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Bringing together the departments of textile sciences and biosystems engineering

April 8, 2015 — 

The following is a letter sent to Provost’s Council from Joanne Keselman, Vice-President (Academic) and Provost.

Dear Colleagues:

As part of the University of Manitoba’s Academic Structure Initiative (ASI), Senate approved in principle and recommended to the Board of Governors the joining of the Department of Textile Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, and the Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. On March 17, 2015 the Board of Governors approved this recommendation. As such I am writing to inform you that Karin Wittenberg and Harvy Frankel will guide the implementation process to bring together these departments and the transfer of the associated programs from the Faculty of Human Ecology to the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.

By bringing together these departments, the University of Manitoba will strengthen productivity and innovation by generating designs based in engineering that provide solutions to environmental, agricultural, biological and health-related problems.   This restructuring also enhances the application of nano-technology for the purposes of creating medical textiles and new health care options by continuing textile research in the context of the larger Biosystems Engineering innovation programs.

It is anticipated that current undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Human Ecology’s Textile Sciences programs will transition to the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences for the Fall 2015 academic term. There will be no changes to the academic programs at this time and proposals for future changes to these or other academic programs, once in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, will follow the standard institutional processes already in place and will require the appropriate Senate and/or Board approvals.

It is proposed that the academic and support staff from the Department of Textile Sciences will transition to the Department of Biosystems Engineering in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences with full rights and responsibilities by July 1, 2015.

For continued information, please monitor the Academic Structure Initiative webpage or UMToday.

Sincerely,

Joanne C. Keselman, PhD

Vice-President (Academic) and Provost

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