full-time faculty, for the approval
of Faculty Council
- Develop and maintain a three-year rolling plan for faculty appointments that is
consistent with the policies approved by Faculty Council
- Present the three-year plan for approval annually by the October meeting of Faculty Council
Chair: M. Condon
3 LLB student positions: James Gotowiec, Ori Rubin, Daniel Hohnstein
Faculty Members: S. Ben-Ishai, A. Hutchinson, C. Scott (w), G. Van Harten
Ex officio: J. Li, J. Mosher, S. Gavigan (Co-Chair, Equality), L. Philipps
Admin assistance: M. Bulwa
Information Technology Committee
- Make recommendations to Faculty Council or to other committees of Faculty
Council on issues within its or their jurisdiction relating to Information
Technology that:
- Relate to academic policy
- Would substantially benefit from faculty or student input
- Are referred to it or on which advice is sought by another committee
- Relate to academic policy
- Oversee the process of and make recommendations to Faculty Council with regard
to strategic planning for Information Technology
- Comment on decisions of the Administration relating to Information
Technology
- Make recommendations to the Administration on issues relating to Information
Technology
- Develop and implement a plan for broader ongoing faculty and student input into
issues relating to Information Technology, and recommend similar initiatives to the
Administration
- Report annually to Faculty Council
Chair: D. Vaver
3 LLB student positions: Bita Rajaee, Banram Dehghan, Jessica Lee
Faculty Members: G. D’Agostino, T. Johnson
Law librarian: L. Mirando
Prof. librarian: T. Knight
Ex officio: J. Mosher (Dean’s designate), K. Binnie
Admin Assistance: Q. Sang
Library Committee
- Concern itself with Law Library policy as it affects the academic life of the
Law School, and the University. In so doing, it will respond to submissions from
groups or individuals or will independently investigate problems, in order that it
may advise on matters on which have a bearing on academic affairs.
- Collaborate with the Law Library in review and evaluation of rules for the use
of the Law Library.
- Receive the preliminary budget for the Law Library in the Law School Budget and
the rationale for such a figure, so as to participate in the discussion leading to
the establishment of the Law Library Budget. The Library Committee shall also
receive the preliminary allocations within the Law Library Budget from the Law
Librarian for communication and advice,
- Submit reports for the information of Faculty Council. In order to perform this
function effectively, it will receive for information and review the Law
Librarian’s Annual Report to the Dean, or such similar reports as may be
available.
- Facilitate effective communication between user groups and the Law Library, and the Law Library and Faculty Council
Chair: D. Hay
1 LLB student position: Andrea McGarry
Faculty Members: G. Van Harten, D. Vaver, , F. Tanguay-Renaud
Ex officio: J. Mosher, K. Binnie
1 Graduate Student position
Prof. Lib. Staff: M. Perot
Non-Prof. Lib. Staff: J. Fu
Admin assistance: A. D’Ambrosi
Nominating Committee
- Make recommendations to Faculty Council, annually at the concluding meeting of Council and as necessary throughout the year, concerning membership and chairship of its Standing and Special Committees, and faculty membership of the Senate and its Committees and other Administrative bodies of the law School and the University
Chair: J. Li
2 LLB student positions (incl. Chair of Student Caucus): Shaneka Shaw, Eric Barapp
Faculty Members: A. Hutchinson, M. Pilkington, 1 TBD
Ex officio: J. Mosher, P. Puri
Admin assistance: M. Bulwa
Osgoode Community Enhancement Forum
- Foster social and extracurricular interaction between students, alumni, and faculty through:
- Encouraging student participation in Faculty events;
- Encouraging faculty participation in Student events;
- Creating unique events to facilitate the interaction between students and faculty; and
- Encouraging alumni to attend Osgoode events
Chair ex officio: (V.P. Internal of Legal & Lit) Assistant Dean Student Services, Gina Alexandris
4 LLB student positions: Marlene Costa, Daniel Hohnstein, Vivian Li, and Emma Kapetanovi
Faculty Members: M. Beare, F. Tanguay-Renaud (w)
Osgoode Public Interest Requirement Committee
- Hear student appeals from decisions of the Director and determining the procedures for such appeals;
- Setting broad policy directions; and
- Reviewing and giving feedback to the Director on the activities of the Office.
- Meet at least once a year to set broad policy directions and review the work of the Director, and on an as needed basis to review student appeals from decisions of the Director.
- Three years after OPIR is implemented, a review shall be conducted by a committee including the Clinical Education Committee and three representatives from participating organizations. Among other things, the committee shall consider:
- Retention of the discussion group and paper option;
- Whether three hours is sufficient for the discussion groups; and
- Whether credit should be given for all or a portion of OPIR
Chair ex officio: T. Farrow (Dir. Of Clinical Education)
1 LLB student position: Marlene Costa
Faculty Members: A. Hutchinson, M. Pilkington, 1 TBD
Clin. Ed. Committee member: M. MacGregor (CLASP)
Ex officio: J. Mosher, R. Haigh
Admin assistance: Y. Chiu
Priorities and Finance Committee
- Recommend to Faculty Council the ordering of Law School financial priorities, after a review of its requirements and the estimated level of university support, for use in the Law School's presentation to the University of the annual estimates of expenditures and budget;
- Recommend to Faculty Council the ordering of both short and long term budget priorities for internal Law School use;
- Recommend to Faculty Council adjustments to be made in the current Law School budget, after a review of financial statements of the Law School (except those dealing with faculty or staff salaries) from time to time;
- Rrovide Faculty Council from time to time with a narrative statement of the reasons for the recommended order of priorities referred to in (i) and (ii) above;
- Recommend to the Dean the allocation of the Law Foundation Grant;
- Advise the Dean on setting of priorities for fundraising, and approve the allocation of funds actually raised outside the University.
Chair: P. Emond
2 LLB student positions (incl. Chair of Student Caucus): Shaneka Shaw, David Babin
Faculty Members: P. Puri, E. Waitzer
Ex officio: J. Li, L. Mirando
Support staff: R. Ooi
Research and Seminar Committee
- Have responsibility for stimulating research within the Law School and
assisting in obtaining outside funding for research, including reading draft grant
applications and suggesting revisions for improving the applications;
- Vet the applications for the Osgoode Hall Law School Research Fellowship and
make recommendations to the Dean as to each year's recipient;
- Vet the applications for such other research grants or awards as require
adjudication and make recommendation to the Dean as to recipients;
- Suggest to the Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) and / or the
Graduate Studies Committee ways of enhancing links in the research field between
graduate students and faculty;
- Suggest to the Academic Policy Committee ways of enhancing the research skills
and research culture amongst LLB students;
- Generally, provide advice to the Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies)
on matters brought to the Committee related to research;
- Arrange an annual schedule of seminars by members of faculty and distinguished
visitors, where appropriate;
- Advise, as requested, on annual or other periodic public lectures;
- Carry out such other research-related or seminar/lecture-related functions as may be put to the Committee from time to time by the Dean or Faculty Council.
Chair: L. Philipps
1 LLB student position: Ajay Gajaria
Faculty Members: I. Mgbeoji, L. Salter (f)/N. Brooks (w)
Ex officio: M.J. Mossman, F. Tanguay-Renaud
Admin assistance: L. Cormack
Standing Committee on Teaching and Learning
- Develop, promote and enhance the best practices in legal education within the educational program at the law school;
- Review policies, procedures and programs within the law school so as to ensure that they are aligned with the goal of promoting an enriching educational experience for our students; and
- Design and implement an annual Osgoode Course Design Institute (OCDI) for full-time and adjunct faculty at the law school, as well as for a limited number of graduate students with a particular interest in an academic career.
3 LLB student positions: Marc Rodrigue, Mike Nilevksy, Rachel Migicovsky
Faculty Members: Y. Dina
Ex officio: G. Alexandris, T. Farrow, J. Mosher, B. Ryder, R. Woodhouse (Academic Director, York Centre for the Support of Teaching)
Student Awards Committee
- Determine the disposition of prizes and scholarships, except those which must
be disposed of by the Admissions or Review Committees,
- Recommend the acceptance of new prizes to the Senate Student Awards Committee,
when appropriate,
- Consider matters related to the giving of prizes and medals
Chair: K. Sutherland
1 LLB student position: Kevin Liang
Faculty Members: P. Emond, A. Hutchinson
Ex officio: G. Alexandris, P. Spence
Admin assistance: N. Sperling
Tenure and Promotions Adjudicating Committee
- The Tenure and Promotions Adjudicating Committee shall be responsible for adjudication of tenure and promotion files in accordance with the York University Tenure and Promotions Policy, Criteria and Procedures
Chair: J. Mosher
1 LLB student position: Brent Kettles
Faculty Members: R. Buchanan (f)/C. Scott(w), R. Mykitiuk (f)/R. Wai (w), B. Geva, S. Drummond, T. Farrow
Admin assistance: M. Hamilton
Working Group on Curriculum Reform
- In consultation with the Academic Policy Committee, to develop degree level
expectations for the LL.B programme for approval by Faculty Council;
- To review the upper year curriculum in light of those degree level
expectations; and
- In consultation with the Academic Policy Committee, to develop proposals for changes to the upper year curriculum, where appropriate, for approval by Faculty Council.
Chair: O. Okafor
3 LLB student positions [Vera Manu (SC), Shaneka Shaw (SC), Virginia Torrie]
Faculty Members: S. Kierstead
Ex. officio: J. Li, (Interim Dean), G. Alexandris (Assistant Dean, Student Services), T. Farrow (Dir. Of Clinical Education), J. Mosher (Associate Dean), B. Ryder (Assistant Dean, First Year)
Admin assistance: M. Bulwa
In addition to the above committees, there are other Faculty Committees constituted without student representation. Their details and membership is as follows:
Grades Review Committee
Chair: J. Mosher
Faculty Members: C. Craig, B. Ryder, L. Philipps, S. Kierstead
Admin assistance: N. Sperling
Graduate Studies Committee
Chair: L. Philipps
Graduate program dir: B. Richardson
Faculty Members: D. Hay, L. Salter (f)/ R. Wai (w), Y. Dina (f)/S. Wang (w), B. Geva, S. Slinn, 1 TBD
Ex officio: J. Li, V. Watkins
Osgoode Professional Development – Graduate Studies Committee
Chair: N. Brooks
Faculty Member: B. Geva
Ex officio: L. Philipps, B. Richardson, V. Watkins