Carleton’s Board of Governors (BoG) wrapped up its official business for the 2015-16 session at a meeting held June 28.
At the meeting, the Board voted to change the name of the School of Canadian Studies to the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies.
Peter Ricketts, Carleton provost and vice-president (academic), said the name change is intended to raise the profile of Indigenous studies at Carleton.
“I’m very pleased the school for Canadian studies stepped up and embraced the notion of changing their name to incorporate Indigenous studies,” Ricketts said.
The BoG also passed a motion to rename a room in Loeb Building after Lester B. Pearson, prime minister from 1963 to 1968. Pearson lectured at Carleton following his time as prime minister and was later the chancellor of the university. The room in Loeb Building was once home to Pearson’s office.
The Board was also updated on the campus master plan, which was first created in 2010. It includes plans to develop the northern end of campus, which is currently under-utilized, according to Anne McIlroy, the architect who presented the update to the Board.
The plan suggests the university build a new multi-purpose main quad by Bronson Avenue. Jessica Hawes, an architect at Brook McIlroy, said environmental responsibility remains one of the core principles of the plan.
The BoG also received an update on the university’s strategic plan. Ricketts said the university is doing well with developing new academic programs, but first-year enrolment is dropping, something that is occurring at universities all over the country.
“While we are ahead of the game in terms of the overall average, we clearly are moving into an era of more limited domestic undergraduate enrolment growth,” Rickets said.
