As you may recall, in late March I announced a collegial, inclusive, and deliberative process of exploration and consultation about the Faculty of Forestry under paragraph 5 of the Policy and Procedures for Faculty and Librarians on Academic Restructuring:

5. Prior to an Academic Restructuring being proposed, faculty members and librarians of potentially affected Academic Units must have had a reasonable opportunity to participate in a collegial, inclusive, and deliberative process in which the context and parameters of potential Academic Restructuring could be explored and during which their input was sought.

A consultation website was made available through which faculty members and librarians, as well as students, staff, and other stakeholders were invited to provide input as part of the collegial, inclusive, and deliberative process exploring the context and parameters of potential restructuring.

In addition to this open online consultation, in-person meetings were also held with stakeholders. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Elizabeth Smyth, Vice-Dean, Programs in the School of Graduate Studies, who acted as chair for a series of in-person consultation sessions that were held with members of potentially affected academic units.

I am pleased to share with you a discussion paper summarizing the consultations to date.

With the release of this discussion paper, feedback is welcome about the conversations to date, as are specific suggestions about academic restructuring proposals or models that account for the considerations described in the discussion paper.

Questions or feedback can be submitted through the website or by email at consultation.forestry@utoronto.ca.