Senate serves as UFV’s academic governing body, making decisions that shape the daily experience of students and faculty. It advises the Board of Governors — responsible for the university’s business affairs — on matters of shared interest. Monthly public meetings are open to all members of the UFV community. This article will recap key agenda items of the hybrid Senate meeting held on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.
Dr. Gerry Palmer, associate professor of UFV’s School of Business, motioned to make revisions to administrative elements of final grade appeal procedures and revise policy procedures.
“Since the development of the Students Rights and Responsibilities Office, the Office of the Registrar has handed some responsibilities from their work over to this newer office. This includes the administrative elements related to Final Grade Appeals.”
The motion was voted on and approved.
Dr. Tracy Ryder Glass, provost and vice president academic, motioned for the program discontinuations of the Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy minor and the Graduate Certificate in Mindfulness-Based Teaching and Learning.
A common factor to cancel all these programs was due to low interest among students. Additionally, there was also no instructor available to continue running the MBTL program. However, since 2023 the program has been in suspension and should not affect any current students. The motion was voted on and carried.
David Johnston, registrar and associate vice-president, motioned to make changes to the entrance requirements, program requirements, and credential classification for the English Language Studies (ELS) program. The primary changes concern the name and classification going from ELS certificates to ELS associate certificates. The motion was voted on and approved.
Johnston also motioned to approve changes to the Library and Information Technology diploma. Students will be able to declare multiple “streams” — previously known as “concentrations.”
However, this will not affect the number of credits students have, Johnston clarified.
“They’re just restructuring, allowing students the ability to do multiple … concentrations.”
Another motion by Johnston was made to approve changes to the Psychology Honours program as outlined by department head Dr. Andrea Hughes’ memo. Changes include: PSYC 301’s (Intermediate Quantitative Methods and Statistical Inference) upper-level prerequisite credits have gone up from nine to 12 to help students do well in the program. The motion was voted on and approved.
These program changes will come into effect in September 2026.
Johnston also presented possible options for sessional dates for the 2026-27 academic year. While tentative schedules for the next five years are available to view, Senate, in discussion with student representatives, worked to create an optimal schedule for both faculty and students for the upcoming year.
The Senate board and students discussed the number of days in the fall reading break and the exam dates. The initial schedule proposed the final day for Fall 2026 exams to be Dec. 23, 2026. This late end to the semester prompted conversation to revise this schedule. Johnston remarked on the reasoning behind this decision.
“Labour Day comes late, which it does this year, it just pushes things down the line, so both options that I presented to you have the last day of exams on the 23rd. There’s some people who may want to discuss that. Alternatives. So perhaps any general questions, and then we can open the floor to concerns with the schedule.”
Bilal Faisal Faheem, president of UFV’s Student Union Society (SUS), suggested starting the Fall 2026 semester the week before Labour Day.
“If we are able to start the classes a week before, which is Sept. 2, [but this] is usually not the trend that we follow.”
The reasoning behind the suggested model to begin classes before Labour Day, was to provide enough instructional days within the semester, as well as a full reading week break in the fall. This suggestion prompted members of Senate to discuss other options.
Palmer introduced an alternative to the Fall 2026 schedule in order to find a compromise between the Senate board and students.
“Let me just do the simple motion … the reading week would be as proposed, and the last day of classes would be on the Wednesday, not the Friday, and exam period would end on the 2nd, not the 23rd.”
This motion was voted on and carried.
Dr. James Mandigo, UFV president and vice chancellor, was not present, but his report included updates to Senate such as the renewal of the Integrated Strategic Plan and Fiscal Sustainability. Mandigo also added that an update was provided at the second budget town hall meeting on Jan. 23, 2026, and discussion around the skilled trades programs is ongoing.
“Members of the Skilled Trades Training Council met with Minister [Jessie] Sunner and the CEO of Skilled Trades BC to receive an update, during which it was reinforced that the initial tranche of funding will help reduce waitlists for apprenticeship seats and support progression to Red Seal certification.”
